In the years after the disaster, it had little legacy as it was overshadowed by World War II. When a memorial was established to victims of the Tangiwai disaster decades later, relatives of Hyde disaster victims began to work for their own memorial, led by Molly Winter and Elizabeth Coleman. In August 1990, a committee was formed to erect a monument, a 2.5 m high cairn, at an easily accessible site near the location of the derailment. The cutting of the disaster itself can also be walked, as the Otago Central Railway closed on 30 April 1990 and has been converted into the Otago Central Rail Trail.