2-6-2, Usage, Russia & Soviet Union
Visually, the Su was the last true Russian-look design before the American influence of high running boards, bar frames and boxpok wheels became the norm. The Su retained such features as a clerestory skylight in the cab roof and handrails on the outside of the running board. These handrails were a result of the harsh Russian winters, when ice would build up on the running boards, making them highly dangerous. Enginemen had fallen to their death from moving trains and the fitting of promenade deck style handrails was a safety measure ordered by the Tsar in pre-revolutionary times. These features, combined with the high 17 feet (5.182 metres) loading gauge, combined to give the locomotives a uniquely Russian appearance.


2-6-2, Usage, South Africa
The world's first 2-6-2 Prairie type locomotives were also the first locomotives to enter service on the new Cape gauge mainline of the Cape Government Railways. They were 2-6-2 side-tank engines that were delivered between 1875 and 1879. Four-wheeled tenders were also acquired on a subsequent order and the locomotives could be operated in either a tank or tank-and-tender configuration, as circumstances demanded. These locomotives were later designated the Cape 2nd Class.


2-6-2, Usage, South Africa
In 1901, the Zululand Railway Company, contracted for the construction of the Natal North Coast line from Verulam to the Tugela River, acquired one 2-6-2 side-tank locomotive as construction engine from Baldwin Locomotive Works. Upon completion of the line in 1903, the locomotive was taken onto the roster of the Natal Government Railways and was designated Class I.


2-6-2, Usage, South Africa
The first four Prairie locomotives built for the Cape Government Railways (CGR) by Neilson, Reid and Company, later designated Class 6Z on the South African Railways (SAR), were placed in service in 1901, but they displayed the Prairie's tendency to be unsteady at speed. They were therefore soon modified to a 2-6-4 Adriatic wheel arrangement.


2-6-2, Usage, South Africa
With an improved design of bissel truck, two more CGR locomotives which were ordered from Kitson and Company in 1903 were once again built with a 2-6-2 Prairie wheel arrangement. These two locomotives did not display the tendency to sway at speed and therefore retained their 2-6-2 wheel arrangement. In 1912, when they were assimilated into the SAR, they were renumbered and designated Class 6Y.


2-6-2, Usage, Switzerland
In 1997, the MThB no. 3 was used as the prototype for the locomotive in the animated 20th Century Fox motion picture Anastasia, where it was given the appearance of a Soviet Union continental locomotive numbered 2747.


2-6-2, Usage, United Kingdom, Standard gauge
The first United Kingdom 2-6-2 tender locomotive was the unsuccessful prototype Midland Railway Paget locomotive of 1908. Thereafter, the wheel arrangement was rare on tender locomotives, with the exception of two classes on the London and North Eastern Railway. These were the Class V2 and Class V4 mixed traffic locomotives which totalled 186 locomotives between them.


2-6-2, Usage, United Kingdom, Standard gauge
In contrast, 2-6-2T locomotives were very widely used on suburban passenger services, particularly by the Great Western Railway (GWR), who built four main classes between 1903 and 1947. These include the 'Large Prairies' (5100, 3150 and 6100 classes), the 'Small Prairies' (4400, 4500 and 4575 classes) and the non-standard 3901 class rebuilt from 0-6-0 tender engines.


2-6-2, Usage, United Kingdom, Standard gauge
The Railway Operating Division received 70 2-6-2 Saddle tank engines built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in the United States. They were shipped to France and used near the front line. These engines, nicknamed "tortoises" were probably inspired by the Saddle tanks used on forest railways in the USA ; they had very small drivers and could run tight curves. After the war, all remaining engines (63) were sold to the Belgian State Railways. The rest was probably destroyed during the war and some of them may have been cannibalised for spares.


2-6-2, Usage, United Kingdom, Standard gauge
Sir Henry Fowler of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) introduced a successful 2-6-2T class in 1930, which became the basis of further similar classes by Stanier in 1935 and Ivatt in 1946.


2-6-2, Usage, United Kingdom, Standard gauge
Sir Nigel Gresley of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) introduced his V1 and V3 classes in 1930.


2-6-2, Usage, United Kingdom, Standard gauge
The last new 2-6-2T locomotives in Britain were the British Railways standard class 2, built between 1953 and 1957. The design derived from the earlier LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T.


