A 67-year-old woman who died after being hit by a train on a railway foot crossing had been probably concentrating on making sure a grandson stayed safe on the other side, a coroner said on Friday.

Joyce Clark, a retired auxiliary nurse, of Harrop Street, Abbey Hey, Manchester, died after a collision at the Ty Gwyn pedestrian crossing at Towyn, last July.

An inquest at Ruthin heard the train, with lights on, had reached 80mph and there was a good view of approaching trains for pedestrians.

Driver Paul Simpson said he saw the child run across the crossing and reach safety.

He sounded the horn and reduced the speed to 70mph. But he saw the gran walking from the beach side of the railway, apparently gesturing to tell the boy to stay where he was, and she crossed the track.

Mr Simpson said he sounded the horn again and applied emergency braking in vain.

Paul Simmonds, an investigator with British Transport Police who viewed train CCTV, said: "It shows Joyce walk across the crossing and she’s pointing, appearing totally focussed on keeping her grandchild safe.

“She appears to be pointing directly ahead as if to say ‘stay there’.”

He added: "Even as the train is quite close she doesn’t hurry and doesn’t look towards the train.”

There were gates and warning signs at the crossing. There was access from a caravan park.

Since the tragedy Network Rail have installed flashing lights and an audible system to warn of approaching trains.

Coroner Joanne Lees recorded a conclusion of an accidental death for the “much-loved” mum and grandmother. For an unknown reason she didn’t react to the sound of the approaching train.

“She was most likely focussing and concentrating on making sure that child stayed in a safe area,” the coroner said.

Network Rail’s long-term plan was for a footbridge at the scene and the coroner said she intended to encourage the building of one as soon as possible.

She also planned to contact the nearby caravan park to make sure there was a level of awareness among visitors of the danger.

Mrs Clark was a “doting” gran. Her son Carl Clark told the inquest :”We can only assume she was protecting her grandchild from harm and sadly gave her life in doing so. We are all truly devastated over such a tragic accident.” She’d arrived at the caravan site the same afternoon.

Julie Neale said in a statement that Mrs Clark had been with two boys. One went across the crossing and Mrs Clark followed. She heard a boy call out “grandma, stop” but there was the sound of the impact.

The witness went to the children and comforted them following the horror.