LNWR Whitworth Single

The LNWR Whitworth Single was a 2-2-2 express locomotive built at Crewe Works in 1848 to a design associated with Joseph Whitworth, the celebrated Manchester engineer and inventor of the standardised screw thread system that bears his name. The Whitworth Single was notable for its use of precision engineering techniques — including Whitworth's own standardised measurement system — applied to locomotive construction, representing an interesting intersection between the emerging science of precision engineering and the rapidly developing field of steam locomotive design.

Joseph Whitworth had established his reputation through the 1840s as Britain's leading advocate for precision measurement and standardised screw threads, work that culminated in the Whitworth Standard Thread of 1841 and his celebrated gauges and measuring instruments. The locomotive built at Crewe incorporating Whitworth's engineering principles reflected the close connections between the Victorian engineering community and the railway workshops; Crewe under Francis Trevithick was experimenting with various approaches to locomotive design in the late 1840s, and the Whitworth Single was one product of this experimental period.

The Whitworth Single was essentially a 2-2-2 express locomotive of conventional layout for its period, distinguished primarily by the precision of its manufacture rather than any radical design innovation. It gave service on LNWR express duties in the late 1840s and 1850s before being superseded by subsequent LNWR express types. Not preserved.