Joseph Locke FRSA (9 August 1805 – 18 September 1860) was an English civil engineer of the nineteenth century, particularly associated with railway projects.

Locke ranked alongside Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel as one of the major pioneers of railway development.

Joseph Locke was asked by the directors to carry out another survey of the proposed tunnel works and produce a report.

However, a clash of personalities between Stephenson and Vignoles led to the latter resigning, leaving Locke as the sole assistant engineer.

Although, Stephenson usually gets the credit for this feat, it is believed that it was Locke who suggested the correct method for crossing the bog.

[1] Whilst the line was being built, the directors were trying to decide whether to use standing engines or locomotives to propel the trains.

The day was marred by the death of William Huskisson, the Member of Parliament for Liverpool, who was struck and killed by "Rocket".

In 1829 Locke was George Stephenson's assistant, given the job of surveying the route for the Grand Junction Railway.

Locke is credited with choosing the location for Crewe and recommending the establishment there of shops required for the building and repairs of carriages and wagons as well as engines.

[2] During the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Stephenson had shown a lack of ability in organising major civil engineering projects.

An important feature of the new railway was the use of double-headed (dumb-bell) wrought-iron rail supported on timber sleepers at 2 ft 6 in intervals.

Locke avoided tunnels almost completely on the Grand Junction but exceeded the slope limit for six miles south of Crewe.

Both George and Robert Stephenson were prepared to go to great lengths to avoid steep gradients that would tax the locomotives of the day, even if this meant choosing a circuitous path that added on extra miles to the line of the route.

In 1839 Stephenson proposed a circuitous route that avoided the Lake District altogether by going all the way round Morecambe Bay and West Cumberland, claiming: 'This is the only practicable line from Liverpool to Carlisle.

The directors rejected his route and chose the one proposed by Joseph Locke, one that used steep gradients and passed over Shap Fell.

[4] Locke's reasoned that by avoiding long routes and tunnelling, the line could be finished more quickly, with less capital costs, and could start earning revenue sooner.

Locke was subsequently appointed to build a railway line from Manchester to Sheffield, replacing Charles Vignoles as chief engineer, after the latter had been beset by misfortunes and financial difficulties.

He was present in Paris when the Versailles train crash occurred in 1842, and produced a statement concerning the facts for General Charles Pasley of the Railway Inspectorate.

A boy hauling ballast for the line up an adjoining hillside early that morning (about 6.00 am) saw one arch (the fifth on the Rouen side) collapse, and the rest followed suit.

Locke attributed the catastrophic failure to frost action on the new lime cement, and premature off-centre loading of the viaduct with ballast.

Distinctive features of Locke's railway works were economy, the use of masonry bridges wherever possible and the absence of tunnels.

Locke is reported to have referred to Robert as 'the friend of my youth, the companion of my ripening years, and a competitor in the race of life'.

In April a House of Commons Select Committee was investigating the atmospheric railway system proposed by Brunel.