Visitors have just weeks left to experience Fuelling the Railway Revolution at Bishop Auckland’s Mining Art Gallery, as the exhibition enters its final month before making way for a major Tom McGuinness retrospective opening on 18 February 2026 to celebrate the centenary of the artist’s birth.
Marking the 200th anniversary of the world-changing Stockton & Darlington Railway, Fuelling the Railway Revolution explores the powerful relationship between coal mining and the railways that drove the Industrial Revolution. Bringing together artworks from across the North and spanning two centuries, the exhibition captures the dramatic transformation of industry and society through the eyes of miners and artists.
Featuring works by celebrated local artists including Tom McGuinness and Norman Cornish – who described the railways as “a compelling source of pictorial art in terms of human history” – the exhibition charts the evolution of steam power, from early colliery engines to the innovations that shaped modern Britain.
Highlights include Backworth’s ‘A’ Pit painting from the Laing Art Gallery, George Walker’s The Collier (1814), and Thomas Hair’s watercolour of an old Wylam Colliery locomotive. These works capture the era’s technological advances. Puffing Billy, built at Wylam Colliery around 1813, remains the world’s oldest surviving steam locomotive.
Two recent acquisitions to the Mining Art Gallery’s permanent Gemini Collection of Mining Art – Robert Soden’s Diesel Engine, Hendon Shunting Yard and Coal Wagons, Level Crossing, Hendon Beach – also feature, recording the final years of the coal industry and the last rumble of coal trains on the North Sea coast.
Anne Sutherland, Mining Art & Industrial Heritage Curator at The Auckland Project, said: “Fuelling the Railway Revolution is a powerful reminder of the North East’s pioneering role in shaping the modern world. As the region continues to mark S&DR200, this exhibition brings to life the inextricable link between coal and the railways – two forces that powered the industrial age and shaped our communities.
“It has also proven to be one of our most popular exhibitions, resonating strongly not only with local visitors who recognise and connect with scenes of familiar places, but also with those travelling from further afield who come to understand the global significance of the North East’s industrial story.
“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, the challenges faced, and the quintessential Northern grit that helped overcome them.”
The Mining Art Gallery forms part of The Auckland Project, the regeneration charity transforming Bishop Auckland into a vibrant visitor destination through its heritage attractions, galleries and gardens.
Don’t miss your chance to see Fuelling the Railway Revolution before it closes on 31 December 2025. Secure your tickets now at: https://aucklandproject.org/event/fuelling-the-railway-revolution/.
A new exhibition celebrating the life and work of Tom McGuinness – marking 100 years since his birth – opens on 18 February 2026.
