The future of a Darlington sculpture has been questioned due to its “shameful” condition after being disfigured by graffiti. 

Darlington Borough Council has been urged to help clean up the Brick Train, located on the A66 at Morton Park. 

Former councillor and honorary freewoman of Darlington, Dorothy Long said: “The approaches to the sculpture are littered and overgrown and the condition of the structure itself is shameful.

(Image: STUART BOULTON)

"Weeds are growing from it, grass and moss threaten the brickwork and it is now crudely disfigured by graffiti in white paint featuring adolescent imagery and use of the F word.”

The sculpture was completed in 1997 and designed by David Mach, an artist with an international reputation. It was financed largely by the National Lottery as part of Visual Arts Year 1976 and facilitated and partly funded by Darlington Borough Council. 

A Darlington Council meeting was told that supermarket retailer Morrisons maintained the site until the land was sold in 2022.

(Image: STUART BOULTON)

Mrs Long added: “The council brought this prestigious piece of public art to Darlington, it was built with public money and is an asset to the borough. The image of ‘Train’ was used extensively in promotional literature and was a spur to economic regeneration. It could be an asset again.

"In the context of the 200th Anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, it is a symbol of our engineering expertise in the past but also Darlington’s energy and hope for the future. 

(Image: STUART BOULTON)

“It is crucial therefore that partnerships be fostered with new owners, with businesses, with the voluntary sector, and people in the community who value it as I do so that it is never again neglected as it is today. 

“What measures will the council take to ensure the proper maintenance of the sculpture ‘Train’ and the site on which it stands, urgently, in the short term and sustainably in the future?”

Responding to the concerns, Libby McCollom, cabinet member for local services, confirmed the sculpture is on privately owned land and is the responsibility of the landowner to maintain. 

The Labour councillor said: “Maintenance does appear to have declined since the change in ownership.

“However, contact has been made with the new owner, and, in the immediate term, they have undertaken to assess and make good the sculpture.

"We are engaging with the landowner now that contact has been established to see what partnership and volunteering opportunities can be developed to ensure the ongoing care of the sculpture. We will also explore what can be done in such an important year of rail heritage celebrations.”