Forgotten Railway Bridges Reimagined as Public Artworks
Billboards along the North East railways will soon showcase giant images of forgotten railway architecture – turning hidden fragments of history into bold public art.
Two overlooked structures from the world’s first passenger railway are stepping back into the spotlight – not through engineering, but through art.
The Stockton & Darlington Railway, which opened in 1825, pioneered railway infrastructure on a global scale. Among its quiet innovations were ‘accommodation’ and ‘occupation bridges’, modest crossings built to let farmers move across land where the railway cut through on raised embankments. Essential in their day, they remain some of the few surviving structures from the line’s birth.
A new project by artist Steve Messam, Accommodation / Occupation, transforms these forgotten bridges into temporary artworks. Vast inflatable forms were placed within their arches to exaggerate their geometry and drawing attention to the architecture. These interventions existed only for a short moment before being captured in large-format photographs, which now carry the story to a wider audience.
Rather than tucked away in the countryside, the images will appear on billboards beside the current railway line between Darlington and Middlesbrough. For four weeks, thousands of rail passengers and road users will encounter giant portraits of these unsung structures, linking today’s journeys with the birth of the railway.
The project focuses on two bridges: Brusselton Accommodation Bridge, a Grade II listed relic from 1832 that sits beneath the historic Brusselton Incline; and Throstle Nest Occupation Bridge, designed by George Stephenson’s, now hiding in plain sight beneath Darlington’s Tornado Way.
The images will be on display from 8 September to 5 October 2025, timed to coincide with the S&DR bicentenary at the end of September – a reminder that even the most humble structures can carry a world-changing story.