A MAN with a passion for all things railway has taken his last journey above his favoured form of transport.

Nick Perring, who died at the end of August, worked for Network Rail for 39 years and was a respected member of the team at the South Devon Railway (SDR), being one of their longest-serving volunteers.

Last week more than 300 friends and family gathered at Buckfastleigh Station to join Nick on a special train journey in tribute, while even more gathered along the rail track at Staverton Station and in back gardens to pay their last respects.

Nick’s coffin was placed in a carriage aboard the train and taken down to Totnes and back, where a lone piper played ‘On the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond’ – a reference to the place where Nick proposed to his wife Wendy.

She said: ‘We knew each other as schoolkids and lost contact for 38 years. We then bumped into each other and the spark was still there. We were together for eight years and he passed away just two days before our fifth wedding anniversary.’

Nick’s brother Iain, niece and nephew Emily and Daniel, and daughter Sherelle each drove the train for part of the way.

Everyone wore something green to reflect Nick’s other great passion for Plymouth Argyle.

After being transferred to a hearse, he was taken to Weston Mill Crematorium for a service which concluded with the music from ‘The Railway Children’ and brother Iain blowing a whistle and waving a flag to signal the end.

Wendy said: ‘The funeral directors were broken at that moment. They said they’d never seen a funeral service quite like that.’

A reception followed at Plymouth Argyle’s Green Tavern, where again, more than 300 people gathered.

Totnes Station has a Gnome Farm where a garden ornament is placed in memory of anyone who had connections with the SDR. Nick’s mini tribute, proudly sporting a PAFC scarf, has now joined his colleagues.

Wendy said: ‘The whole day was amazing. He had an immense love for trains and would never say no if anyone wanted him to help out.

‘I never realised how much love and respect people had for him.’