My Taumarunui Years - Part Two

摘要

On Sunday 8 February 1959 there was a cloudburst at Kakahi, with a section of track just north of there washed out beside the road into Kakahi, creating quite a hole. One of the local residents saw the damage and rushed to the station to report it. As it was Sunday the station was switched out and Trains 447 and 448 ran under 'safe all'. With no answer the resident didn't even think to go to one of the railway houses but went on his way. Consequently Train 448, crewed by Ray Barker and Graeme Jones with D~A1405 and D~A1434, came around the curve and ran straight into the slip, with 1434 ending up on top of 1405. Ray lost his false teeth while Graeme had braced his feet against the door, saving his life as the cab became half-full of dirt. That night Trains 153, 229, 626 and 688 were re-routed over the Stratford - Okahukura line. There was a great mess, with boxes of vegetables everywhere from the derailed Z wagons. I was on Trains 433 and 478 the following day, and a track had been built around the derailment by then. The curves were very sharp and we wondered how the expresses were going to get around them.