S&DR200 - Memory of a Journey

About

Various locations throughout March to August 2025 S&DR200 Presents: Trains have been part of our lives for 200 years. This project is a participation project that encourages visitors to reminisce about a journey that they remember.

From March, a mass-participation art project across County Durham and Tees Valley will see community groups decorate peg dolls that represent their favourite train journey. These will then be showcased in a growing exhibition at Preston Park Museum in autumn 2025.

They hold millions of stories for people all over the world. To celebrate the first journey on the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825, which gave birth to the modern railway, we are collecting what we hope will be thousands of our visitors' special stories.

We want the people of County Durham, Tees Valley and those who visit from afar to get creative by creating a version of themselves or their journey and tell us in a few words about that favourite train journey.

Participants can decorate a peg doll (paints, crayon, fabric, anything goes!), write down their memory on a tag and attach it to the doll, and return the dolls to us. Once collected we will start to create an ever-evolving exhibition marking all's involvement in this project at the end of 2025.

We have peg dolls that people can collect from designated pick-up centres across the region. For care homes and after school or Saturday clubs , we can provide you with a box containing 20 dolls and paints and brushes, so you have everything you need.