BOLTON'S footballing legend Nat Lofthouse is thrilled to pieces ... after having a train named in his honour. Rail users in the town will now be able to travel in style, as their carriages are pulled along by 'The Lion of Vienna' locomotive. And the star striker of the 1950s was on hand to help unveil his latest honour at Bolton Station yesterday.

The Virgin Train naming ceremony came as the company prepares to introduce dozens of new direct train services from the town, which means the 'Lion of Vienna' will be seen from Glasgow to Plymouth.

And it was BEN reader Pamela Parr, of Rothwell Road, Anderton, who came up with the idea of honouring the former Wanderers' striker.

Mrs Parr entered our Name a Train competition run in conjunction with Virgin Trains last month. Her choice of name has won her a family return ticket to any Virgin Trains destination.

Mrs Parr, who works as a cook at Horwich College, said: "I enter a lot of competitions but I'm thrilled to have won this. It's a lovely idea to be able to name a train."

Ian Savage, the BEN's deputy editor, revealed the winning name to an expectant group of dignitaries and train enthusiasts who had gathered on one of the station's platforms.

He said: "We received hundreds of excellent suggestions from readers after our appeal to name the train in the Evening News a month ago.

"The Lion of Vienna is a name that conjures up happy memories across the whole country, though it is obviously especially dear to the people of Bolton.

"As we come to name this train our hope is that it will prove to be as reliable and famous as our real life Lion of Vienna!"

And Nat Lofthouse professed himself very proud at having introduced a new concept of football 'training'.

He joked: "I don't know if I will have a trip on it but I'm very proud to have the engine named after me bearing in mind the name goes back nearly 50 years."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.