Top 20 Railway Artworks Unveiled On World Art Day

The 20 best-loved railway artworks in the UK were unveiled today (15 April, World Art Day) following a global vote held as part of a celebration of 200 years of the modern railway.

Art lovers and rail enthusiasts are now invited to choose an outright winner to be announced on 9 June, the birthday of rail pioneer George Stephenson.

Famous works by J.M.W. Turner and Eric Ravilious are included in the final 20, along with six works by renowned railway painter Terence Cuneo and two by Norman Wilkinson, whose paintings are featured in popular travel posters. The shortlist includes artworks by 14 artists, including female painters Anna Todd, Ann Emily Carr and Grace Lydia Golden.

The top 20 artworks were selected by public vote from a longlist of 200 compiled by Art UK, the online home of the nation’s art, as part of a partnership with Railway 200, rail’s bicentenary campaign to celebrate a British invention that changed the world. Nearly 4,000 votes were cast.

The shortlist is drawn from 11 public collections across England, Scotland and Wales, including the National Railway Museum, Hopetown Darlington and The Postal Museum. The initial vote highlights the breadth of organisations that hold public artworks, ranging from The National Gallery and Aberdeen Art Gallery to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Royal Holloway, University of London.

Anyone can register for the final vote to choose the nation’s favourite at https://railway200.artuk.org/ and the poll will close at midnight on Sunday, 1 June. Art UK is also hosting online exhibitions of both the shortlist and longlist or artworks.

Heritage Minister Baroness Twycross said: “For two centuries, our railways have carried passengers and freight as well as inspiring artistic creativity across Britain. This remarkable collection showcases how deeply trains are woven into our cultural fabric. 

“I’m delighted to see such diversity in the shortlist and encourage everyone to celebrate this bicentenary by viewing these wonderful artworks and voting for their favourite.”

Alan Hyde from Railway 200 said: “The railway has always been a source of inspiration for artists, helping to enrich our cultural lives. We hope that, in rail’s bicentenary year, art lovers will travel by train to enjoy the best of railway-inspired art at first hand and help to choose the nation’s favourite.”

Andrew Ellis, Chief Executive of Art UK, added: “There are so many terrific artworks of trains and the railway in the UK national collection and on Art UK. This first public vote has narrowed this down to 20 artworks from which a winner must now be chosen. Given the shortlist, this will be quite a challenge, and I cannot wait to see which one is chosen as the ‘world’s favourite UK railway artwork!”

The paintings will be displayed in The Railway 200 Gallery in an exhibition on the Art UK website until 31 December 2025. 

Railway 200 commemorates the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) in 1825 when George Stephenson drove Locomotion No.1 a distance of 26 miles between Shildon, Darlington and Stockton in the North East of England. As part of Railway 200, this historic event is also being celebrated with a nine-month international festival known as S&DR200.