A locomotive is to be named Joe Strummer this coming Saturday - 12th February 2005 -in honour of the legendary lead singer of the Seventies' band, The Clash.

The naming ceremony will be at the Temple Meads railway station in Bristol, starting at 1.00 pm.

Naming of locomotives has been a British tradition since the start of railways over 200 years ago, and it is common practice to name them after famous people. Joe Strummer, who was just 50 when he died of a rare heart defect in December 2002, was one of the greatest figures in UK music. The Clash are widely regarded as the most influential punk band of their generation, with such seminal recordings as the London Calling album.

In later years Strummer had been working with a new band, The Mescaleros. His final album, Streetcore, was posthumously released in 2003.

Joe Strummer, the locomotive, is a Class 47 diesel, a design that dates from 1962. It is owned by Cotswold Rail, a nationwide provider of locomotives and rolling stock to train operators. After the naming, the Joe Strummer will be working in East Anglia in eastern England.

Notes to editors

Joe Strummer was born - as John Graham Mellor - in August 1952 in Ankara. He formed the Clash in 1976 with Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Terry Chimes, the latter replaced by Topper Headon.

Strummer died from a previously undiagnosed rare heart condition on 22nd December 2002 at his home in Somerset

The locomotive named is a Class 47 diesel -- 47828 - built in 1965 by BR at Crewe. It was used by Virgin Trains until 2004 when sold to Cotswold Rail.

Cotswold Rail is a nationwide supplier of locomotives and rolling stock to passenger and freight train operators and Charter train promoters.

You are invited to send a photographer to Bristol Temple Meads on Saturday 12th February. The time for the naming has yet to be finalised, but is expected to be at 1.00 -- 1.30 pm.