2-6-2, Usage, United Kingdom, Narrow gauge
The 2-6-2T layout was popular for large narrow gauge engines, but the design was modified to allow the use of a firebox much wider than the track gauge. A standard gauge 2-6-2T normally has inside frames and the firebox is placed between the second and third coupled axles. A narrow gauge one, on the other hand, has outside frames and the firebox is placed behind the third coupled axle and clear of the wheels. To minimise the rear overhang, the fuel is therefore carried in side-bunkers alongside the firebox, instead of in a rear bunker.


2-6-2, Usage, United Kingdom, Narrow gauge
Preserved examples include the Welsh Highland Railway's Russell and the Vale of Rheidol Railway locomotives.


2-6-2, Usage, United States, Narrow gauge
The 2 ft (610 mm) gauge Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad in Franklin County, Maine, was a major narrow gauge 2-6-2 user.


2-6-2, Usage, United States, Standard gauge
In the United States, the type evolved from the 2-6-0 (Mogul) configuration. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) became a pioneer of the type in the United States in 1901 and one of the largest fleet users of the type. Problems the road encountered with the type included steam leakage in the compound cylinder plumbing and instability at speed. The former problem was solved by converting them to simplex two-cylinder locomotives; the latter problem required new 4-6-2 (Pacific) types with four-wheeled guide trucks. The Prairie types were rebuilt with smaller drivers for slightly slower fast freight service. These engines tended to enjoy very long service lives, and outlasted many a newer, more efficient steam locomotive on the Santa Fe and elsewhere. This was due to their modest weight, good speed and ability to operate well in reverse, which made them valuable for branch line operations.


2-6-2, Usage, United States, Standard gauge
In 1902, the AT&SF had a 2-6-2 with a high, at the time, boiler pressure of 220 pounds per square inch (1,517 kilopascals), mounted on a large 41-square-foot (3.8-square-meter) fire grate.


2-6-2, Usage, United States, Standard gauge
More than a thousand examples of the 2-6-2 wheel arrangement existed in the United States. Of these, one hundred were high-wheeled engines with larger than 69-inch (1,753-millimeter) drivers. The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern operated locomotives with 80-inch (2,032-millimeter) drivers, but this did not overcome their inherent instability. They were never as successful in passenger service in the U.S. as they were in other nations.


