A SELBY rail disaster victim who has just had a locomotive named after him would have been "chuffed to bits", says his widow.

At a private ceremony at the weekend, Freightliner Heavy Haul Ltd named one of its new Class 66 locos in memory of 39-year-old Stephen Dunn. His widow, Mary, of Old Farm Way, Brayton, told guests: "Steve was a dedicated railwayman devoted to working for Freightliner Heavy Haul.

"He believed in everything Freightliner stood for and was convinced the company would be a great success.

"Having a locomotive named after him would be the greatest honour he could think to have bestowed upon him. He would be chuffed to bits." Speaking at the ceremony at Eggborough Power Station, mother-of-two Mrs Dunn added: "I think an even greater tribute to him would be to make Freightliner Heavy Haul even more successful, as he believed it would be."

Mr Dunn, who had two young sons, James, nine, and Andrew, 13, was killed on February 28, at Great Heck. A Land Rover left the M62 and went down an embankment before coming to rest on the track on the high-speed East Coast main line.

It was struck by the 4.45am Newcastle to London GNER inter-city express carrying about 100 people, which was derailed before colliding with a coal-carrying goods train driven by Mr Dunn, know to his friends as George. Locomotive 66526, named Driver Steve Dunn (George) on Saturday, will ensure his name lives on. Freightliner managing director Eddie Fitzsimons said that the day he got a phone call to tell him about the crash was one of the darkest of his career. He said: "At times like these, it brings home to you how potentially dangerous the business we work in is, although accidents are few and far between.

- Work began today on a £50,000 memorial gardens project at Great Heck.

Updated: 12:01 Monday, September 03, 2001