Man dies after lying down on train tracks

Nov 13 2008 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A TRAUMATISED man relived the moment he saw his friend hit by a train at more than 70mph.

Alexander Whately told an inquest in Huddersfield how Almondbury man Hugh McSherry lay down on the railway line at Mirfield station minutes before the train hit him.

An emotional Mr Whately said he and 20-year-old Mr McSherry were aiming to catch a train to Huddersfield when they got to the station at 9.15pm on April 23 this year.

He said Mr McSherry sat on the platform edge and he tried to stop him going on the track. Mr Whately added: “I said: ‘What are you doing?’ and grabbed his shoulders by his top but I couldn’t hold him.”

Mr McSherry then lay down with his head on the railway line.

Mr Whately said: “I was shouting: ‘Get up and come back, what are you doing?’ He was saying I will be able to hear the train. I looked right and saw the lights right down the bottom. At that point I started screaming. No less than 20 seconds later the train came.”