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Going loco in Middlesbrough

[ September 29, 2025   //   ]

Port of Middlesbrough owner AV Dawson has turned a redundant diesel shunting locomotive into a piece of roundabout art to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

The company collaborated with students from Northern School of Art on a project to create a striking new look for the old loco. The winning concept was created by Phoebe Allan, aged 17 with an interpretation of the S&DR 200th anniversary. AV Dawson’s engineering team then carried out extensive refurbishment, restoring both the interior and exterior of the locomotive before applying the artwork.

The S&DR was the first public passenger railway in the world and its opening is widely regarded as the birth of modern railway and, indeed, mechanised land transport in all its forms.

At that time, Middlesbrough was a hamlet of 25 people, but the railway transformed it into a thriving industrial town. Today, the legacy continues at the Port of Middlesbrough, home to one of the largest independent rail freight facilities in the North of England, with four rail terminals across its 120-acre site.

And to ensure the project was as environmentally friendly as possible, AV Dawson’s engineering team replaced the diesel motor with two large water butts, to collect rainwater to assist with watering the plants on the Riverside Park Road roundabout.

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