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, reports Jennie Dennett.
Friends, family and neighbours of Garry Tindall, 46, packed the pews of St James' Church at Tebay while some 200 of them who could not get inside gathered on the street to hear the service relayed over loudspeakers.
Mr Tindall was one of four rail workers killed on February 15 when a 20-tonne maintenance trolley carrying old sections of track ploughed into their ten-man crew as they worked on a section of the West Coast Main Line, near Tebay.
The Rev Phil Dew said the 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," he said, adding that the "sheer numbers" of people attending the funeral spoke volumes about Mr Tindall and the high regard in which he was held.
In a series of moving personal tributes, an address by Mr Tindall's sister Susan set the tone for the service as she recited the lines of Silloth poet David Harkins, the same verse chosen by the Queen for her mother's funeral.
"You can shed tears that he has gone or you can smile because he has lived. You can close your eyes and say that he will come back or you can open your eyes and see all he has left."
Mr Tindall's best friend John Wharton, of Kendal, remembered his mate, nicknamed Cocky, who was always dependable and trustworthy as well as being 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."
Jack Marsden, the steward of the Tebay Sports Social & Club, raised a laugh among the mourners as he related his favourite tales of Cocky's antics, a man he described as "good craic" with an incredible laugh and a stock of one-liners.
"We have lost a true friend and a great mate. God bless Garry."
The Rev Dew recalled that the fit Mr Tindall liked to call himself the white Linford Christie.
"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."
He added that occasionally people would feel Garry's presence, something that had happened to Mr Tindall's widow Christine and his son Darren when they had gone down to the accident site to lay some flowers. A group of chickens led by a cockerel suddenly emerged and started to chase Darren.
"They had to laugh that was Cocky, at it again!"
Mr Tindall's coffin was taken from the church to the tune Big Girls Don't Cry.
l British Transport Police have confirmed a laboratory examination by the Health and Safety Executive had found the brakes on the runaway maintenance trolley that killed the four men were not working.
Police spokesman Simon Lubin told the Gazette investigations would now focus on why the brakes were not working, and on work at the Scout Green site where the trolley started its tragic journey, and where the men were killed.
In spite of requests from the RMT rail workers' union to keep the trolleys out of service, Network Rail reintroduced the vehicles this week.
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