Trucking dad welcomed newborn son just weeks before train crash death

Tributes have flowed in for an experienced truck driver who was hit by a train in Victoria on Monday.

Johnny Stubbs died when his rig became stuck on a level crossing in North Shore, Geelong before he was hit by a train.

It’s been revealed that the 30-year-old had welcomed his third child just weeks before the fatal collision.

His mother Raelene Stubbs revealed the father of two girls had been ecstatic about welcoming a son to the family.

“He rang us and said ‘Mum, I finally got my boy, I got my boy’,” she told 7News.

“It’s horrible, it really is. I can’t imagine life without him,” she said.

Mr Stubbs has been remembered as being the “funniest, most loving, harmless” and a “good man” by friends and family.

“He lived for his family, and leaves behind 3 kids who he loved to death and his amazing partner Georgie!” friend Jeremy O’Donoghue posted on social media.

“Another amazing soul taken too soon who can never be replaced by another human!”

“You will always be missed and loved mate you were one of a kind. Best bloke out there love ya mate take it easy up there. You will be missed,” a truck driver who worked with him wrote.

A GoFundMe has been set up by a friend to help support Mr Stubbs’ fiance and three children after his death.

“Johnny leaves behind Three gorgeous children, his little man just weeks old .. and his beautiful partner who now has to piece together a shattered life and dreams that they both once had,” organiser Darryl Edwards wrote.

“Tragic is an understatement, life simply can be so cruel and unfair.”

Answers about how the experienced truckie got caught at the “notorious” crossing are expected to come from four separate investigations into his death by Victoria Police, WorkSafe, V/Line and the rail safety regulator.

It’s the third accident at the site in three months and a friend of Mr Stubbs said he “won’t be the last” to get caught.

Mr Edwards said that Mr Stubbs was “going about his business at work” before he was hit.

“Johnny didn’t make it home .. Sadly there was a collision between Johnnys truck and a train and this great man’s life was cut short,” he wrote.