A large mural by Kingston artists Skyhigh and Roo is now up on Platform 1 at Kingston station, pairing an 1863 ticket with an Arterio train and King Athelstan.

Platform 1 at Kingston station has a new mural, and it is a Kingston job from end to end. The artwork was painted by Kingston street artists Skyhigh and Roo, working with The Community Brain, the Surbiton community group whose events listing carries Celebrate Surbiton and the Seething Village Fete.

South Western Railway and Network Rail Wessex commissioned it and unveiled it on Friday 4 September. They picked the date. Athelstan, the first king of England, was crowned in Kingston on 4 September 925, which made the unveiling his 1,101st anniversary.

What is actually in it

The mural is a piece of local history rather than decoration. It carries:

  • a Victorian steam engine alongside one of the railway’s new Arterio trains
  • a ticket from 1863, the year Kingston station opened
  • a reference to the electrification of the Kingston Loop in 1916
  • colours taken from the town’s river and green spaces as well as its streets

Chris Ellis, the regional manager for South Western Railway and Network Rail Wessex, said it “creates a lasting legacy for customers and the wider community, while helping make Kingston station an even more welcoming and attractive place to visit”.

It was unveiled by the Mayor of Kingston, Cllr Thay Thayalan, with council leader Cllr Andreas Kirsch and deputy leader Cllr Nicola Nardelli. Cllr Thayalan called it “a wonderful celebration of Kingston’s proud history and its place within the story of England”.

The point of the date

Kingston’s claim on Athelstan is not a marketing line. South Western Railway’s account puts six other early English kings alongside him, all consecrated in the town.

The railway has leaned on it before. On 4 September 2025, the 1,100th anniversary, South Western Railway named a train King Athelstan on the same platform, with the historian Tom Holland. The Railway 200 exhibition train Inspiration came to Kingston in February 2026. Noel Hadjimichael, who was mayor for both of those, was at Friday’s unveiling too.

The mural is described by the railway as a legacy project for Railway 200, the bicentenary of the railway marked in 2025.

Timeline of key dates at Kingston station: Athelstan crowned in Kingston on 4 September 925; the station opens in 1863; the Kingston Loop is electrified in 1916; Railway 200 marks the railway's bicentenary in 2025; a train is named King Athelstan on Platform 1 on 4 September 2025; the Railway 200 train Inspiration visits in February 2026; the mural is unveiled on Platform 1 on 4 September 2026
The dates the mural draws on, and the ones that led to it. Source: South Western Railway.

The group behind it

The Community Brain is a community interest company registered at Ellerton Road, Surbiton. Companies House records it as incorporated on 25 May 2010, under company number 07264912, and its own site dates the work to 2009. Its motto, printed on its home page, is primum agere, mox veniam petere: act first, ask forgiveness later.

It is one of a dozen community rail partnerships that South Western Railway and Network Rail Wessex work with. Its own events listing carries the Seething Village Fete, at St Andrew’s Square on Saturday 12 September, and Celebrate Surbiton, the Thursday evening street food and entertainment event on the Surbiton station forecourt.

What it means for you

The mural is on Platform 1, so you do not need a ticket barrier to see it if you are travelling. Kingston station handles more than four million entries and exits a year, by the railway’s own count, and the mural is the second recent change there after a new Sainsbury’s opened at the station.

Two practical notes if you are going specially:

  • Kingston station has no car park of its own. The nearest all-day option is Canbury Place, and prices for every council car park are on our parking page
  • trains through the borough are disrupted on 19 and 20 September, when the lines in the New Malden area close all weekend. Details are on our roadworks and travel page

More Kingston days out are on our things to do page.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Kingston station mural?

On Platform 1 at Kingston station. It was unveiled on Friday 4 September 2026.

Who painted it?

Kingston street artists Skyhigh and Roo, working with The Community Brain, a Surbiton community interest company. South Western Railway and Network Rail Wessex commissioned the work.

What does the mural show?

A Victorian steam engine next to one of the railway’s new Arterio trains, a ticket from 1863, and a reference to the electrification of the Kingston Loop in 1916. It also marks King Athelstan, crowned in Kingston on 4 September 925.

When did Kingston station open?

1863, according to South Western Railway, which put a ticket from that year into the mural. The Kingston Loop was electrified in 1916.

Sources