Tom Angus, who lives in Carnforth, Lancashire, has been a railway worker for 35 years.

"We just heard a 'shhhhhhhhhhhhh' and I just looked at the lads", he said.

"I saw this black object passing me. I didn't know at the time it was a trailer with rails on. It just seemed black....travelling.

"It just killed the lads. I was only feet from it."

The working gang had been sent to Tebay to replace a section of rail and among Mr Angus' workmates to die was 30-year-old Darren Burgess, also of Carnforth.

Mr Angus said the trailer came past without warning

Darren was the son of one of Mr Angus' oldest friends, Tom Burgess - who is also a railway worker.

"It's like a family", said Mr Angus. "I worked with Tom for 20-odd years and then I worked with his son.

"We'll never get over it. The quality of our railway life has gone. After the accident, we've all tended to keep together, telephoning each other and encouraging one another, and that still goes on today.

"We're not back on the main line yet. Our trust has gone. There are a lot of questions that have to be dealt with, and until they're resolved, we won't be going back."

Like Mr Burgess, he believes the accident would not have happened in the days of British Rail, saying the industry was more safety-conscious then.

'Inquiry needed'

The involvement of private contractors means the chain of responsibility can be broken, he said.

Mr Burgess is also critical of the way "possessions" take place - a possession is the process by which stretches of line are closed down for maintenance work.

"There has to be an inquiry into this", he said.

"And we need better possessions. The distances of these possessions are too long. They should be shorter.

"Under British Rail, we would have looked after everything ourselves. We need to get back to those things."

See also:

BBC News: 17 March 2006

Family's agonising wait for news

by Chris Stewart, Chief Reporter, BBC TV North East & Cumbria

For Tom Burgess, there was an agonisingly long wait before the terrible realisation that his son was among the Tebay victims. Mr Burgess said it had turned their lives upside down.

Because Tom Burgess is himself a railway maintenance worker, it was made even longer because he knew about the accident well before it broke on the news.

He told BBC Look North: "I was at work myself that day and we got a phone call to say there'd been an accident at Tebay and there'd been some fatalities.

"Then I realised that Darren had told me he was working at Tebay, so I tried to ring his mobile to see if he knew anything about it. But I couldn't get an answer.

"I got home and made some enquiries at the local depot where he was based, but they couldn't tell me anything.

Darren Burgess had been a railway worker for just six months

"Eventually, we got a call to ask us to go down to the depot. I got Nicola (Darren's partner) and we went down and we were told that Darren was one of the fatalities."

Darren, who was 30, had been a railway worker for just six months, having previously worked for Royal Mail.

He and Nicola had been together for four years and had recently moved into a house they had bought in Carnforth, not far from his father and mother Christine.

"It just seems such a waste", said Tom Burgess.

"At first, you just think it's a terrible accident, but as things get unravelled, you realise it should never have happened.

"It's hard to live with. We've got that for life now. It's turned our lives upside down and put a great strain on everything."

Constant 'worrying'

After the accident, Tom had to return to his own job - in the knowledge that his son had died doing exactly the same sort of work.

"In a way, it helped, but I must admit I don't like working at night now, and the wife certainly doesn't like it," he said.

"She can't rest at home worrying, and I suppose that'll always be there.

"I still can't believe it. We've got what we call green zones and red zones and they should have been safe.

A memorial marks those who died at Tebay

Mr and Mrs Burgess have sat in the public gallery at Newcastle Crown Court and have watched as Connolly and Kennett, the men convicted in the case, have arrived each day for their trial.

The sight of Connolly in particular - "arrogant and showing no sign of remorse", said Mr Burgess - has been particularly difficult for them to deal with.

Mr Burgess says the moment the old British Rail disappeared under privatisation was the moment the issue of rail safety began to change for workers like him and his son.

"At one time, we looked after ourselves. Now, people are working on sites when they have got no local knowledge," he said.

"That would never have happened before [privatisation].

"Especially at night, in the hours of darkness - you need to know what you're doing and where you are."