TRAINS are being spectacularly lit up at an event at the National Railway Museum.

As part of the Illuminating York festival, the NRM has held the Locos In A Different Light competition which saw students from across the UK compete to most impressively light up the Mallard and its sister locomotives.

Following a tough judging process by industry professionals – who considered theatricality, energy consumption, conservation and safety – Hertford-shire’s Da Vinci Studio School was announced as the winner. The display is open to the public from 6.30pm to 10pm until Saturday.

Tobias Lumb, judge and NRM project manager, said: “We’re looking forward to seeing the spectacular displays around these iconic locomotives for the next four nights and welcoming members of the public into the museum to enjoy what the students have created.”

This year’s fifth annual event gives visitors the opportunity to see all “A4s” together for a final time before two of Mallard’s sisters return to their homes across the pond.

Meanwhile, at the Minster, York schoolchildren have worked with a local artist to make lanterns. Artist Griselda Goldbrough and York Minster have run lantern workshops with four schools to help light the medieval cathedral. The Minster’s Gothic interior is being lit up as well as part of the festival.

Visitors will see the Nave – which will be cleared of chairs for the first time this decade – being lit up atmospherically to echo how worshippers would have experienced services in medieval times. At the Minster’s Chapter House visitors can light a candle in memory of a loved one to create a spiral of light.

Urban artists Black Rose will be creating new street artworks on light boxes and canvasses at the Minster.

York Minster Nights runs from 6pm tonight and 7pm tomorrow and Saturday.

The main Illuminating York events will take place at Clifford’s Tower and in the Museum Gardens, and bring the city’s Viking past to life with displays telling of tales, personalities and traditions, Illuminating York’s light and sound displays run from today until Saturday.

They will run from 6pm to 10pm until Saturday. Last admissions are at 9.45pm.

See illuminatingyork.org for festival information and to read about further attractions.

• Whitby Abbey is iIlluminated for the Whitby Goth weekend so night-time visitors can walk among the ruins which inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula while spooky costumed characters bring alive the past.