Students create artwork inspired by iconic British Railways adverts for station in Yorkshire
Eye-catching artwork inspired by iconic British Railways posters has been created for a busy station in Yorkshire.
Forty young artists from Rotherham College designed posters which promote nearby destinations in God’s own country, like Scarborough, Hull and Filey.
The artwork will be seen by tens of thousands of passengers over the next year, after it was unveiled during a ceremony on June 12 at Rotherham Central station.
As part of the project, students from East Riding College, New College Pontefract, Keighley College and Burnley College also created posters which are being displayed at their local stations.
They were asked to come up with a fresh take on the British Railways adverts first produced in the 1930s, to encourage people to visit destinations across Yorkshire.
The artwork has been unveiled as part of Railway 200 – the nationwide celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway.
Rotherham Central, used by more than 500,000 people a year, is run by Northern, which funded the artwork project.
Richard Lyon, curriculum team leader at Rotherham College, said: "Working on this exciting live brief with Northern has been such a valuable and positive experience for our students.
"Our train journey to the Yorkshire coast enabled students to take great photos to inspire their ideas. It also took their experience beyond the classroom, developing their independence and confidence in using the rail network.
"Having the posters displayed at train stations across the county has generated a great level of energy and excitement and enables us to show off our student's talent and creativity to a large audience."
Kerry Peters, regional director for Northern, said: “The posters these young artists have produced are brilliant and we would like to thank them for all their hard work.
“We asked them to come up with captivating designs – in the style of the iconic British Railways adverts – and they have surpassed our expectations.
“The students should be incredibly proud of this display, which advertise destinations that people can travel to by train in Yorkshire.”
In March, Northern staff took 21 college students to visit the Houses of Parliament, so they could meet their MPs and discuss the work they have been doing to improve their local stations.
They were provided with travel to London by Hull Trains.
Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,650 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.