1923 Ongarue railway accident

In the early hours of the morning an Auckland−Wellington express ploughed into a huge landslip that had slumped across the tracks at Ongarue, north of Taumarunui in the King Country. Seventeen people were killed and 28 injured.

The disaster occurred just before 6 a.m., as the train rounded a sharp bend which obscured the crew's view of the slip until it was too late. Locomotive Ab 748, its tender and the following postal van were thrown off the track, but the worst damage occurred further back in the train, where three wooden carriages were 'telescoped' by the tremendous force of the impact. At least 12 passengers were killed instantly. The engine driver and fireman both survived, but were badly scalded by escaping steam. Most of those in the sleeping cars at the rear end of the train had no idea of the accident until they were awoken so that their bedsheets could be used as bandages.

The Ongarue disaster represented the first major loss of life on New Zealand railways; earlier accidents, in 1899 and 1918, had each claimed four lives. It remains the country's third-deadliest rail tragedy behind the Tangiwai (1953) and Hyde (1943) accidents, which killed 151 and 21 people respectively.