Remembering the bravery of a hero train driver

A memorial headstone has been unveiled to honour Wallace Oakes, a hero steam train driver who lost his life saving his passengers on June 5, 1965.

After setting off from Crewe station his train's cabin filled with flames after the engine caught on fire.

His fireman escaped from the cab, but Wallace stayed at the controls and brought the train to a halt before falling to the ground, suffering from 80% burns. He died a week later.,

Wallace Oaks was posthumously awarded the George Cross and the Carnegie Hero Trust medal - the only railwayman to ever receive this honour - and also had an express locomotive named after him.

He was buried without a headstone and his medal sold by the family.

Now more than 50 years after his death, a group of ex-railwayman and a journalist from a railway magazine have raised the funds to provide a headstone for his grave.