Since March 2025, S&DR200 has captured the imagination of hundreds of thousands of people from across the globe with a vibrant cultural programme that has used culture as a tool to tell stories of international importance. Artists, practitioners, historians and storytellers were asked to think about bringing the past, present and future to life in a captivating way. The festival, which has been extended until May 2026 due to its success, continues to highlight the importance of the railways to the industrial revolution and this pioneering time.
While celebrating a remarkable chapter of British history that shaped our world, S&DR200 also turns to the future, encouraging the next generation of engineers, artists, and leaders to find collaborative solutions for today’s most pressing challenges. Storytelling proves to be crucial for capturing global narratives, as well as spotlighting lesser-known stories of local people, ensuring a lasting and meaningful legacy for all.
Throughout this year across County Durham and Tees Valley, Shildon to Stockton via Darlington, S&DR200 has showcased how championing collaboration and the arts is vital to driving progress, critical thinking, communication and wellbeing. Across this corner of England, the visitor economy, museums, hotels and towns have experienced the benefit, with hundreds of thousands of visitors making trips to the region’s museums and public spaces. S&DR200 has been delivered by Darlington Borough Council, Durham County Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.
The programme’s legacy continues, secured due to the support of national bodies and local authorities working together in a unique way to ensure longevity and the progression of the region’s creative sector. The programme has highlighted the wealth of talent and skills across County Durham and Tees Valley, from the visual arts to performance and spoken word. The festival aims to encourage the next generation of young people to develop their careers in both the creative and STEM sectors.
- Events have taken place throughout County Durham and Tees Valley, covering over 1000 square miles across urban areas to the open countryside
- Over 25,000 local people have participated in S&DR200 activities including workshops, walks, talks, a 300+ strong event fringe programme and the central performative showcase in performances Ghost Train, STEAM and All Change
- 60,000 school children and students aged 5 to 18 have participated in the education programme
- More than 60 artists and 20 organisations have been involved in the programme to shine a light on and reimagine the landscape where the first train journey took place
- Major exhibitions have unfolded in museums and galleries across the region, notably within Locomotion, The Story, Preston Park and Hopetown, with more to follow – including a site-specific work by Yann Nguema, a French physicist turned digital installation artist, a world record attempt at Locomotion, and a significant Women of the World (WOW) open air exhibition looking at how people from various fields influence the area now
Cultural Programme Highlights
S&DR200’s cultural programme, the result of close collaboration between Director Niccy Hallifax, local authorities and cultural partners, has delivered unique large-scale commissions, from multi-layered outdoor performances to beautiful and insightful museum exhibitions and art installations. Audiences were invited to take an alternative look at the stories surrounding this 26-mile journey and the people and communities behind it. New public art installations have been introduced across the area cementing the region’s position as a leading destination for world-class heritage and culture.
Through the commissioning of over 60 artists, from internationally renowned household names to upcoming local talent who have been invited to tell the unique story of the railway’s past, present and future, the festival continues to shine a spotlight on the lesser-known stories weaved into this, ensuring that they are documented as part of the project’s wider legacy and recognised as offering notable engineering and critical artistic thinking from the region.
A number of these artists worked with local community groups, including young creatives and asylum seekers. As part of an ongoing programme, nine murals and two sculptures along the S&DR Trail of Discovery route have started to appear, to mark and celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. These artworks were placed along key historic locations of a new trail between Witton Park in County Durham and Stockton in Tees Valley, closely following the original 26-mile route of the S&DR, as part of a wider commission awarded to Teesside University (University of the year 2025) to create a digital game that can be played both on the route and virtually.
Aida Wilde, an Iranian-born, London-based printmaker and visual artist, brought her signature style of social commentary to Hopetown, Darlington. The work was located next to one of the first station’s, North Road, offering her reflections on displacement, the working class, education, and equality. PAST, PRESENCE, LOCOMOTION was based on the legacy of the Stockton and Darlington Railway at Hopetown Darlington, working with a series of local community groups (Action Asylum Volunteers from Refugee Futures in Stockton, The Friends of Stockton and Darlington Railway and the wider community in Darlington) connecting themes of heritage, memories, pioneers, migration and stories of the famous railway cats. The work produced can now be seen in the museum grounds.