2-6-2+2-6-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, 2-6-2+2-6-2 is an articulated locomotive using a pair of 2-6-2 power units back to back, with the boiler and cab suspended between them. The 2-6-2 wheel arrangement has a single pair of leading wheels in a leading truck, followed by three coupled pairs of driving wheels and a pair of trailing wheels in a trailing truck. Since the 2-6-2 type was often called the Prairie type, the corresponding Garratt and Modified Fairlie types were usually known as a Double Prairie.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Overview
The 2-6-2+2-6-2 wheel arrangement was used on Garratt, Modified Fairlie and Union Garratt locomotives.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Overview, Garratt locomotives
The 2-6-2+2-6-2 was the second most numerous Garratt wheel arrangement to be built, with altogether 238 examples constructed by Beyer, Peacock and Company (BP) and its licensees. Most of them were built to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge and the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) or 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauges. None were built to the 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge, but several were built to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) and 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) gauges.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Overview, Garratt locomotives
The first examples of the type were two 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) 2-6-2+2-6-2 L class Garratts built for the Tasmanian Government Railways in 1912. This wheel arrangement also included the final Garratts to be built by BP, seven 2 ft (610 mm) South African Class NG G16 locomotives in 1958.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Overview, Modified Fairlie locomotives
The Modified Fairlie was first introduced in South Africa, when the South African Railways (SAR) experimented with a modified type of Fairlie locomotive in order to compare the concept to that of the Garratt locomotive in terms of actual performance and maintenance requirements. In essence, the Modified Fairlie was an adaptation of the Kitson-Meyer concept.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Overview, Modified Fairlie locomotives
It was similar in appearance to a Garratt, but with the boiler, cab, coal and water bunkers all mounted on a single rigid frame which pivoted on the engine units, with the pivot centers located approximately at the centre of the rigid wheelbase of each engine unit. In the Garratt design, by comparison, the coal and water bunkers are mounted directly on the engine units and swivel with them, while the boiler, firebox and cab are mounted on a rigid frame which is suspended between the two engine units.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Overview, Union Garratt locomotives
The Union Garratt was a hybrid locomotive, part Garratt and part Modified Fairlie, designed and built for the SAR by Maffei in Munich, Germany. The front end of the locomotive was of a typical Garratt arrangement, with a water tank mounted on the front engine unit’s frame, while the rear end was constructed in the Modified Fairlie fashion, with the coal bunker mounted on a rigid extension of the locomotive’s main frame and with the pivoting rear engine unit positioned beneath the coal bunker.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, Sierra Leone
The Sierra Leone Government Railway acquired altogether 27 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garratt locomotives from BP between 1926 and 1956. Seven were delivered in 1926, 1928 and 1929. Six more followed in 1942 and 1943 and fourteen more in 1955 and 1956.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, Sierra Leone
Another two were delivered to the Sierra Leone Development Corporation in 1937, also from BP.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, South Africa
The largest user of the type was the South African Railways (SAR) who operated 132 locomotives of this wheel arrangement, spread over fifteen classes. Of these, ten classes were Cape gauge (83 locomotives) and five classes were 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge (49 locomotives). Two of the narrow gauge locomotives were later rebuilt to improve coal combustion and reclassified.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, South Africa, Cape gauge
The 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge 2-6-2+2-6-2 locomotives of the SAR entered service between 1921 and 1929.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, South Africa, Narrow gauge
The South African 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge 2-6-2+2-6-2 locomotives entered service between 1927 and 1968. Two were rebuilt in 1989 and 1990 and reclassified.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, Southern Rhodesia
With altogether 46 locomotives of this wheel arrangement, all built by BP, the second largest user of the 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garratt was the Rhodesia Railways (RR) of Southern Rhodesia, which also operated in Northern Rhodesia and Mozambique.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, Southern Rhodesia
In 1926, twelve 13th Class 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garratts were ordered by the Beira and Mashonaland and Rhodesia Railways (BMR). They were based at Umtali in Southern Rhodesia to work the difficult section of the Beira line into Mozambique between Umtali and Vila Machado. In 1930, these locomotives were replaced on this duty by 14th Class Garratts, after which they were mainly based at Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia until their withdrawal from service.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, Southern Rhodesia
The 13th class also operated in Northern Rhodesia, with a couple being allocated for short periods to Livingstone. Two locomotives were also hired out to the Rhokana Corporation copper mine at Nkana in Kitwe, Northern Rhodesia. These two locomotives were eventually purchased by the mine, one coming to a tragic end in 1950 when it struck a lorry loaded with explosives at a level crossing, causing many deaths since the train carried miners going on shift in an open wagon.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, Southern Rhodesia
In 1929, the success of the 13th Class led to an improved version being ordered by RR, which the BMR had now become. While of the same wheel arrangement and similar power output as the 13th class locomotives, these sixteen had, amongst other improvements, bar instead of plate frames and round-topped instead of Belpaire fireboxes. These were designated the 14th Class and all of them were initially allocated to Umtali to replace the 13th class Garratts on the line to Vila Machado in Mozambique. From 1939, some of the class were transferred for branchline work in Southern Rhodesia at the Salisbury, Bulawayo and Gwelo depots.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, Southern Rhodesia
In October 1949, the Beira line in Mozambique was taken over by the state-owned Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM). At the same time, the CFM purchased a number of locomotives from RR, including eight 14th Class Garratts, which continued to work on the Beira line from the new depot at Gondola in Mozambique.


2-6-2+2-6-2, Usage, Southern Rhodesia
In 1950, RR ordered a modernised version of the 14th Class for branchline work in Southern Rhodesia. There were eighteen of them and they were designated the 14A Class. From 1979, they were refurbished for shunting work, receiving roller bearings on the driving and coupled axles and, in many cases, larger water tanks and coal bunkers. By 2012 this class, now on the roster of the National Railways of Zimbabwe, still saw occasional service on Bulawayo shunt duties.


2-6-4
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-6-4 locomotive has two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and four trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called Adriatic.


2-6-4, Overview
With only a few known exceptions, the Adriatic wheel arrangement was usually used on tank locomotives, for which various suffixes to indicate the type of tank would be added to the wheel arrangement, for example 2-6-4T for an engine with side-tanks.


