A BLANK railway sign in Saltaire railway station has received an artistic makeover - thanks to two Bradford students.

And the back of the existing sign on the edge of Saltaire Station facing on to Victoria Road in the World Heritage Site has now been unveiled.

Bradford School of Art students Massimiliano Belli and Giada Dambra took their inspiration from the Italianate architecture and planned layout of the World Heritage village to create a colourful and entertaining map showing the key buildings and landmarks, people, landscape, Sir Titus Salt sculpture in the park and even the ducks in the grounds of the United Reformed Church.

The new artwork is a partnership project between Bradford Council, railway company Northern and volunteer-led arts charity Saltaire Inspired, which helped to brief the students on what was required.

Bradford Council heritage champion, Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, said: "The sign had a rather plain, black back to the road and so there was an opportunity to really liven things up for visitors and residents at this point of arrival.

"This is adding to the huge improvements already made on Victoria Road, which has seen all the pavements restored with new York stone, including the restoration of the historic ‘fan ends’ at the corners of every side road, new street lighting, improvements to adjoining public gardens and lighting of the lion sculptures."

June Russell, chairman of Saltaire Inspired, said: "This is a great little partnership project with Bradford Council and Northern, the station operators, showcasing the talented work of local students. The work is great fun and marks Saltaire out as a creative place to be and widely recognised for achievements in the visual arts."

Paul Barnfield, regional director for Northern, said: "The artwork will be an eye-catching point of focus for customers on arrival at Saltaire station. Thank you to the students who took the time to create this fantastic work of art that will be a unique part of the station for years to come."