1953 Tangiwai historic memorial upgrade
1953 Tangiwai memorial site upgrade
Ohakune, Manawatu-Wanganui
At 10:21pm on December 24th 1953, a lahar from Mount Ruapehu washed out the rail bridge at Tangiwai and caused the Wellington to Auckland express passenger train to crash into the Whangaehu River . Although there has been a memorial to the accident on the site for many years the victims’ names had never been recognised on the site.
Their names were added as one of the many projects that have been done on the site.
The Tangiwai Memorial Committee has been working with council, local business and iwi to upgrade the site to a national historic memorial site.
The committee has being proactive in raising funds with the NZ Government, DOC, Ngati Rangi, Kiwi rail, Main Truck rail, and Stone Creations NZ
5290 hours of work donated by Individuals
2610 hours of work donated by the Ruapehu Lions Club
Please help us make this site a national memorial site.
About us
The Ruapehu Lions Club in association with the Tangiwai Memorial Upgrade Committee has been fund raising to update the current site for more than 10 years with the help of business donations and hard manual work.
Use of funds
Site development to make the site a useful tool in learning about New Zealand's largest rail disaster, and worthy of the number of visitors it attracts annually. Any funds raised will go towards the project.
Latest update
70th Anniversary of Tangiwai 11 January 2024
Please join us on the 21st January 2024 for the 70th anniversary of Tangiwai
Latest donations
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Who's involved?