Two London North Eastern Railway (LNER) colleagues working at Grantham railway station in Lincolnshire have used their skills at handiwork to create a new welcome for passengers.

Station customer service assistants Phil Armstrong and Jez McLeish created a unique planter that is shaped like an LNER Azuma train. The planter, which has pride of place on Platform 1, was made mostly from recycled materials and is situated in the space formerly occupied by ticket barriers.

Both the shell and the base of the planter were made from upcycled pallets that had been used for deliveries to the station, and unused wood from renovation work.

The Azuma planter has a distinctive yellow nose and red stripes running along the train, which were spray-painted on the planter to bring it to life. Phil and Jez’s emphasis on using recycled materials brought the final cost of the planter down to just £150, with only the paint and other finishing materials having to be purchased or obtained by generous donations.

Although salvaged wood from around the station was used for most of the planter, a special Azuma mini-livery was made by Stewart Signs, which has worked with LNER on the full-size train wraps; Stewart Signs made the special livery free of charge.

Outside of working for LNER Jez McLeish is a tattoo artist and sculptor, and is always making different things. He added that he had the idea for the planter, and Phil went along with him to make something that stands out and goes the extra mile.

In creating the planter, Phil Armstrong used his experience designing model aeroplanes. He commented that the planter is the first thing people see when they walk into the station, and it has really enhanced that entrance for customers.

Last April at St. Margarets in Hertfordshire, Greater Anglia provided funds to install two planters at the railway station, and in October, the Weardale Railway in North Yorkshire won an award for its Railway 200 Themed Planters

“We were delighted to support the team at Grantham by producing the scaled-down livery for the planter. It is fantastic to see how this creative idea brings colour and personality to the station, and I am very proud to have played a part in making the magic happen!”

Abbie-Jade Howarth, Project Manager at Stewart Signs