Train fan gifted wedding anniversary cake by GWR

The couple moved to Cornwall after their wedding

A railway operator has surprised a couple in Cornwall with an anniversary cake 65 years after a "kind-hearted gesture" was made on the eve of their wedding.

Great Western Railway (GWR) said it presented the two-tier gift to George and Margaret Stone at Carbis Bay Station on Thursday.

It said it wanted to return the gesture to Margaret who baked a cake for 300 colleagues of the Western Region of British Railways on 5 September 1959.

The train operator said Mrs Stone was "obviously a train fanatic", adding she spent "many hours" waving at the London-Penzance steam trains as they thundered past her home in Wiltshire.

Margaret and George broke off from their wedding celebrations to wave at the train from the family farm in Easterton

The operator said the couple even broke off from their wedding celebrations to wave at the train from the family farm in Easterton, near Devizes.

GWR head of external communications Dan Panes said Mrs Stone was "obviously a real train fanatic as a young girl".

"This story really has captured our hearts the more we have researched it," he said.

"The fact she baked a wedding cake for railway colleagues was a wonderful gesture, so we were determined to mark their 65th wedding anniversary by returning the favour.”

The pair moved to Cornwall after their wedding before they took over Beck's Fish and Chips in 1989, GWR said.

One of their children, Annette, said her mum had "spent her childhood waving at the trains".

"It’s charming to see how she developed such a bond with the drivers and firemen," she said.

“We’re so grateful to GWR for taking such an interest in my parents’ story.

“Sixty-five years of marriage is something truly special to celebrate and today’s presentation really has been the icing on the cake for mum and dad.”