{"id":623653,"date":"2026-06-06T01:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/623653\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T01:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:35:22","slug":"heritage-railway-defends-carriage-graffiti-by-bristol-street-artists-after-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/623653\/","title":{"rendered":"Heritage railway defends carriage graffiti by Bristol street artists after backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has sparked controversy\"Bristol<\/p>\n

Bristol street artists Inkie, Cheo and Jody have been commissioned to decorate a heritage railway carriage in the style of the 1980s, at Avon Valley Railway in Bitton.(Image: Avon Valley Railway)<\/p>\n

A heritage railway on the edge of Bristol has sparked controversy after it commissioned three of the city\u2019s most famous street artists to cover one of its vintage carriages in graffiti as if it were a New York subway carriage in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

Avon Valley Railway<\/a> asked Inkie<\/a>, Jody <\/a>and Cheo – three street artists from Bristol who were among the original from the city\u2019s graffiti scene in the 1980s – to create a \u2018Street Art Train\u2019, which will be on display at Bitton Station on the eastern edge of Bristol.<\/p>\n

They were commissioned to spray paint one side of a heritage railway carriage with street art designs from the 1980s – there\u2019s even a Margaret Thatcher with devil horns in there, for added authenticity – for an up and coming short film.<\/p>\n

But there has been quite the backlash against the Avon Valley Railway when they revealed the project on their social media. The railway operates as a charity, and runs steam trains up and down a former line across the eastern edge of Bristol that was closed down in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Avon Valley Railway had to reassure heritage railway enthusiasts that the windows of the carriage was covered with latex first so the paint can just be peeled off, that the carriage is yet to be restored by the volunteers at the charity so nothing was damaged – and the paint will actually help protect the carriage until it is restored.<\/p>\n

But the main complaint from those outraged was that it would encourage other graffiti artists to target heritage railway carriages – something Avon Valley Railway then had to address.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were delighted to host \u2018Inkie\u2019, \u2018Jody\u2019 and \u2018Cheo\u2019 to our station site at Bitton,\u201d said Mark Hill, the general manager at Avon Valley Railway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe identified a suitable carriage \u2013 currently awaiting restoration – and to make it available to these well-known and highly respected artists so that they could apply their designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the windows received a protective latex covering, thus providing a larger canvass area without any lasting damage to the vehicle,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Bristol<\/p>\n

Bristol street artists Inkie, Cheo and Jody have been commissioned to decorate a heritage railway carriage in the style of the 1980s, at Avon Valley Railway in Bitton.(Image: Avon Valley Railway)<\/p>\n

The street art carriage is available to see as a static display at Bitton Station every day the steam trains operate, and those running the charity said they hope it will attract more people to visit and ride on the trains themselves.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Avon Valley Railway said: \u201cAvon Valley Railway would like to state that that the public SHOULD NOT use this artwork as a \u2018green light\u2019 to apply their own street art to the precious and irreplaceable collection of vintage locomotives, carriages, rolling stock and buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was an initial backlash from supporters of Avon Valley Railway and heritage rail enthusiasts around the country, as images of the newly-painted carriage were shared around that community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem isn’t this particular artwork, it’s the precedent,\u201d Alan Barton wrote on the railway\u2019s social media page. \u201cMost heritage railways spend eyewatering sums of money repairing and preventing vandalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever well-intentioned this project is, many people won’t know it was commissioned. They’ll simply see a heritage railway displaying a graffiti-covered carriage, exactly what many \u2018unauthorised artists\u2019 thrive on.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the amount of effort the heritage sector puts into preventing exactly that, it feels like a strange message to be sending,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Engine Shed Brewery, a Yorkshire-based brewery closely affiliated with heritage railways around the country, were also among the artwork\u2019s detractors.<\/p>\n

\"Bristol<\/p>\n

Bristol street artists Inkie, Cheo and Jody have been commissioned to decorate a heritage railway carriage in the style of the 1980s, at Avon Valley Railway in Bitton.(Image: Avon Valley Railway)<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry to say this guys, but that is sacrilege to heritage stock and is a bad example to set as youngsters who see it will think that it’s OK to \u2018tag\u2019 other stock as well,\u201d they commented.<\/p>\n

But then other railway enthusiasts and street art fans defended the railway and supported the artwork.<\/p>\n

Paul Berkman commented that he was \u2018laughing\u2019 at the people saying this would give a \u2018green light\u2019 to graffiti artists to target heritage trains. \u201cGraffiti artists have always managed to find plenty of coaches to spray up without any kind of green light,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the meantime this is bringing in a much needed revenue stream, the coaches haven\u2019t been restored yet so aren\u2019t being damaged by the paint, and if it\u2019s going to be done anyway it\u2019s better that a heritage line makes some money than the producers just buying a scrap carriage and filming on a lot somewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell done AVR for thinking outside the box. Something that we need more of in the heritage railway industry,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has sparked controversy Bristol street artists Inkie, Cheo and Jody have been commissioned to decorate a heritage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,89586,1120,27181,96,2054,38559,56,54,55,211641],"class_list":["post-623653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-bristol-nostalgia","tag-design","tag-east-bristol","tag-entertainment","tag-margaret-thatcher","tag-places","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-upfest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}