Avon Valley Railway is delighted to announce the latest arrival at Bitton Station – ‘Street Art Train’.
Bristol artists ‘Inkie’, ‘Jody’ and ‘Cheo’ have been commissioned to spray paint one side of a heritage railway carriage with street art designs of the 1980s – for an up-and-coming short film (yet to be announced). Artwork uses authentic colours available from the same period.
Roger Eynon, Chair of the Avon Valley Railway Heritage Trust, commented, “It’s heritage street art, applied to one of our wonderful heritage train carriages! We hope that visitors will come along to our main station at Bitton to enjoy viewing ‘Street Art Train’ whilst our steam-hauled services are running.
There is no charge to access the site, but as a charity, we appreciate the support of visitors by either making a donation, buying refreshments from the buffet, or purchasing a ticket for a steam train ride. Every surplus penny we make goes towards keeping our cherished heritage steam railway running for future generations.”
Avon Valley Railway has special permission to display ‘Street Art Train’ for visitors to enjoy. The carriage itself is on static display at Bitton Station (BS30 6HD) every day that steam trains operate, and into the foreseeable future – dates available from the Avon Valley Railway website.
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Mark Hill, General Manager of Avon Valley Railway, commented, “We were delighted to host ‘Inkie’, ‘Jody’ and ‘Cheo’ at our station site at Bitton. We identified a suitable carriage – currently awaiting restoration – and made it available to these well-known and highly respected artists so that they could apply their designs. Some of the windows received a protective latex covering, thus providing a larger canvass area without any lasting damage to the vehicle.”
Avon Valley Railway would like to state that the public SHOULD NOT use this artwork as a ‘green light’ to apply their own street art to the precious and irreplaceable collection of vintage locomotives, carriages, rolling stock and buildings.
Avon Valley Railway is a 3-mile heritage line, based at Bitton, with steam trains operating between Oldland Common and Avon Riverside, running alongside the Bristol and Bath Railway Path. With over 300 volunteers, AVR celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024 and is a popular visitor attraction for its Santa Specials, Bitton Belle Dining and Murder Mystery trains.
