On May 20th 2021, the small Northeastern railway town of Shildon celebrated its rich heritage with the transformation of one of the world’s oldest train stations with a Shildon Train Station Mural. Due to the ingenuity and collaboration of local businesses, Greenfield Arts, Illumination Wall Art, Trendsetters and the Northern Heartlands.
Shildon Train Station Mural Wall Art
The platforms at Shildon now sport some fantastic vinyl wrapped shelters donning designs by Sally Pilkington and Nic Golightly. The digital designs are a wonderful visual representation of the town’s past, present and future, all under the banner of #shildoninmotion.
The images depicted are a light motif showing both the technological advances, from miners’ lamps to modern torches, but also the bright light of the future and all the great things we have to look forward to.
Illumination Wall Art Shildon Train Station Mural
My contribution to #shildoninmotion is on the platform walls. The almost twenty-eight-meter-long ramp wall and the adjacent bridge mural depict many images, including George Stephenson’s Locomotion 1, cogs, gears, chevrons, eyes, and the ingenious lightbulb.
The somewhat limited colour palette worked very well here; the bright yellow and blue hues act as a simplistic landscape utilising natural tones to depict the sky, sea, and sand, which can be seen at the end of the Bishop line. As you make your way along the coast, slowly peeling away from the greens of the fields, woods and pitch black of the neighbouring pit towns and the 1,225-yard-long Shildon Tunnel.
Coronavirus and Shildon Train Station Mural Wall Art
Due to the situation with COVID, this mural has unfortunately taken longer than originally anticipated. Started back in winter 2020, the mural has finally been completed in May 2021.
Final Thoughts
The Shildon train station mural was a wonderful opportunity to give back to a community that I have been involved with for many years.
Robert Whitehouse, chairman of Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership, said: “We are proud to be supporting the Shildon in Motion project as it supports many of the pillars of the recent Department for Transport’s community rail strategy.”
