The iconic bridges punctuating the Middlesbrough skyline have always reminded me of giant Meccano structures. This year I learned that I was not alone and Meccano enthusiasts worldwide have been designing and making scale models of these bridges for decades. The Newport Bridge was featured on the front cover of Meccano Magazine in 1935 (image above).
When the Most Creative Station programme asked for artworks that linked to the area’s heritage and the train station itself, I thought that I could use Meccano to physically and metaphorically make new connections. It would make an ideal starting point as it is rooted in engineering, known for inspiring inventions, and recognisable to the broad range of visitors to the station.
Route diversion: Coined as ‘one of the oldest construction systems in the world’ Meccano was invented in 1898, by Englishman Frank Hornby. It was sad to discover that the last ever factory dedicated to Meccano, based in France, closed its doors in early 2024. The American company Spinmaster now owns the brand.
I ordered some old pieces from eBay…out of shape and with a lovely patina, the metal pieces were very appealing. I showed my father and it piqued his interest too (image above). He is an engineer who used to play with Meccano as a child and said it was what got him interested in structures. His father, my Grandad Gordon was a pattern-maker carpenter by trade and had worked in a large engineering firm (image below). During the end of WW2, Grandad made Bailey Bridges, a type of portable, pre-fabricated truss bridge developed in the 1940s as temporary bridges to transport tanks and ancillary equipment.
Route diversion: After acquiring lots of second-hand Meccano, I gravitated to the plastic Meccano, manufactured in the late 60’s and 70’s in Binn’s Road factory, Liverpool.
I liked the idea of working with different generations, to see how they responded to the Meccano and the open brief of ‘bridge-making’. The first workshop was with a group of people who meet weekly in Coulby Newham. Some people instantly took on the challenge of making a bridge and working together. Others preferred to stick with the instructions. I had brought a selection of alternative joining materials that I had hoped the group might experiment with. There was a suggestion of the pieces being ‘stitched’ together using pipe cleaners, thread, wool and LED wire, mimicking cables and pulley systems (images below – credit Rachel Deakin).
I then discovered that the North East Meccano Society was hosting their AGM in North Yorkshire, and Chairman John Herdman suggested I come along and meet the members. The room was alive with incredible inventions based on the theme ‘fairground’ (images below). The society donated me some Meccano and John and Joe Etheridge asked if they could help with the project.
Route diversion: Joe Etheridge was one the founding members of the Society and has been making Meccano models for around 80 years! Joe and his wife Sally later gave me various drawings and photographs relating to Meccano and Middlesbrough’s bridges (image below). John Herdman and his wife Sue have been a great help in connecting me to members and supporting the project from the outset.
The next workshop I planned was with design students from Teesside University. Staff and students met me at the station and then we went along to Navigator North’s base at the time – The Masham. For this workshop, I decided not to bring any instructions. This might have encouraged the group to be more inventive. The book Bridging the Tees, by Chris Davies, was a reference point, as it shows all 49 crossings over the Tees. In contrast, I introduced the work and ideas of Huddertwasser (image below – credit Rachel Deakin).
Hundertwasser sought to create structures that were free from straight lines, which he saw as constricting and devoid of organic elements. Some took the brief of ‘bridge-making’ literally and made intricate models of bridges, and others were more conceptual, a circular ‘bridge to anywhere’, for example, was looking at the role of the station in connecting people to many different places. Joe and John came along to share some of their models and to talk to the students (images below – credit Rachel Deakin).
After these initial design workshops, it was my time to play. After experimenting with the 70’s Meccano, I started to think about modular pieces, and using rope to connect which referred to the cables (images below).
This gradually evolved into using a mesh to act as a tapestry gauze to which I could affix the pieces of Meccano using cable ties. This resulted in a more textiles feel to the work, like a large-scale embroidery. It referred to the layout of the instruction books, and patterns seen around the station (images below).
The triangle came from thinking about the most frequently used and strongest shape in construction. The colour red was a nod to the Tees Valley ‘red hot’ steel industry, which was used to build many iconic structures around the world. Work-in progress shots (below).
Connection is the largest artwork that I have not made in situ. Because the piece spans 4 meters, had to be transported and has delicate electrics, logistics became one of the most challenging aspects of the project. I was grateful to John at TED’s Electrical for giving me tips and for rigging up the lights (first two images below ) and to EDable Architecture for quickly producing sketches and CAD designs (third image below).
I have met a lot of wonderful people through this project. I am pleased that one legacy project is that the Meccano will be donated to form a new group in Middlesbrough, thanks to Linda Ford. I highly recommend visiting Beamish the next time The North East Meccano Society are there, and a huge thank you again to the Meccano community for helping me.
Shout out to Mags from EDable Architecture who was an excellent advisor throughout. My father-in-law also contributed his mathematical brain and helped me to calculate material quantities for the various scale models as I went along. Thanks also to Rachel Deakin for the fabulous photos and Mike Drewery and the staff at the station who helped make the installation possible. Newman Scaffold were superb to work with and I appreciated the assistance of Sean Barnes and Zara King with the installation. And finally thank you to the team at Navigator North, especially Victoria Maddison with whom it has been a pleasure to work with.
The patterns formed with the Meccano in ‘Connection’ appear more like a tapestry than an exercise in mechanical engineering. Still, in keeping with the ethos of Meccano, I hope the artwork might ‘inspire the next generation of makers’.
Blog post written by Helen Pailing reflecting on the development of her commission for Middlesbrough’s Most Creative Station programme.
‘Connection’ will be on display in Middlesbrough Railway Station until March 2025.