The Grand Junction Railway, running north from Birmingham to a junction with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, was Britain's (and the world's) first trunk railway when it opened in 1837. It was engineered by Robert Stephenson and Joseph Locke, two of the foremost civil engineers of the time.

Columbine was one of the first locomotives to be built at the Grand Junction Railway's new Crewe Works and typifies the motive power used on mainline railways at the time. It was one of a series of locomotives intended to be built to a standard design to replace a large number of locomotives from different makers that were then used on the line.

Columbine appeared during Britain's second 'railway mania' (1844-47), when an enormous number of railway proposals were submitted to parliament. This resulted in such a frenzy of railway construction that, by 1850, the basic national network we know today was in place. Columbine hauled passenger trains until 1877 and was finally withdrawn in 1902. Despite modifications it remains substantially as built, and is restored to its 1875 appearance.

The locomotive always operated towing a tender carrying coal for the firebox and water for the boiler.

Inv. 1975-7016