'The scene from hell': Survivors reveal the true horror of NZ's worst rail disaster

Tangiwai: A Forgotten History is a six-part podcast exploring the story of our worst rail disaster.

Seventy years ago today, New Zealand experienced its worst rail disaster when 151 people lost their lives at Tangiwai on Christmas Eve. This story, first published earlier this month, introduces the Herald’s 70th anniversary podcast Tangiwai: A Forgotten History and provides links to all six episodes.

Christmas Eve, 1953. New Zealanders were preparing for Santa’s arrival, blissfully unaware that we were also counting down to a huge national tragedy.

It was the end of an historic year for our small country. Edmund Hillary had scaled Mt Everest. We had crossed the 2 million population mark. And to top it all