Survivor John Mahy’s escape from death revealed in Tangiwai: A Forgotten History podcast

John Mahy survived the Tangiwai Disaster by moving coaches. Photo / Dean Purcell.

On the 70th anniversary of New Zealand’s worst rail disaster, a new Herald podcast recalls the tragedy and lessons of Tangiwai. In episode three, host Hamish Williams talks to surviving passenger John Mahy and asks whether we looked hard enough for answers in the aftermath of the crash.

John Mahy has been photographed, filmed and interviewed for the majority of his life. He’s featured in books, documentaries and even museums - all because he survived New Zealand’s greatest rail tragedy.

On Christmas Eve 1953, John, who was then 15, and his 17-year-old sister had mistakenly taken seats in a second-class carriage near the front of the express train from Wellington to Auckland.

They didn’t find out they should have been seated in the first-class carriages at the rear of the train until they reached the Waiouru station.

“When the conductor came around he asked us why we were seated in the wrong carriage. We weren’t going to move but then we thought we may as well finish the rest of the journey in style, so why not?”

Ten minutes later the train would plunge off the lahar-damaged bridge into the Whangaehu river, killing 151 people. The majority died in the first three minutes.

John and his sister, completely unaware of what had occurred, were in the rear first-class carriage that came to a halt, still safely on the tracks.

“There was no sudden bangs or anything like that, it was just as if we were shunting. After being stopped for a quarter of an hour, one of the conductors came through and informed us all that there had been an accident.”

The carriage in front of them had fallen into the river, John had escaped disaster by a few precious metres.

It wasn’t until searchlights from the nearby Waiuru Military Camp arrived at the site that John saw first-hand the horror of what had happened.

“It was quite horrific. You knew damn well there wasn’t going to be any survivors - well, not many survivors anyway.”

John Mahy was 15 when he boarded the ill-fated Wellington to Auckland express train on Christmas Eve 1953. A last-minute seat change saved his life before the tragedy at Tangiwai. Photo / Supplied

John didn’t know it then but he would come to represent the story of survival from the tragedy, along with his son Calum Mahy. As a professional stonemason, Calum’s company Stone Creations NZ has designed and made the memorials located at the Tangiwai site.

“Dad and I talk about it now more than we ever did. His stories are enhanced in stone because of what I can do,” says Callum.

Episode three of the podcast also explores the inquiry into the Tangiwai disaster, which decided the accident was an unavoidable tragedy caused by natural forces and sheer bad luck. We ask if that conclusion was too hasty.

Tangiwai: A Forgotten History is available at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The series was made with the support of NZ On Air. For video and photos, go to nzherald.co.nz/tangiwai