My Dad was in the rescue party he was a forestry worker at Kariori he didn't like to talk about it.. some years ago I met an older man on a suburban train that left Wgtn we got talking and he said he left his girlfriend at Wgtn Railway Station and kissed her good bye she was in the front carriage of the train disaster. I went home and shed a tear.😔
***** 😞 Yet I can't help but feel like a bastard, because I used a joke from a children's/family show for a movie scene that is based on a REAL train wreck disaster; the greatest, biggest disaster in all history of New Zealand.
I don't know if the movie mentions this, but, after the crash, and with the sixth passenger car teetering on the edge of the bridge, Cyril Ellis (the person shown here waving the torch), along with a train guard, William Inglis, went into that car to try and save the passengers. While they were in the car, the car tumbled off the bridge and the two men, with the assistance of a passenger, John Holman, smashed the car's window and managed to save 23 of the 24 passengers in that car; Ellis and Inglis truly deserved any acclaim they got after that Christmas Eve...
And, also, the actions of the train driver and fireman (who died in the crash) in trying to stop the train should be mentioned; had they not taken those actions, the whole train would have gone into the river...
@Narrator that's true, but was that 1 person who didn't make it Nerissa Love or someone else? Also how many people survived in the first 5 carriages that were dragged into the flood (the 2nd and 5th carriages were managed really badly, the first carriage was intact in some parts, third carriage had 1 half missing and the 4th one had some sets).
Wish this was more widely available on DVD than just throughout Region 3! Trying to find a way of seeing this in full without a 9,445 mile journey to Brisbane where my close friend has it on DVD :o)
The one thing that they got wrong in this movie is the bridge collapse, in the clip the flood washes put the pillars and the deck falls in. In the real event, the pillars got washed out but the deck held itself up, then collapsed underneath the train
They didn't really have a choice. The crash was done using model trains, which would have been no where near heavy enough to cause the bridge to collapse. They could've put weights in them, thats true. But it all would've had to have been done in one take because making the bridge collapse on a model train layout is a lot harder to fix than you think. Also, the tracks are made out of different types of metals depending on the brand, so even if the got everything set up, theres no guarantee the tracks would break because it is pretty hard to break them. The most that would likely happen is the train would simply lose balance upon crossing the bridge and topple over the side instead of the tracks collapsing beneath. So it was a better choice just to have the bridge be knocked out completely for the scene as they could do it over as many times as they wish, without too many prior preparations to be done.
That's right because one of the piers was damaged by a lahar back in 1926 or 1945 (I think) and it meant the bridge wasn't gonna survive if another lahar occurred. Yeah so what happened was the pier bridge broke and when the train got there the bridge gave way and collapsed and the engine and first five carriages were dragged into the flood and the 6th carriage was teetering on the edge of the bridge for a few seconds or a min and then that too fell into the flood soon after.
I can only imagine the utter horror on Cyril Ellis, his wife, and his mother-in-law’s faces as they watched helplessly as the disaster unfolded and the train crashed into the river as well as when the lahar destroyed the bridge
What a nasty accident... One of the biggest events in our country, and known round the world... I think this Christmas I’ll do a memorial on my channel for this...
I’m a express engine I don’t go- *AAAAAAHHHHHH-* -the famous last words of Gordon, the big blue engine in Thomas & Friends right before he Yeets himself off a bridge……………😅😅😅😅
Regardless of the fact that one movie version has been made, but only for television, I say maybe it’s just about time that a cinematic version went into production as soon as possible.
Why have they never released this movie on DVD and/or Blu-ray? They should, and not just in New Zeland, but in many other places worldwide as well, including in America.
+JoelJag 942 please in make the video again but a prodey where tank from dinosaur king tries to stop the train clips like when seth sees the train in trouble he sommens tank to try and stop it and when the train nears the broken bridge he will say its no good come back! inperst only for me
I can’t imagine how terrifying that would be in that second to last carriage that went over the bridge. Spinning 360 degrees over and over in the dark, cold, rising water, smothered by tons of others drowning. I wouldn’t wish that scenario on my worst enemy.