2-6-4, Overview, Tender locomotives
The earliest known example was the South African Class 6Z, designed by Cape Government Railways (CGR) Chief Locomotive Superintendent H.M. Beatty in 1901. The first engines of the class were modified 2-6-2 Prairie locomotives which were equipped with two-axle trailing bogies. In 1902, more were placed in service, but built with the 2-6-4 wheel arrangement. The latter were the first known tender locomotives in the world to be built with this wheel arrangement.


2-6-4, Overview, Tank locomotives
Tank engines with the 2-6-4T wheel arrangement were produced for many different railway systems worldwide and were mainly used for freight and suburban passenger working. They have been less successful on express passenger trains. The earliest known example also originated in South Africa, the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway's 55 Tonner of 1898.


2-6-4, Usage, Austria
Two Austrian express tender locomotive types were of this wheel arrangement, the Class 210 of 1908 and Class 310 of 1911, both designed by Karl Gölsdorf. The type therefore became known as the Adriatic arrangement, named for the Adriatic Sea which bordered Austria-Hungary until 1918.


2-6-4, Usage, Brazil
Preserved meter gauge locomotive Dona Joaninha, built to haul sugar cane in Brazil, uses the 2-6-4 wheel arrangement.


2-6-4, Usage, Finland
Finland had three locomotive classes with a 2-6-4T wheel arrangement, the Classes Vk1, Vk2 and Vk3. All three classes were nicknamed Iita.


2-6-4, Usage, Finland
The Class Vk1, numbered 301 to 305, were delivered in 1900 from Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Class Vk1 Iita were also nicknamed Amerikan because they were built in the United States of America.


2-6-4, Usage, Finland
The Finnish Steam Locomotive Class Vk3 were numbered 456 and 487 to 492. They were built in 1915 by Tampella, a Finnish heavy industry manufacturer, and were used for local passenger duties. One of them, Vk3 No 489, is preserved at the Finnish Railway Museum.


2-6-4, Usage, Germany
Two Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) 2-6-4T Class 66 locomotives, designed for fast goods train and passenger train service, were built in 1955 as part of the DB's Neubaulok construction programme. They were both withdrawn from service in 1968. One, DB 66 002, has been preserved at the Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum.


2-6-4, Usage, Sweden
with driving wheels 1.75 m diameter for passenger use, built Motala 1917, one preserved.


2-6-4, Usage, Sweden
with driving wheels 1.3 m diameter for mixed traffic use, built Atlas, Motala and Nohab, 1914–1918. Four preserved.


2-6-4, Usage, Switzerland
were built by SLM in 1913 for use on the Berne-Neuenberg railway. They were still in use at Basel in 1956. Of slightly British appearance, at that time they were used to transfer stock between the French and Swiss systems, the former having not yet been electrified.


2-6-4, Usage, New Zealand
The Ferrymead Railway in Christchurch, New Zealand has a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge 2-6-4T locomotive that was in regular operation until taken off-line for boiler repairs around 2009. It was built by Baldwin in 1901.


2-6-4, Usage, New Zealand
The Wf class of the New Zealand Government Railways was built between 1903 and 1928 and was a general purpose tank design. It was used all over New Zealand and identical locomotives were also in service as the Ds class of the Tasmanian Government Railways. Three Wf class locomotives survived in preservation:


2-6-4, Usage, South Africa
Between 1898 and 1900, the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway (PPR) placed six 2-6-4T locomotives in service, built by Beyer, Peacock and Company. During the Second Boer War, they were first taken over by the Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij (NZASM) and then by the Imperial Military Railways (IMR). After the war, they were taken onto the roster of the Central South African Railways (CSAR) and in 1912 they were assimilated into the South African Railways (SAR) as Class D.


2-6-4, Usage, South Africa
In 1901, the CGR placed four 6th Class 2-6-2 Prairie tender steam locomotives in service, designed at the Salt River works of the CGR and built by Neilson, Reid and Company. During trials, it was found that they were inclined to be unsteady at speed and the locomotive design was therefore modified to a 2-6-4 wheel arrangement by replacing the trailing carrier wheels with a two-axle bogie. Another four locomotives incorporating this modification were ordered later in 1901 and delivered in 1902, the first tender locomotives in the world to be built with this wheel arrangement. The change in design resulted in a marked improvement in the locomotive's stability at speed and the first four locomotives were therefore also modified accordingly. In 1912, when they were assimilated into the SAR, these eight locomotives were all designated Class 6Z.


