Train to be named after Christian theologian

The Bristol Post asked locals to nominate ‘100 Great Westerners’ and the team at The New Room, also known as the John Wesley chapel, put forward John Wesley. Along with 50 others, his name was chosen at a celebratory dinner on Wednesday evening.

John Wesley was a pastor and theologian in the 1700s who became a Christian after he heard someone reading Paul’s letter to the Romans. He founded the Methodist Church and was the brother of hymn-writer Charles Wesley.

Premier spoke to David Worthington, the Manager of The New Room, the oldest Methodist building in the world. He nominated John Wesley’s name and said: “we thought that it was appropriate to at the very least put John’s name forward and we were obviously delighted when we heard last night that the judges agreed with the nomination and have said that his name has been chosen be attached to one of the trains which will be rolling out in the next few years”.

He was an itinerant preacher for much of his a life, probably one of the most well-travelled men of the 18^th century, so we thought that although he pre-dates Brunel by about 100 years we though a train was a good thing to have his name on.”