Simon Dowling, aged 38 from High Heaton in Newcastle, has paid his own tribute to the outgoing Metrocars on the Tyne and Wear Metro \u2013 by getting a tattoo of one! He has had the train tattooed on his calf and it will now be a forever reminder of the historic fleet ahead of their final withdrawal in 2026.<\/p>\n
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Simon, who already has 29 other tattoos, took inspiration from the original prototype, 4001<\/strong>, which has now entered preservation at the Stephenson Steam Railway,<\/p>\n Simon commented: \u201cI saw someone else getting a train tattoo and that\u2019s when I suddenly thought about getting one of the Metro. I love the Metro. It\u2019s been a big part of my life, getting me to university and then to places of work. In the Covid lockdown me and my son would walk down to the local Metro station to watch the trains going by.<\/p>\n \u201cThat first ever Metro train was a big inspiration for me as well, and my great aunt was actually there on the first day that the Metro opened in 1980.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people go for tattoos of local landmarks like the Tyne Bridge, or football club crests, but I wanted to do get something a bit different, and still show off that I\u2019m proud to come from Newcastle and proud to be a Geordie.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a fond memory of getting the Metro on the day that the Sunderland line opened in 2002, we even bunked off school to ride the trains.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t class myself as some kind of superfan but it\u2019s fair to say I\u2019m fond of our Metro system. The old trains are iconic, and I\u2019m also really looking forward to all the new ones being in service too.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tattoo is my own little tribute to the old trains given that they\u2019re being phased out, and there won\u2019t be any left in service in the next year or so.<\/p>\n \u201cI got the tattoo done at the Start Today Tattoo studio in Gateshead. A big shout to Zach who did such a great job on it. It\u2019s a stick and poke tattoo, which is where a needle is manually dipped in ink and poked into the skin, one dot at a time, without needing the use of an electric tattoo machine, so it\u2019s less painful.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife Dawn did joke with me about the fact I was getting a Metro train, but I really like it and I\u2019ve had many people complimenting me on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Lynne Dickinson, Station Delivery Manager at Nexus, said: \u201cThis is a unique tribute to our old train fleet. We\u2019ve not seen someone celebrate Metro through body art before, so fair play to Simon for getting it done. It looks amazing. It\u2019s a lasting reminder of our very first train, which we recently donated to the Stephenson Steam Railway in North Tyneside.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Simon Dowling, aged 38 from High Heaton in Newcastle, has paid his own tribute to the outgoing Metrocars on the Tyne and Wear Metro \u2013 by getting a tattoo of one! He has had the train tattooed on his calf … Continue reading