York National Railway Museum launches young person’s photo competition

Young people are being encouraged to enter a new photography competition to celebrate two centuries of railway history.

The National Railway Museum (NRM) and the Railway Photographic Society have teamed up for the Railway 200 project.

It will form part of a series of events leading up the bicentenary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in September 2025.

Entrants can submit up to six images of railway-themed photos they have taken.

They can then enter in two age categories: Under 18s and 19 to 25.

An exhibition of shortlisted entries will be displayed at the National Railway Museum in York and at Locomotion in Shildon after the competition closes in January 2025.

The winners will then be announced at an awards ceremony shortly after the exhibition.

The NRM’s Charlotte Kingston is a competition judge and said “there couldn’t be a better time to celebrate the railways”.

“The competition will inspire the next generation to think creatively about the railways.

“My thanks to all the partners involved in organising the competition and I am looking forward to seeing how we build on the success of the inaugural competition,” she said.

The Young Railway Photographer of the Year competition was launched in 2019 and the winners were announced in 2022 after disruption due to the Covid pandemic.

The winning image was taken by Bradley Langton, then aged 20, from Driffield, East Yorkshire, who impressed the judges with a reflected view of an LNER InterCity 225 at London King’s Cross station.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway was the first public railway to run steam locomotives the world.

Railway 200 will be a year-long national public engagement programme of activities, initiatives and partnerships for people of all ages developed by the rail industry.