Thursday 02 February 2012
Ghost Train: Life-Sized Train Sculpture Will Bring A ghostly presence To Historic Brighton Bridge
A life-sized metal silhouette of an early steam locomotive is to be installed on a redundant railway bridge in Brighton.
The Grade 2 listed bridge crosses New England Road between Preston Circus and Seven Dials.
The structure is now part of the new traffic-free Greenway occupying a one-kilometre stretch of disused railway between Brighton Station and the bridge itself.
Special lighting will make the train appear and disappear, creating a ghostly presence.
Jon Mills' metal works stand all over the British Isles. All fabricated in steel, they range from stand alone high street sculptures and sculptural railings on civic buildings, to 1" high props for children's books.
Hundreds of his mileposts stand on the Sustran's Cycle network all over the country.
In recent years he has received several commissions in his home town of Brighton including the stunning sculpture for the Millennium Brighton Festival, commissions for Hove Museum and the gateway to St Bartholomew's school and the new Ebenezer Baptist Chapel.
The artwork ‘Ghost Train’ by local metalworker Jon Mills is a nostalgic feature in the redevelopment of the city’s former railway works and sidings. It will be a two-dimensional replica of the locomotive Jenny Lind.
So where do you start when creating something on such a large scale?
Jon Mills explains: "The starting point for this project was to consider potential artworks to be incorporated into the new Green Corridor to Brighton Station.
"I wanted to draw attention to the massive locomotive works and industry that Brighton once boasted on this site.
"Giant clinker shovels now hang on the brick piers that once supported a part of these works, linked by railings resembling tool racks.
"The Ghost Train will sit at the Northern-most end, contextualised by the disused cast iron railway bridge."
The Jenny Lind, named after the famous Swedish opera singer, was one of the first locomotives commissioned by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway and proved so popular, many more were commissioned all over the country.
David Joy, the Chief Draughtsman of E.B.Wilson, was asked to visit Brighton railway works to make tracings of the drawings of a 2-2-2 locomotive designed by John Gray for the railway so that ten further examples could be built.
After some strengthening of various members, the engine was three tons heavier than expected.
However, it steamed freely and was economical on fuel.
It was to this that its success was attributed, along with the increase in boiler pressure that had become possible over the years.
However credit must be given to Joy's suspension arrangements that made it extremely smooth-running and stable.
Cabinet councillor for culture Geoffrey Bowden said:
“This is a fitting memorial to the railway works – a huge and often unknown aspect of the city’s history.
“It’s also an achievement to have put this stretch of railway back into use - replacing one eco-friendly form of transport with another and providing some intriguing new views of the city."
The piece is complete in Jon’s workshop and is expected to be installed later this year at a date to be confirmed.
A final stage in the project will be the council entering a licence agreement with landowners Network Rail.
by: Mike Cobley
|
|
It really should be ridiculous, but it isn't. Somehow concocting a seemingly obnoxious stew that includes such tasty ingredients as incest, violence, mutilation, and nudity - at Theatre Royal Brighton, no less - all comes together in the mix to serve up one of the tastiest treats of Brighton Festival.
With tongues firmly in cheeks, Spymonkey brought Oedipussy onto the hallowed Brighton stage and unravelled the tale o...
more >>
|
 The Temper Trap pic by Andy Sturmey
With the Festival and Festival Fringe already packing the streets, bars and venues of Brighton, it got pretty wild on the streets of the city when the annual Great Escape Festival was added to the throng over the weekend.
It was difficult to get a foot in many-a venue, let alone an eye on the performers, as vast queues snaked the...
more >>
|
Mariella Frostrup is both the intellectual kingpin and host of The Book Show, on Sky Arts. Featuring an array of A-list authors and other big-name guests, it was great to see the channel's flagship programme leave its studio setting and head to the Brighton Festival for two special recordings.
|
One of the hidden themes of Brighton Festival 2012 so far seems to be of a kind of theatre that is not theatre, at least not as you might expect it to be.
I have seen work enacted well out of any theatrical context in warehouses, theatre in a theatre but with a gla...
more >>
|
I fell under the spell of poet Lemn Sissay at the Pavilion Theatre, on Tuesday night. I fell for his enthusiasm, warmth and unwavering passion for the topic in hand. Hell, when I pass on I reckon Sissay will even make me sound interesting!
With every seat taken, the house lights dipped and a screen came to life with the image of the recently depart...
more >>
|
I have always had a curious fascination about what goes on other people's houses, have you? Are they like me, my family, or not? What do they think? How do they cope with things? How do they live?
Many times on a dark night I have walked home past the station and up over the Seven Dials and looked up or do...
more >>
|
Ashley Varney from Leonards-on Sea accomplished an incredible 30-race running feat when he recently crossed the London Marathon finishing line.
The 42 year old Sussex swimming pool engineer took on 30 races, which he named &...
more >>
|
Shakespeare's plays are best watched standing up. I watched his work like this as a youth paying a fiver for standing matinee places at the rear of the stalls at the old RSC in Stratford Upon Avon, in Warwickshire.
Once, all the standing-ups cheered loudly, like football fans, as Edmund the Bastard was finally killed off i...
more >>
|
"What do you wear to a literary event?" my friend Rachel asked me in the school playground a couple of weeks ago after I had invited her to the Faber Social, at the Corn Exchange, on the opening night of Brighton Festival 2012.
“I don’t know, whatever you like I suppose”, I answered<...
more >>
|
The Bee Detective must have looked, to the assembled band of worthies from the cultural Olympiad, to be just up their street. As they clutched their list of 'things we need from our attempt to show that sports people are intelligent too and that the Olympics is actually not a boring load of expensive shit, a fitness contest sponsored by McDonald's and Coca-Cola, a drug-fuelled cheats paradise with mind numbing events like rifle shooting and wrestling actually CHARGING money to get in' they must have thought like this.
It is about the death of bees, a modern issue with environment relevance… tick!
It is c...
more >>
|
|
|