An aspiring teenager model was killed on railway tracks in Texas last Friday after being hit by a train during a photoshoot.

Fredzania Thompson, 19, was posing for photos on a set of train tracks in Navasota, when she stepped back to avoid one train and was hit by another coming in the opposition direction, according to witnesses.

The teen, who is said to have been pregnant, had excelled at athletics but always had ambitions to become a model, her mother told a local newspaper.

"She was more interested in modeling," her mother Hakamie Stevenson, said. "That's definitely what she wanted to do."

Fredzania's family have shared a photo of her smiling on the tracks shortly before she died

The photos, taken by a friend, were for a portfolio to help the teenager's pursuit of a modelling career.

Fredzania's fiance Earl Chatman, 25, told The Eagle newspaper, she has recently told him she was expecting their first child together.

"She said, 'You're going to be a dad again,'" he said.

A Gofundme appeal to raise money for Fredzania's funeral pays tribute to her as a "beautiful and caring person".

"If you ever needed someone to talk to she was always there, she was a truly good person," it added.

According to Jeff De Graff, a spokesman for Union Pacific, who operate the freight train involved in the incident, the horn was sounded and emergency brakes applied.

"As the train approached, the crew saw the photographer and the other individual on the tracks, alerted them with the train horn and also began the emergency stopping process on the train, " he told the Navasota Examiner.

"Burlington Northern had a train on their track coming and she turned back to the east to walk across the Union Pacific track and walked right in front of the Union Pacific train that was heading south."

Mr De Graff also warned people to avoid activities on railroad tracks, adding: "It is incredibly dangerous which we can see in this instance."