A MANCHESTER-based public art event has alighted in Keighley to help promote the trans-Pennine ties between Manchester and Bradford districts.

"Bee in the City" involves dozens of giant honey bee sculptures installed around Manchester, and this morning (March 28) the logo for the project was unveiled in Keighley on the front of a locomotive that spent its working life in Manchester.

The locomotive, a Scottish-built engine named "Tiny", served a gasworks in Manchester for 30 years.

It is owned by the Bahamas Locomotive Society, which runs its own museum and workshop called Ingrow Loco at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway's (K&WVR) Ingrow station.

The Bee in the City headboard logo was formally unveiled by Sir Richard Leese, who is leader of Manchester City Council.

Sir Richard said: "I think it's a lovely way of demonstrating our partnership across the north.

"This locomotive which used to work in Manchester is now here in Keighley – part of Bradford Metropolitan District – and we have unveiled this Manchester worker bee, which is a historic emblem of our own city.

"It's about further establishing the relationship that already exists between the cities of Manchester and Bradford, and the links between the railway here and similar railway societies in Manchester."

Also present during the unveiling was Bradford Council leader Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Lord Mayor Cllr Abid Hussain and Keighley & Worth Valley Railway president and former Keighley MP Ann Cryer.

They were accompanied by representatives from the railway, as well as town, district and parish councillors, who were treated to refreshments and the chance of a ride on the K&WVR.

Cllr Hinchcliffe said: "We have strong links with Manchester and it's great that Sir Richard could come here today.

"He also visited us a couple of weeks ago to speak at our economic strategy launch.

"We recognise the importance of the two cities working together in order to grow the Northern Powerhouse economy."

Mrs Cryer said: "I'm originally from Lancashire myself – I was born in Lytham St Annes then moved to Preston, then to Darwen where I was a councillor.

"So I think it's lovely to have this occasion to mark the links between Yorkshire and Lancashire, which can sometimes be forgotten."

Keith Whitmore, chairman of the Bahamas Locomotive Society who himself lives in Manchester and is a former long-serving Manchester councillor, said he was pleased with how the unveiling event had gone.

"We've had the steam engine Tiny since 1969," he added. "It was originally called R Walker after one of the managers at the gasworks in Manchester.

"It was built for industrial use in 1949 and spent its entire working life in Manchester. We had it gifted to us by the gas board."

He said as a legacy project to continue celebrating the Manchester connection, his society plans to establish a bee garden close to its property, with a hive and pollinating plants.