More Info →Train Derailment, Manawatu Gorge

Engine driver Basil Craighead and Fireman R Hoskins drowned when their 140-tonne goods train was derailed by a slip and fell into the flooded Manawatu River in the Manawatu Gorge on 20 August 1946. The steam engine sank under the flood waters and reappeared when the water receded four days later. It took several days to recover the engine in pieces. Three of the 24 wagons also fell down the 20 metre bank, and were winched out six days after the crash. The body of the driver was recovered from Foxton Beach; the body of the fireman was never found.