Stephen Sutton train name plate to be auctioned for good cause
A LOCOMOTIVE nameplate which honours a teenage fundraiser who succumbed to cancer is to be auctioned.
Virgin Trains are auctioning one of the Pendolino Stephen Sutton nameplates to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The rail company named one of its high-speed trains after Stephen in 2015 to honour the teenager who raised millions of pounds for charity while he battled cancer.
As the original cast iron plates are replaced with vinyls, Virgin will be auctioning one of the originals which has clocked up 1.25 million miles on the West Coast mainline over the last four years.
Stephen’s mother Jane Sutton was presented with the second plate at Birmingham International station, to launch the charity auction.
She said: “Virgin have been so incredibly generous.
“Stephen is one of only three people to have a train permanently named after them, so it’s a real honour.
“Fifty per cent of the money raised will go to the Teenage Cancer Trust through Stephen’s Story, which will hopefully go a long way to helping us smash our £6 million target this year.
“I have a couple of ideas of what to do with the one gifted to me, possibly giving it to his old school or maybe one of the cancer units where he was treated in Birmingham.”
Stephen’s plate will be one of 10 that are up for grabs, with around £20,000 expected to be raised for charity.
Others plates will include the ‘City of Birmingham’, ‘City of Liverpool, ‘Virgin Glory’ and ‘The Cumbrian Spirit’.