Other highlights on the trail include a joyful work by Morag Myerscrough who created a mural at the Grade II Stockton Station with young producers, as well as a neurodivergent and a community crafting group in Darlington. Her work is well known within the artworld for its use of bright colour patterns that transform urban environments.
Internationally acclaimed artist, Rebecca Louise Law, who recently exhibited her work at the Saatchi Gallery in London (2 February 2025 – 5 May 2025), transformed Preston Park Museum’s multi million pound new exhibition building through her breathtaking installation, Corridors, which launched in the autumn and is on view until 4 January 2026. Law has delicately suspended over 20,000 preserved flowers, most of which came from the Museum grounds collected by volunteers over the past 8 months. Both the scents and the visuals give a metaphorical nod to how train tracks, past and present, have created nature’s veins across continents, ultimately supporting biodiversity.
This work coincided with a display of the nationally significant works by Victorian artist William Powell Frith (1819 – 1909), as part of the exhibition at Preston Park titled Gateway to the World: The Railway Station, Life at the Seaside (Ramsgate Sands) and Derby Day. This was the first time that these three pieces have been exhibited together, offering visitors a unique opportunity to view the nationally significant paintings demonstrating the importance of how a small locomotive transformed lives. (Ramsgate Sands and The Railway Station were lent by His Majesty the King from the Royal Collection, and Derby Day was loaned from Manchester City Galleries).
Tokyo and London-based duo A.A. Murakami, renowned for innovative sensory installations, looked at demonstrating the physics behind momentum. In STEAM to the future Murakami invited visitors of all ages to imagine the future, focusing on the invisible forces at play to offer a visual insight into the wonders of steam. Naturally chaotic and randomly dispersed, steam was harnessed in this installation into structured rings that move toward the horizon, transforming disorder into captivating motion.
The performance programme extended the immersive experiences beyond the walls of institutions throughout the year. With a strong cast of 100 members of the community and professional performers, Southpaw Dance Company blended contemporary dance with thoughtful storytelling to create STEAM, a visually stunning, bespoke live performance. This was performed in two very different spaces: in Hackworth Park, Shildon and Stockton high street, in front of the old town hall where during the official opening of the S&DR in 1825, a celebratory banquet took place.
Avanti Display, through the largest cultural commission, created two large-scale, significantly different showcases under the name Ghost Train in Darlington and Stockton Riverside, bookending the anniversary celebrations. Collaborating with Walk the Plank and artists Andy Plant, Bill Palmer, Bryan Tweddle and Chris Squire, these celebratory events combined storytelling, music and physical theatre to tell the human story behind the birth of the passenger railway and explore the impact it had on the region.
Set against a specially composed musical score, Ghost Train: The Arrival was an epic outdoor show. Featuring a reimagining of Locomotion No. 1 accompanied by six illuminated carriages, this was a community cast of national and local performers, which included performance students and local volunteers from across Darlington and Stockton. For Ghost Train: The Departure, audiences were given the chance to witness a theatrical imagining of Locomotion No. 1 steaming to life, installed on a large plinth and using ‘coal from the future’, made by 900 school children across Darlington, as part of a spectacular procession.
Another highlight included the collaborative talents, imitating the dog with SKYMAGIC, who created the visual feast All Change at the famous Kynren site to open the year in March 2025. This partnership, using projection mapping, storytelling through dance and performance, film, and a new soundscape with spoken word demonstrates just how the region changed our world. The 25-minute sold-out show wove together a series of playful images and music, telling the remarkable story of innovation over the past 200 years because of the railways, playing like a sonnet to the region that gave so much to the world we live in today.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Perfume by Yann Nguema opens at Preston Park on 17 Jan 2026.
From 17 January to 10 May 2026, S&DR200 culminates with Perfume by world-renowned projection artist Yann Nguema.
The final exhibition to form part of the Tracks of Change series at Preston Park Museum, Stockton, Nguema’s work explores the roles railways play in the natural world and how trains support the distribution of seeds and pollination when they move through the countryside.
Perfume will transport viewers through articulated algorithms and poetry, set to the rhythm of an ethereal musical score created by Zero Gr4vity, creating hypnotic, poetic landscapes.
This is the first time Nguema’s work has been shown in the UK. Inspired by flora and fauna, the exhibition invites visitors to witness mesmerising art that blurs light and sound to capture visually breathtaking experiences.
