Deborah Shaw (artist Aurora Engine) is set to premiere a powerful new work celebrating Rail 200, exploring rail history through music while amplifying voices often unheard. Commissioned through Making Music’s “Adopt a Music Creator” initiative and supported by PRS Foundation and Creative Scotland, the composition explores sounds of the railways, whilst reimagining stories of trains, industry and voices within railway communities. The work featuring song, harp and collected sounds from railway environments will tour Co.Durham venues in partnership with the Stockton and Darlington Railway 26miles Heritage Project and funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund, with performances at Shildon Locomotion Museum and Newcastle’s Victoria Tunnel (Ouseburn Trust). The concerts will head to local schools and care homes and heritage site Tanfield Railway.
Deborah will release a song ‘COAL DUST’ under her artist name Aurora Engine on 14.11.25 ahead of the tour. The song explores stories of women in railways using harp, strings and collected railway sounds. This will form part of an EP ‘Railway Queen’ to be released spring 2026.
Deborah (also a sonic artist) developed the composition by collecting field recordings from George Stephenson’s Twizell locomotive while shadowing Angela Pickering, the only female heritage locomotive driver at Tanfield Railway. Deborah will create recordings of the work which will include oral histories from railway workers from communities in Co. Durham which will be exhibited as a sound installation and sound walk in Shildon.