RAILWAY lovers are being invited to choose which engine from the famous Horwich Locomotive works will grace a prominent roundabout.

The chosen loco will be used as the model for a £25,000 dramatic sculpture which will take pride of place at the Tesco roundabout, Horwich.

Bolton Council has come up with three short-listed engines -- and have asked Bolton Evening News readers to make the winning choice.

The sculpture, designed by London artist Tom Wilkinson, will be built from discs of mild steel. It will be 20 feet high and Mr Wilkinson, who got his inspiration from M D Smith's "Horwich Locomotive Works" book, said: "I wanted to provide an element of surrealism. The sculpture will be a ghostly image which seems to appear and disappear from different angles."

And it is three of the locomotives featured in Smith's book, that Mike Taylor, council landscape architect has picked.

Mr Taylor said: "We hope the project will celebrate the importance of the locomotive works in Horwich and will also be a fine work of art in itself."

The winning loco will be the one with the most votes. Those who voted for it will have their names put in a hat, and the winner drawn out will be a guest at the unveiling of the sculpture next spring.

The aim of the sculpture, commissioned by the council in conjunction with Tesco and Georgia Pacific GB, is to connect history with modern day.

Stuart Whittle, chairman of Horwich Heritage Society, said they were delighted with the idea.

"It is a fitting tribute to the heritage of the Locomotive Works which created the Horwich that we know today. It was only one of six major railway towns in the country and the Works existed from 1886 to 1983."

Mr Whittle said the choice of locomotive for the model would always be a difficult one as the three are of different styles.

"This shows how things evolved in terms of style at the Works where 1,830 engines were built," he added.

Mr Whittle said he was also pleased that Tesco would be providing a history panel within the store about Horwich and the works, to compliment the sculpture.

So which loco will be chosen as the model? Here are the three short-listed:

The Aspinall 2-4-2 Radial Tank locomotive No 1008. A firm favourite as it was the first ever made at the Horwich Locomotive Works in a batch of 10, started in January 1888.

It was designed by John Audley Frederick Aspinall, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's chief mechanical engineer, and apart from the wheels and tyres (which came from Germany), all the parts were made at Horwich.

It rolled out of the works on February 20, 1889 and went into service in Southport. It also worked the Midland services in 1926 and finally ended its duty days on September 18, 1954.

But its days were not over. A preservation order was granted making it an item of historical interest and it was refurbished at Horwich Works. It is now one of the popular exhibits at the National Railway Museum in York.

When it left the Loco sheds in February 1899, the Aspinall 4-4-2 "1400" Class Express engine -- L.M.S. No 10327 -- was the most powerful on a British railway.

One of the "worker" locomotives, 0-6-0 goods engine No 417, built to Aspinall's design, started its labours on September 16, 1895.

Between September 1889 and May 1901, there were 400 similar engines built at Horwich. The engine shown was withdrawn in May 1938.

John Audley Frederick Aspinall was appointed Chief Mechanical engineer in July 1886 at a salary of £1,500 a year.