RAIL enthusiasts have paid their respects to fellow devotee and freight train driver Steve Dunn at the scene of the Selby rail crash in which he died.

A special memorial train came to a halt at the site at Great Heck, where ten people lost their lives a year ago. Enthusiasts, who were joined by Mr Dunn's widow, Mary, observed a poignant one minute's silence after the horn on the lead locomotive was sounded.

The Driver Steve "George" Dunn Memorial Railtour Excursion, organised by Gloucestershire-based Pathfinder Tours, was backed by Freightliner, which provided the locomotives pulling the special carriages.

Mr Dunn died when the Freightliner train he was driving was struck by the derailed GNER Newcastle to London express on February 28 last year.

Peter Watts, managing director of Pathfinder Tours, said: "Steve Dunn was an enthusiast and was a guy known in these sorts of circles. This is a way of paying our respects and raising money for charity."

Any profits from the trip will be given to a memorial fund set up in Mr Dunn's honour. His widow will decide which charities will benefit from the money raised.

Updated: 11:49 Monday, March 04, 2002