Tangiwai memorial unveiled soon

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 288, 30 May 1989, Page 1

Tangiwai memorial unveiled soon

The dedication and unveiling of the Tangiwai rail disaster monument is to take place on Sunday June 18 and the service, to start at 11.05am, will be broadcast live on National Radio 2YA. The erection of the memorial follows the broadcast on National Radio last December of the suggestion to build a memorial to the 151 people who died in the 1958 Christmas Eve disaster. The engine and first five carriages of the

Auckland bound night express crashed into the Whangaehu River after silt laden water from the burst Mt Ruapehu crater lake swept away the Tangiwai bridge. The New Zealand Master Monumental Masons Association offered to donate a monument following the December broadcast and an area of land was made available near the scene of the disaster. The Railways Corporation will be shipping and railing the monument from Christchurch. Local Lions and Lioness Clubs have cleared the land and landscaped the site in

preparation for the monument. Among those taking part in the service will be Dr Fraser MacDonald who was a doctor in the Army and one of the first people to arrive on the scene. Others will include Bishop Cullinane, Colonel Weggery of the Salvation Army who led the Salvation Army team on the night of the disaster, and one of the survivors, Mrs Holman. The Warnocks Brass Band will play at the service, and Railways are running special Silver Fern rail cars from Auckland and Wellington for the service.