"STOP THE TRAIN !" "Hey I think a crazy dude on the rail track is waving for us, hello !!!" (R.I.P to all the people who perished down in this accident)
+Sgc 382 Sorry to "Brake" It to you but, There was only 1 brake lever.. The rest was all the locomotives main driving wheels been set in reverse.. This accident was a horrible one and both driver and fireman did what they could to prevent it :-(
+Sgc 382 One was the handbrake, one was the vacuum brake and the rest was setting the locomotive into reverse to provide as much resistance as possible. Sadly, the momentum is the killer.
@@Zecxrity Yeah, 151... it's not like in typical Hollywood movies when a train crashes, people dying in the wreck usually isn't a big deal, like in "Super 8."
Even if the cab was at the front, it wouldn’t have made a difference Trains can’t stop quickly, due to the lack of friction between the wheels and the rails, so it was going in no matter what
Vince, it takes well over a mile for a train traveling at 60 miles per hour to stop. The reason trains don't get up to speed or stop quickly is due to both weight, drag, momentum, and friction. Hundreds of tonnes traveling at highway speeds on metal-on-metal caster wheels won't be able to stop nearly quickly enough to avoid disaster Thats just my opinion anyway
Are you dumb? Trains cant stop on a dime. There's a saying if you think a train will stop when it sees a car on the tracks. You're right, but only a mile *after* it hits you. So shut your dumb mouth.
Movies love showing trains sailing through the air like that. I don't know how fast that train was moving in real life but I doubt the locomotive went that far before hitting the water. I am curious how fast it was really going when it left the bridge, as the report stated the sanders were on for more than 100 yards before where it left the rails, so either the crew saw the bridge was out or saw that guy with the 'torch' trying to signal them of the same.
I did read somewhere that when the engine was examined, the brakes were applied. This means that the crew saw the bridge was out, but they were too late to stop the train.
Theres A Goof (Mistake) On One Of The Clips If We Look Close At The Driver And The Fireman We Can See The Driver Or The Fireman Looking Out Of The Trains Cab Window But Hang On A Second. If The Train Crashed On A Bridge Thats Facing Front Why Did The Bridge From The Fireman Or Driver Looking Out From The Cab Window The Bridge Was Facing Right? It Doesn’t Made Sense Since The Train Did Not Went To Any Curves During The Train Was Approaching The Bridge. Comment If You Found A Goof (Mistake)
The Whangaehu River actually runs parallel to the track just before the Tangiwai bridge. So the engineer could've seen the lahar and slammed on the brakes. Which is actually as it really happened.
It’s sad when you realize that even if the driver had seen the man waving and tried to stop it still would have ended in the same disaster because a train going that fast and pulling that much weight would slide on the tracks for a long while because of the weight of the cars pushing the train forward and the momentum it had already built before coming to a full stop. It makes the man’s effort to want them all the more futile and tragic
Rest in peace everyone the train crash, people die people tried to stop the train which watch George 🤙. He’s like stop the train stop the train stop the train, but it was too late.😢
henry must be pulling the express cause who is the engine who always gets in this kinds of situation henry (i feel bad for those people i hope they are all ok in heaven)
If I had twice the size of a gap between me and the train as the guy in this movie scene yelling to stop the train, and if I, especially, had a red lantern shining bright (yes, red for "danger" or "stop"), I'm sure that WOULD help stop the train sooner than in the film.
December 24th 1953 Auckland express going to Auckland the bridge wash away by volcano the train going full speed the man grab the flashlight try to stop train but is too late driver and fireman brake hard the plunge into river 6 passenger in the river the worst rail disaster in history of new zealand
December 24th 1954 Auckland express going to Auckland the bridge was a way the man they to stop the train but is too late to stop them train plunge to river and crash the worst rail disaster in history this is sad story :(
No because this was before us Brits exported a load of Mark 2F air conditioned carriages to New Zealand! They will see plenty of use even in this second life as they are well engineered.
Having watch the whole film, it fits the drama genre well, not to mention it's a film coming from NZ (which isn't the best in film making). Anyway it's still more interesting to watch than America with it's gun control and racism issues.
