Alstom has confirmed that Nottinghamshire-based artist Tim O’Brien will be the Artist in Residence at The Greatest Gathering Railway 200 event to be held at Derby’s Litchurch Lane site later this summer.

The three-day sell-out event, taking place from Friday, 1 to Sunday, 3 August 2025, will see thousands of visitors attend Derby to see and marvel at a vast range of locomotives and rolling stock from over the last 200 years of railways in Britain.

As part of this celebration in the Midlands, Tim will be capturing the hustle, bustle and celebrations of the event in a painting titled ‘en plein air’, which visitors will be able to see taking shape as Tim works to capture the event in all its glory on canvas for many future generation’s to enjoy.

Born in Nottingham, Tim has spent his 40-year career focusing on illustrating and advertising.

With a passion for art and military history, Tim turned his attention to painting in the mid-90s. He has painted many railway scenes and has done several other works for the Royal Navy and the RAF, which at times has enabled him to take to the sea and sky to capture and witness military life before representing it through art.

Since his first art exhibition in 2015 at the Royal Air Force Club, Tim’s work has been on display at the Mall Galleries in London and at the Patchings Art Centre in Calverton, Nottinghamshire.

“I feel very privileged and honoured to be invited by Alstom to be their official artist in residence and capture this bicentennial celebration in art. I have always been a fan of Terence Cuneo’s railway art and, as a child, I practiced drawing using my Hornby OO gauge steam engines as subjects, so this opportunity is off the scale”

One of the biggest challenges for plein-air artists is not to become overwhelmed by the vast array of topics in front of me at an event like this and attempt to depict too much on a single canvas. I will have to quickly focus on a view and simplify it, so it becomes a study of colour and atmosphere.”

Tim O’Brien