1918.

The dreaded influenza epidemic of 1918 exacted a heavy toll, and at Ohakune a temporary hospital for Railway employees was opened in the District Traffic Manager's residence, then vacant. A large proportion of the staff was on the sick list, and the few remaining men endeavoured to maintain a skeleton service of necessary trains.

The creditable efforts of such train crews as driver Cornish, and fireman Wolff, were responsible for a good deal of the maintained schedule, a crew often taking out one train after another and remaining on duty for 15 or 16 hours per day. As acting-depot foreman, cheery “Old Tom” Barrowman is well remembered.

Perhaps the most heroic figure to the men of Ohakune in that dreadful time was Nurse Drummond, only daughter of the Rangataua Workshops Manager. The young nurse was holidaying at home when the grim epidemic seized its first victims, and she readily volunteered her services.

She was to become a veritable Florence Nightingale to her patients and gain the respect and affection of the many Railway employees whom she nursed back to health. Later, the gallant little nurse herself fatally contracted the disease, and her untimely death was mourned by the whole community. The presence of white-faced semi-convalescents brought to the final graveside scene all the tragic poignancy of the passing of a warm young life.