TEBAY was a village in mourning on Saturday as hundreds of people turned out for the funeral of a well-loved resident who was killed alongside three fellow trackmen by a runaway wagon.

Friends, family and neighbours of Garry Tindall, 46, packed the pews of St James Church at Tebay while some 200 of them who would not fit inside gathered on the street to hear the service relayed over loudspeakers.

Mr Tindall was one of four rail workers killed last Sunday when a 20-tonne maintenance trolley carrying old sections of track ploughed into their 10-man crew as they worked on a section of the West Coast Mainline near Tebay.

The joint investigation by the British Transport Police and the Health and Safety Executive has since established that brakes on the wagon were not working. It was instead parked using wooden blocks.

The Reverend Phil Dew said the rail tragedy had been like a nightmare from which it was impossible to wake.

"The awful truth is this is now real and nothing can prepare a family or a community for such an occasion." After Tebay's world had been turned upside down by events and the intrusion of the media, the service was about remembering Garry and honouring his memory, said Mr Dew.

"The sheer numbers speak volumes about Garry and the high regard in which he was held and what we see here today is just the tip of the iceburg because messages of condolence have come from all over the country, an outpouring of kindness, because Garry's death has touched the hearts of the nation.

In a series of poignant personal tributes, Mr Tindall's best friend Big John' remembered his mate, nicknamed Cocky. He was dependable and trustworthy, a committed football player with Lunesdale United, the darts club captain at the Tebay Sports and Social club and a lover of horse racing who organised annual group outings to race meetings.

"If the evening was not going particularly well, or the craic was not what it should be, you could always rely on Cocky to inject his humour into the conversation and if his witty quips didn't get you going then his customary unique laugh would," he said.

Mr Dew recalled that the fit Mr Tindall liked to call himself the white Linford Christie but in the end he could not evade the runaway wagon.

"In the midst of night, death came. It came suddenly out of nowhere as death often does. It was too quick even for Garry. Now there is a void where Garry once was but we will never forget Garry. He will live on in our hearts and memories."

Mr Tindall's coffin was carried from the church to the tune of Big Boys Don't Cry.

Chris Waters, 54, from Morecambe, Colin Buckley, 49, from Carnforth and 30-year-old Darren Burgess of Carnforth also died in the accident.