This exhibition arrives at a pivotal time for the artist, as Nguema’s piece Pro Pace, which honours Nobel Peace Prize laureates, was chosen for projection onto Stockholm City Hall during Nobel Week Lights (6 – 14 December 2025). He is also an ambassador artist for the Lyon Festival of Lights.
Showcased in The Spence Building at Preston Park Museum, Stockton, entry to Perfume is included with an annual or day Museum Pass, available online: www.prestonparkmuseum.co.uk
● The Trail of Discovery official game and art walk launch, January 2026.
The game enables players to learn more about the pioneering innovations of the S&DR via augmented reality and explore key locations in immersive and dynamic ways along the 26 mile route.
● The Hope Brigade in the North East with WOW, March 2026 onwards.
This global photography project, in partnership with S&DR200, will celebrate 26 individuals whose creativity, activism and leadership are driving positive change in their communities.
● Memory of a Journey – exhibition display in Durham City Town Hall, May 2026.
This project, as part of the S&DR200 celebrations, went to care homes, schools, community centres, libraries, prisons, shopping centres, social clubs, hospitals, museums and in civic hubs across the region, encouraging those involved to decorate wooden peg dolls and turn them into something special.
● S&DR200 a look back, Hopetown, September 2026.
Details to follow via Hopetown’s website.
S&DR200’s Legacy
S&DR200 has highlighted the importance of creating legacy and placemaking through culture, alongside exemplifying the many ways this can be achieved. By situating legacy and community at the heart of the festival, the intention was to invest into the cultural fabric of communities, increasing opportunities for the public to experience the arts and therefore bridging the past, present and future. The works meaningfully communicate shared heritage, by creating a replicated sense of wonder for visitors in the experience of witnessing the very first train.
In commemorating the year of celebration, many artworks, projects, and collaborators will remain in and around the 26 mile route of the S&DR, with many pieces becoming part of permanent collections and recorded stories forming part of national archives. The artworks that are now part of the landscape form part of people’s lived experiences and subsequent memories.
Highlights for legacy pieces include the notable Memory of a Journey participation project, which resulted in over 18,000 people from community groups, schools, care homes and visitors to S&DR200 festival venues across Tees Valley and County Durham, decorating peg dolls to represent their favourite train journey. Thousands of the designs were showcased in a unique exhibition in the autumn, 13 September – 12 October 2025, with a second exhibition taking place in the new year in Hopetown. In order to ensure these stories are not forgotten, the digital files of the peg dolls will sit within the National Railway archives, creating an authentic snapshot of the community that engaged with the festival.
Notably, the festival highlighted the importance of commissioning new art alongside championing historical works, as demonstrated by the loans of William Powell Frith, exhibitions by renowned artists like Yann Nguema and Rebecca Louise Law, who will be creating a permanent piece for Preston Park Museum.
Similarly, the festival continues to support talent from the region itself. Local artists and printmakers, Suzie Devy and Merlyn Griffiths both represent this, with the National Railway museum officially acquiring both of their works for its permanent collection, ensuring that audiences will be able to interact with the works for many more years to come. Abby+Owen, the creative duo who created a series of illustration prints for the anniversary, have also been commissioned to create a new mural following this. Many of the murals placed along the key historic sites will also remain in the area, with Caroline Cardus’ collaborative project invited Shildon residents to share their perspectives, which were then transformed into signage inspired by railway signals, remaining at The Masons Arms in Shildon, and Lewis Hosbon’s work appearing at various locations throughout the region.
S&DR200 Festival Director, Niccy Hallifax said: “The arts have a huge role to play in our national celebrations as well as revitalising our towns and public spaces. Alongside the importance of economics, it’s about harnessing the power of created works and pieces that imprint within the landscapes, creating meaning in and for all our communities. It is through the legacy of S&DR200’s amazing celebrations that we can continue to champion the pioneers who went before us for this project, as well as celebrating what we value: creativity, expression, and the power of healing human connections.”
S&DR200 is being delivered by Darlington Borough Council, Durham County Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. Major funders include Tees Valley Combined Authority, Arts Council England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England and Heritage Railway. A report of evaluation will be released mid 2026. S&DR200 offers a global and local understanding of the railway industry, including celebration, imagination, determination and the communities who created it.
S&DR200 is partnered with Railway 200, a year-long campaign celebrating 200 years of the modern railway. S&DR200 sponsors include LNER, Hitachi, Amazon UK and Caswell’s Group.
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
