The brownout regulations were an everyday part of his life as a young boy, as were the Army captains and their wives who would stay in the spare room.

It was the 1940s and a Japanese invasion was feared imminent.

For modern-day Australia, it’s nearly impossible to imagine what life was like during the world wars.

It’s equally as difficult to stand today next to Thomas Mitchell Drive in Wodonga, where it meets Brockley Street, and picture the horrific scene that Robin’s father witnessed there 75 years ago on Tuesday.

Reginald Joseph Rodgers was one of four on board a locomotive travelling tender-first towards Bandiana on the evening of Saturday, May 8, 1943.

It was his duty as a Railways fireman to help keep a lookout when approaching level crossings, as he did that night, the locomotive heading toward the busy Tallangatta Road.

About 450 yards from the intersection a whistle signalling the train’s approach was blown by the driver, Robert William Henry Cunningham, an inquest heard later.

Buses full of soldiers headed to Albury for a night of local leave were nearing the level crossing, and Mr Rodgers saw the first when the locomotive was 250 yards away.

The whistle was blown a second time, and Mr Rogers told the driver to “keep it going”.

The second bus in the convoy slowed down, and Mr Rogers thought it was going to stop.

When it didn’t, he called out the danger signal – “Red Light!” – and the emergency brakes were applied.

But the bus, carrying 35 passengers, was hit.

“I watched the bus right up to the moment I had to cover my eyes,” Mr Rodgers said of those terrible final moments.

A majority of the 24 military personnel who were killed died instantly, others catapulted from the bus.

The civilian driver, William Henry Lord, also died.

The Border Morning Mail article from the time described the efforts of soldiers waiting to catch the bus, who tried to alert its driver to the impending disaster, and the many witnesses who helped.

A Horrie Lansdown of Albury was quoted as saying; “I have never seen and never wish to see again the sights of Saturday night”.

The details described in the articles were graphic, but as Robin said, reliving the horror through words could never compare to the reality of what is still Australia’s worst road-rail crash.

“I don’t think we understood just what he’d been through,” Robin said.

“It did alter his nature; my mother said he was a changed man.

“Dad was my best mate and I spent a lot of time with him – I was with him for the last fortnight before he died.

“He used to like me to mop his brow at night with a face washer and he said to me a couple nights before he went, ‘Bobby, I don’t think I sang out soon enough’.

“Those words have haunted me ever since.”

Robin had known of the crash – he was four at the time – but only learned the full story when he inherited a scrapbook of articles his father had collected.

Mr Rodgers had kept copies of the news articles detailing the crash and the subsequent inquest, where questions were raised about the safety of the crossing and the actions of those involved.

An article on Wednesday, June 30, 1943, details the third day of the inquest and the comments of a Sergeant Nelson of Wodonga police, who said the candle-powered lights of the tender were darkened to comply with brownout regulations.

“He had examined the light burning on the tender after the accident,” the article reads.

“Asked if he would consider it a dull light he replied ‘Dullness is a matter of degree’ … it would not be strong enough to illuminate the track ahead”.

The locomotive was travelling tender-first as there was no turntable at Bandiana, and it was to pick up a line of carriages there.

If it had been going engine-first, the headlight would have lit up the track for about a quarter of a mile ahead.

All the processes to alert oncoming traffic were followed, the Railways crew maintained, and there was no reason to slow down considerably to pass through the crossing.

But Mr Rodgers agreed that the speed the locomotive was travelling meant at 35 yards from the crossing, it could not be stopped before reaching the intersection.

It had not occurred to him that the driver did not see the train or hear the whistle, which was blown three times.

A surviving soldier told the inquest he sat behind the bus driver and had not heard any of them.

The coroner observed “that the motor bus was licensed to carry 19 passengers, and that on the night of the collision there were 35 passengers on the vehicle”.

“I am forced to the conclusion that the overcrowding of the bus was to some extent at least a contributing factor,” he said.

“In view of the heavy traffic on the Wodonga-Tallangatta highway, the Railways authorities should take action to provide at this crossing some adequate warning clearly visible to motorists and other road uses approaching this intersection at night.”

The eventual finding was “death through misadventure”.

The enormity of the crash and ongoing impact on those connected to the event has been relived many times through The Border Mail’s coverage of anniversaries.

But as time progresses, Robin is hopeful those memories will not fade.

“I always knew there was a story to be told and I think it needs documenting, with more background on the soldiers, the train crew, and the circumstances at the time,” he said.

“It’s a part of Australian history and once us old fellas go, it will be lost.”

A number of soldiers who were killed in the accident had survived conflict overseas.

Warrant Officer Class Two Roscoe Noel Mills of Browns Plains was one of them and part of “Albury’s own” 2/23rd Battalion.

His nephew has four medals; one an Africa Star for his service in North Africa.

On his return, WO2 Mills became a small arms instructor at Bonegilla.

Another young man, Acting Corporal William Henry Roberts of Tocumwal, had also returned to Bandiana after three years on the front line in the Middle East.

His only surviving son, Graeme Roberts of Melbourne, was a toddler living with his mother in Caulfield at the time of the accident.

“My brother was only six weeks old at the time; she was left on her own with two children,” he said.

“She never talked about it much, and when my mother died I came across letters my father had written while he was serving.

“They all have the same theme basically; that he regretted he had enlisted and wished he was back with my mother helping to look after my brother and me.”

Mr Roberts was never able to learn much of his father, though his interest has grown in recent years.

“When I was at primary school the only thing that hurt me was the other kids coming to school on a Monday and talking about what they did with their dads over the weekend,” he said.

“That’s really the only thing i can recall, it was something that happened, I didn’t have a dad and that was the way it was.

“I’ve only now started to find some background into his side of the family.

“It’s so strange; what I found in the paper in those days was a very small report, if there was a level crossing smash today and 25 people were killed it would be splashed all over the paper.”

The accident maintains its significance, as Army Logistic Training Centre Commandant Matt Patching explained. 

“To my understanding this is the largest ever loss of life for the military in a single incident, not on deployment,” he said.

“We’re not used to losing people in these numbers; the closest we’ve come in my time in the army of 25 years was the  Black Hawk accident in 1996.

“For those involved in the accident, to be coming in to socialise on a Saturday night, not to mention for the first responders, it’s horrific.”

Colonel Patching said he had travelled to the region many times in his career with the Army but was unaware of the accident that took place.

“I think there’s a small pocket of the community that does know about it, but most don’t – if you’re not associated with the military you probably don’t,” he said.

“Even as a member of the military, I wasn’t aware of it until the end of last year.

“There’s a close relationship between the military, and not just the people in uniform but those who support them, it has been for over 75 years.

“There’s almost 3000 of us that work out there everyday and all of us live amongst the community, and these men and women who were killed were exactly the same.”

The Army Logistic Training Centre will lead two large ceremonies on Tuesday, one at the War Graves Cemetery at 2.30pm with roses to be laid on the tombstones of those killed, and a second service exactly 75 years on at 6.30pm at the memorial cairn in Wodonga, which was installed following the 50th anniversary.

Parklands Albury-Wodonga is planning to install signage on the rail trail, where the locomotive travelled so many years ago, to ensure the history is preserved.