It features 16 portrait photographs from renowned photographer Charlotte Graham, each recognising the selfless achievements of people from across the rail industry who have played an essential part in the country’s Covid-19 response.

This includes Jolene Miller from Stockton-on-Tees, who spent her time during the first lockdown continuing to serve passengers as a train driver for Northern, while also volunteering in her previous career as a paramedic. Plus, Network Rail’s Gareth Mallion, OBE, who played a lead role in creating the NHS Nightingale Hospital North West in Manchester at the start of the pandemic.

Judith McNicol, Director of the National Railway Museum, said: “This exhibition is an opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to the thousands of railway key workers who have kept the country going over the last year.

“From delivering essential supplies and transporting NHS workers, to selfless volunteering, the stories featured in the exhibition are an inspiration and fully deserving of wider recognition.”

The Railway Heroes exhibition is running at both the National Railway Museum in York and Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham, until December 2021. Admission is free, although tickets must be booked in advance at railwaymuseum.org.uk or locomotion.org.uk/visit.

The exhibition can also be viewed online here.

It has been produced for the National Railway Museum in partnership with LNER, Avanti West Coast, Network Rail, Northern and Laing O’Rourke and J. Murphy joint venture and HS2 Ltd.