Crewe type (locomotive)

During the early 1840s Alexander Allan and William Buddicom of the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) created the design incorporating inclined outside cylinders and a double frame.

It was built due to combat the frequent failure of crank axles on contemporary inside cylinder locomotive designs.

[2] The first British examples were built at Crewe Works in 1845 by the GJR[3] and from 1846 by the GJR's successor, the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), with a 2-2-2 wheel arrangement for passenger classes and 2-4-0 for freight.

The first of these GJR 2-2-2 locomotives, Columbine, is preserved at the Science Museum in London.

[3] These designs were widely copied by other railways both in the UK and overseas during the 1850s and 1860s.