Artist’s work portrays a pageantry of progress

VISITORS to the Ribble Steam Railway are being greeted by a series of painted murals highlighting the development of rail travel from the days of Stephenson's Rocket onwards.

The nine mural panels are part of a major facelift undertaken by the heritage line thanks to harnessing a £208,000 grant from the National Lottery's Heritage Culture Recovery Fund.

Preston artist Gavin Renshaw has created the murals in acrylic spray paint on the exterior of the railway's main building. Landmark traction from UK railway history is interspersed with local features such as Preston No. 1 signalbox, the North Preston signal gantry and St Walburge's church spire, and highlights the pivotal role that railways played in the development of the region. Gavin said: “It's a timeline of engines which are significant to the Preston and the West Coast Main Line, and this whole area.”

Lifelong interest

He has had an interest in transportation from a young age, firstly aircraft, and then railways and bicycles.

The primary school he attended had a playing field which backed onto the railway line, so at break time he and a handful of friends would grab the rail guide and tick off numbers of passing traffic, usually Class 47s or 37s.

Alongside art, he excelled at technical drawing but soon realised upon leaving school that most professions were moving towards computer-aided design rather than the traditional T-square and drawing board, so he pursued a career in the arts instead. He now paints murals all over the world, alongside other art projects and exhibitions.

Preston was added to the railway map in 1838 with the opening of the North

Union Railway, linking to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, the world's first inter-city line.

Subsequent extensions saw the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway complete the English portion of the WCML in 1846.

Along with the murals, the grant has financed the renovation of the line's café and a community wellness project, with displays on the local Whittingham Asylum branch bringing a focus on the history of mental health treatment in England. A new interactive exhibit on the line's TPO carriage will highlight the importance of communication and reaching out to others.

Chairman Dave Watkins said: “The murals are the number one thing really because they are so good and so unusual.”

➜ Pictures supplied by the Ribble Steam Railway.

Right: LNWR Precedent 2-4-0 No. 790 Hardwicke still holds the record set by steam in 1896, from a cold-standing start-to-stop time, covering the 141 miles from Crewe to Carlisle in 126 minutes.

Progress in paint: In its heyday, the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway ran more than twice as many trains per day through Preston than the LNWR. Its most successful performers were Sir John Aspinall's 2-4-2Ts, one of which is depicted passing the town's No. 4 signal gantry. The next panel depicts Royal Scot 4-6-0 No. 6162 Queen’s Westminster Rifleman of Preston's 10B shed passing No. 1 signalbox. The next panel portrays one of William Stanier's streamlined Princess Coronation Pacifics and after that comes English Electric prototype Deltic DP1, built just a mile away from today's heritage line at the company's Strand Road works.

RSR The first two mural panels depict Rocket and Lion on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway.

Left and below: The last two panels in the timeline portray Class 40 D216 at the north end of Preston's original Platform 5, about to depart for Carlisle, and Class AL6/2 AC electric No. 86212 Preston Guild in InterCity Swallow livery.