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Steam loco makes 213-mile road trip to new home

Katie RadleyYorkshire
News imageThe Board of Trustees of the Science Museum Group A black steam engine with gold numbers and designs on the side is coupled to another small rail vehicle behind it. It is on the back of a vehicle that is transporting it. There is grass and bushes in the foreground and a blue sky.The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum Group
The Columbine locomotive is going back on display at York's National Railway Museum

An 18-tonne steam locomotive has made a 213-mile journey by road from London to its new home in York.

The Columbine, which was built in 1845, has been transported from the Science Museum in South Kensington to the National Railway Museum (NRM), where it is now on display.

The engine was initially moved from the NRM to be part of a new exhibition at the London site in 2000, where it had stayed for more than a quarter of a century.

Now the locomotive and its tender, a special rail car coupled to the engine which carries fuel and water, are on show together for the first time in 26 years.

News imageThe Board of Trustees of the Science Museum Group A steam engine is on the back of a low-loader vehicle which is being driven away from the camera toward a large building with the words Railway Museum in large white letters on the left hand side of the building.The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum Group
The steam locomotive made a 213-mile journey by road from the Science Museum in London to York

Becky Peacock, Conservation and Collections Care Manager for the NRM, said they had some logistics to consider, including navigating two bridges on the way to the museum.

"Columbine can't travel by rail so it had to travel by road and our bridges into NRM have height restrictions so with that comes issues around what type of vehicle we can bring to get them into site."

News imageThe Board of Trustees of the Science Museum Group A black locomotive is on the back of a white and red low-loader vehicle on tarmac. There are red and white and black and yellow cones on the tarmac as well.The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum Group
Special vehicles were used to transport the locomotive so it could fit under bridges on the way to the National Railway Museum

The engine was winched onto a frame at the Science Museum, moved on to a low-loader to transport it, before being put onto another vehicle so it could fit under the bridges.

They also had to wait until the museum was closed in order to move the vehicle inside and put the engine onto the turntable in The Great Hall.

Peacock said it had also been given a "really good clean" before going on display.

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