A puppet replica of a Tyne and Wear Metro train got into the Halloween spirit with it being transformed into a ghost train for the Great North Museum: Hanock’s Halloween Great North Night after-hours event.
The giant puppet had originally been created for the Newcastle Puppetry Festival which took place in Exhibition Park earlier in 2025. The charity Moving Parts Arts created the haunted carriage using the same puppet and it went down a storm at a sold-out event on Halloween night.
The designers set about the Metro train’s Halloween makeover by distressing the bodywork with paint, making the train appear derailed from its usual underground route and into the sewers of Newcastle. The ghost version of the Metro is driven by the Vampire Rabbit, and the windows were transformed into shadow screens, which tell gruesome tales of Newcastle’s past.
Sarah McCourt, Head of Communications and Marketing at Nexus, said: “The replica of our new train was a real highlight of the Newcastle Puppetry Festival earlier this year. It was the centrepiece of the event, and it was really eye catching.
“It’s great to see that the arts team at Moving Parts have found another use for the puppet, giving it a makeover to support the Halloween extravaganza at the Great North Museum: Hancock.
“The finished work looks brilliant. It once again highlights how Metro is part of the fabric of the communities it serves.”