A DEDICATED railway man from Trowbridge killed in the Selby rail crash earlier this year has had an engine named in his honour.

Father of two, Stephen Dunn, 39, died in February after the 1,000-tonne Freightliner train he was driving plunged into the GNER Newcastle-to-London train, which had been derailed after hitting a Land Rover on the line.

His widow, Mary, and sons, Andrew, 13 and James, 10, officially named the new class 66 loco 66526, Steve Dunn (George) in a private ceremony at Eggborough power station earlier this month.

His parents, Leslie and Patricia, who live in Pitman Avenue, Trowbridge, said it is a fitting memorial to their train-mad son, nick-named George by colleagues.

Mrs Dunn said: "He would have been really pleased. He would have thought it was a great honour."

She said that her son had always wanted to be a train driver as a child and never changed his mind.

Mr Dunn said: "I used to take him on the cross bar of my bike when he was two or three years old and we would go and watch the trains for hours."

The young Stephen went to Newtown School in Trowbridge and then to Clarendon, where he started a model railway club and later donated a train set to the school.

At a memorial service held at St John's Church in Upper Studley in May, the Rev Paul Barnes said that teachers at Newtown School had eventually given up trying to stop him watching trains through the classroom window.

After finishing his education, his first job was at Westbury train station.

As well as working on trains he developed an interest in photography and had his pictures of trains published in specialist magazines.

He had moved to the Yorkshire village of Brayton, near Selby, only three years before the accident, which killed 10 people and injured 70 others.

A spokesman for Freightliner Heavy Haul Ltd said: "We were very sorry to lose a member of staff in such a tragic way, especially such a dedicated engineman."

For his parents the loss was particularly tragic, as their other son, James, 25, died almost exactly 10 years before, after mixing alcohol with medication for a cracked rib at a wedding reception.

Mrs Dunn said: "Once is bad enough, but twice you just don't ever expect something like that to happen to you."

The couple have two daughters, Mandy, who lives in Warminster and Becky who has remained in Trowbridge.