Just the ticket, Gary! First class portrait of City legend
New mobile tickets ( m-Tickets) are completely paperless and can be stored on smartphones.
Canvas copies of the portraits are on display at other railway stations in the East Midlands.
Lawrence Bowman, commercial director at East Midlands Trains, said: “The ticket portraits are a fantastic way to raise awareness about m-Ticketing to our customers, as well brightening up the walls of our first class lounges and waiting rooms across the network with a familiar face.
“We are delighted that the original artworks will be auctioned at the Railway Children’s Annual Ball in November, where we hope they will be well sought after and contribute towards the worthy charity”.
Rob Capener, marketing and fundraising director for The Railway Children, said: “We’re extremely grateful to East Midlands Trains for donating these amazing and highly original pieces of art.
“The portraits have been a very creative way of promoting the new ticketing service and it is great to have them to auction off at our Railway Ball.
“The money they raise will help us in our fight for street children around the world and will genuinely change lives.”
Other portraits include scientist Sir Isaac Newton at Lincoln, folk hero Robin Hood in Nottingham and former Doctor Who actor Matt Smith in Kettering. LEICESTER football legend Gary Lineker will be affording himself a wry smile today.
East Midlands Trains have chosen to put a portrait of the former City and England striker in the first class lounge at Leicester railway station, while a portrait of actor and director Sir Richard Attenborough is to be displayed in a waiting room that serves platform three and four.
The artworks are copies of two portraits, made from used train tickets, of depictions of 10 of the most famous faces in the region which have been welcomed to their home town stations on the East Midlands Trains network.
Lineker and Sir Richard, who both grew up in Leicester, were immortalised in train tickets as was the knighted thespian’s brother Sir David Attenborough.
British artist Ed Chapman spent more than 280 hours creating a series of celebrity portraits using recycled paper train tickets from across the East Midlands.
Ed was commissioned by East Midlands Trains to raise awareness of the benefits of new m-tickets.
More than 3,000 tickets were used to create the artworks, representing the average number of paper tickets East Midlands Trains sell every hour across its network.
MATCH OF THE DAY HOST GIVEN TOP BILLING OVER FILM DIRECTOR DICKIE