MOST of the ten victims of the Selby rail crash were travelling in the centre of the nine-coach GNER Newcastle to London train that collided with a Freightliner coal train at Great Heck on February 28, 2001, a jury heard.

An inquest at the Majestic Hotel, Harrogate, was told that one of the dead was in the first coach, two were in the fourth or buffet coach, one was in the fifth and four were in the sixth. The other two who died were the drivers of both trains.

Ray Robson, 44, of Whitley Bay, near Newcastle, was customer operation leader on the GNER train.

When the trains collided, he was at the rear of coach B2, checking tickets. His body was thrown out of the train and he died from multiple injuries.

His sister, Judith Cairncross, told the jury: "He lived and died for trains. It was a fitting end."

Rob Shakespeare, 43, of Beverley, an IT manager, married with four children, was en route to a business meeting in London. He was sitting in the rear of coach B2 and died from neck injuries. His body was found outside the coach.

Paul Taylor, 43, married with two children, a chef, of Longbenton, Newcastle, was working in the train's kitchen. The jury heard the buffet coach was extensively damaged as it went under the bridge at Great Heck. He died of head and chest injuries.

Churchwarden and computer software trainer Christopher Terry, 30, of York, married with a two-year-old son, was also in the buffet or on his way back to his seat at the time of the collision.

His body was found outside the train near Coach D. He died of multiple injuries.

Rail business manager Clive Vigden, 39, of Bishopthorpe, York, was travelling from York to Swindon for a business meeting. He was in the rear portion of the first-class Coach M at the front of the train. He died of multiple injuries.

John Weddle, 48, of Throckley, Newcastle, was the GNER train driver. His body was found halfway along the train after the crash. He died from head injuries.

Freight rail logistics co-ordinator Barry Needham, of New Earswick, York, worked for EWS. He was on his way to work in Doncaster on his day off to help out a colleague.

He got into Coach B2, where his body was found near a front bulkhead. He died from head injuries.

Margitta Needham's voice broke at times as she said: "Barry was my husband, my best friend, my soulmate.

"The crash was a forceful tearing apart of the life we knew.

"To die needlessly is unbearably cruel. The enormity of what has happened has left deep scars."

Steve Baldwin, 44, a professor of psychology at Teesside University who lived in Piccadilly, York, was on his way to address a conference in London. He boarded the train at York and sat in Coach B2 in the middle of the train. He died of multiple injuries

Stephen Dunn, 39, married with two children, of Brayton, near Selby, was driving the Freightliner coal train. His body was found in the cab, which had became embedded in a garden nearby. He died of multiple injuries.

Civil engineering project manager Alan Ensor, 44, of Dunnington, York, was married with two children. He was in the rear of Coach F en route to a business meeting in London. During the crash, Coach F turned upside down and his body was found near his seat. He died from multiple injuries.

The inquest continues.

Updated: 11:00 Thursday, September 11, 2003