Some of the few remaining survivors of the Hyde railway disaster were among about 80 people who yesterday braved the wind and rain to mark the 70-year anniversary of the horrific accident.
Of the 113 passengers on the June 4, 1943, train journey, 21 were killed and a further 47 were injured when the express failed to take a curve in a deep cutting and derailed south of Hyde.
It was New Zealand's worst railway disaster at the time and has only been surpassed by the Christmas Eve, 1953, tragedy at Tangiwai, in which 151 lives were lost.
At yesterday's service, led by Fr Michael Dooley, and held at the cairn memorial close to the accident site, the names of those killed were read out and flowers laid to honour their memory.
Among those at the service were some of the last survivors of the train journey and others who witnessed the twisted wreckage.
Speaking after the service Donella Hore (nee Mitchell, 88), who was 18 and living in Ranfurly at the time of the accident, recalled the moments before the train derailed.
She was travelling on the train to Dunedin for a music exam. The last thing she remembered was being spoken to by Robert Carr, who was killed in the accident.
''He sat opposite me on the train and he said to me: `Lassie, would you close the window?' and I got up to close the window and that was the last thing I remember,'' Mrs Hore said.
She was a regular passenger on the Cromwell to Dunedin service and the speed the train was travelling before the crash was the fastest she could remember it going. She could not recall the moment the train derailed.
''I don't think anyone actually remembers the crash. When I came to - I must have been knocked out - we were up on the bank and all you could here were people crying and screaming and the steam coming out of the train.''
She was not badly injured in the accident, only suffering from a ''squashed ankle''.
The accident was enough to permanently put her off train travel.
''I haven't been on one since,'' she said.
For survivor Roberta Walkinshaw (nee Ward, 71), who was living in Hyde at the time, going to the service was the first time she had returned to the scene of the tragedy.
She was only 18 months old at the time and travelling to Middlemarch on the train with her mother, Avis Ward, who suffered serious leg injuries.
''I remember my father saying that she had such bad injuries that they put her over near the people who might not survive, but fortunately she did.
She eventually recovered to the point where she could walk again, but her legs remained ''horrifically disfigured''.
Mrs Walkinshaw herself lost the tip of her finger and injured her arm and ankle.
