No. 49 Columbine 2-2-2 steam locomotive and tender, designed by Alexander Allan for the Grand Junction Railway. Built in 1845 at Crewe Works but renumbered in 1868 (the year visible on it now). It ran until 1902. Collection: The Science Museum, London. Photography and formatting by George P. Landow. Courtesy of the Science Museum.
According to the museum, this was the first of the "standard ‘Crewe’-type engine with 6ft diameter driving wheels. Many of the early locomotives had inside cylinders, driving on to a crank axle which was a source of weakness. W B Buddicom and Francis Trevithick (son of Richard) accordingly developed the outside cylinder design which influenced British locomotive thinking for more than forty years. The locomotive has had its cab removed so that it appears as it did in the early 1870s."
Related Material
- The First Locomotives
- The Puffing Billy (1818) — “the oldest surviving locomotive in the world”
- Robert Stephenson's Rocket — the first modern steam locomotive
You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. Many thanks to Ben-Zion Zaidman for notifying us about a misattribution on this page. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Bibliography
49 Columbine 2-2-2 Grand Junction Railway. Preserved British Steam Locomotives. Web. 13 October 2022.
Grand Junction Railway Locomotive "Columbine". Science Museum Group. Web. 13 October 2022.
Created 10 May 2014
Last modified 13 October 2022