Industry News

Bishop Auckland’s Mining Art Gallery commemorates the railway that revolutionised the world with Fuelling the Railway Revolution, an evocative new exhibition.

The exhibition celebrates the 200th anniversary of the first journey on the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR200), the world’s first large-scale, permanent public railway, by exploring the connection between mining and railways that helped keep the Industrial Revolution on track.

Opening on 27th June, the exhibition brings together paintings from across the North and spanning two centuries, capturing the transformation of industry and society through the eyes of miners and artists, including from local artists Tom McGuinness and Norman Cornish – the latter who said: “the railways, which are fast disappearing, are such a compelling source of pictorial art in terms of human history or any other terms for that matter”.

Initially, the exhibition explores the development of steam engines at colliery sites. A painting on loan from the Laing Art Gallery, North East Museums, depicts Backworth’s ‘A’ Pit in North Tyneside and highlights the use of stationary steam engines in the region’s mines – in this case using ropes to pull waggons of coal along the rails.

Also on display, on loan from Leeds Libraries will be ‘The Collier’ in the book The Costume of Yorkshire by George Walker, 1814. This depicts the first commercially successful steam locomotive, which was used to haul coal from Middleton Colliery to Leeds. Its inclusion in a book about costumesuggests how it captured the popular imagination, as well as showing how artists began to depict these groundbreaking innovations.

Another significant piece is Thomas Hair’s watercolour sketch, Old Locomotive Engine, Wylam Colliery (around 1838–1842), which represents an era of experimentation at Wylam Colliery in Northumberland, when the coal mines of the North East were at the forefront of railway technology. The first new steam engine built there, Puffing Billy, dates from around 1813 and remains the oldest surviving steam locomotive in the world.

Alongside historic pieces, the exhibition will display two recent acquisitions into the Mining Art Gallery’s permanent collection – the Gemini Collection of Mining Art. These include Robert Soden’s Diesel Engine, Hendon Shunting Yard, and Coal Wagons, Level Crossing, Hendon Beach, which record the final years of the coal industry in Sunderland and the innovative developments in transporting coal to the nation’s power stations in the 20th century.

Robert Soden said: “When I first moved to Sunderland, I was struck by the sheer visual spectacle of the pits and the diesel engines hauling long trains of coal wagons along the North Sea coast. The rumble, the rattle, the foghorn and sea fret created an unforgettable atmosphere that inspired much of my work. I’m proud that these paintings now form part of the Mining Art Gallery’s collection, helping to tell the story of a region whose industry and innovation shaped the modern world, especially as the region marks the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway."

Anne Sutherland, Mining Art & Industrial Heritage Curator at The Auckland Project, said: “As the North East marks this momentous milestone with S&DR200, the Mining Art Gallery’s exhibition will serve as a powerful reminder of the region’s pioneering role in shaping the modern world.

“The Stockton and Darlington Railway was more than just an engineering marvel, it was born from necessity, and our new exhibition highlights the inextricable link between coal mining and the railways - two forces that powered the industrial age and shaped communities for generations.

“In the Mining Art Gallery, we are privileged to showcase some of the region’s outstanding artists, so future generations and visitors from other areas can learn about the culture and the difficulties faced but also how they were overcome with the quintessential Northern grit.”

The Mining Art Gallery is part of The Auckland Project, a regeneration charity transforming Bishop Auckland into a leading visitor destination through its unique collection of heritage attractions, galleries, and gardens.

Tickets for the exhibition, running from 27th June to December 2025.