2-6-4, Usage, South Africa
In 1902, the CGR placed two Type A Adriatic narrow gauge locomotive in construction service on the Avontuur branch, which was being built out of Port Elizabeth through the Langkloof. They were built by Manning Wardle and Company and, at a width of 7 feet 9 inches (2.362 metres), they were the widest locomotives to see service on any of the 2 feet (610 millimetres) narrow gauge lines in South Africa.


2-6-4, Usage, United Kingdom
The first British examples of the 2-6-4T wheel arrangement were two locomotives built for the narrow-gauge Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway in 1904. The first 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge examples were the class 1B of the Great Central Railway, built in 1914.


2-6-4, Usage, United Kingdom
Richard Maunsell of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) designed the K class in 1914 for express passenger duties, and in 1925 introduced a three-cylinder variant K1 class for the Southern Railway. These locomotives proved to be unsteady at speed and, following the Sevenoaks railway accident in 1927, they were rebuilt as 2-6-0 tender locomotives. Maunsell did however use the type more successfully for his W class freight locomotives of 1930.


2-6-4, Usage, United Kingdom
Between 1927 and 1947, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) built nearly five hundred 2-6-4Ts for suburban passenger work to four similar designs (see LMS/BR Class 4 2-6-4T locomotives). The last of these, the LMS Fairburn, continued to be built by British Railways (BR) until 1951. Fairburn's LMS design also formed the basis of the very successful BR Standard Class 4, which continued to be produced until 1957.


2-6-4, Usage, United Kingdom
Between 1946 and 1950, George Ivatt of the LMS also built eighteen 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) examples of a very similar design at Derby Works, for use in Northern Ireland. These later became the Northern Counties Committee WT class.


2-6-4, Usage, United Kingdom
A prototype of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) L1 class, designed by Edward Thompson, was built in 1945. The remaining 99 members of the class were built under BR administration during the period from 1948 to 1950.


2-6-4, Model Railroading
The Lionel Corporation used the 2-6-4 wheel arrangement in many of its model steam locomotives, including the 2037 used in the infamous Girls' Train.


2-6-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, 2-6-6-0 is a locomotive with one pair of unpowered leading wheels, followed by two sets of three pairs of powered driving wheels and no trailing wheels. The wheel arrangement was principally used on Mallet-type articulated locomotives. Some tank locomotive examples were also built, for which various suffixes to indicate the type of tank would be added to the wheel arrangement, for example 2-6-6-0T for an engine with side-tanks.


2-6-6-0, Overview
The 2-6-6-0 wheel arrangement was most often used for articulated compound steam Mallet locomotives. In a compound Mallet, the rear set of coupled wheels are driven by the smaller high pressure cylinders, from which spent steam is then fed to the larger low pressure cylinders that drive the front set of coupled wheels.


2-6-6-0, Usage, New Zealand
The sole NZR E class locomotive of 1906 was the only 2-6-6-0T locomotive ever built for and used by the New Zealand Railways Department. It was built at the Petone Workshops in Wellington and was designed for use on the world famous Rimutaka Incline. Numbered 66, making it E 66, it spent the first part of its working life in the Wellington region hauling trains up and down the Rimutaka Incline. It was eventually transferred to the Wellington-Johnsonville section for banking duties, even though it was not designed for that type of work. In 1917, E 66 was withdrawn from service and scrapped. Sadly, it didn't survive long enough for preservation.


2-6-6-0, Usage, South Africa
The South African Railways (SAR) operated 57 Mallet locomotives with this wheel arrangement, spread over six classes, all of them 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge.


2-6-6-0, Usage, United States
At least two American railroads used 2-6-6-0 Mallet locomotives. One was the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway, which later became the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad and eventually the Denver and Salt Lake Railway. Towards the end of their service life, after the acquisition of the Denver and Salt Lake, these locomotives were used by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW). The locomotives were initially used across the Rollins Pass and later on the Moffat Tunnel route of the Denver and Salt Lake. They were all scrapped by the D&RGW between 1948 and 1952. None were preserved.


2-6-6-0, Usage, United States
Another was the Virginian Railway, whose Class AA 2-6-6-0 is depicted.


2-6-6-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a 2-6-6-2 is a locomotive with one pair of unpowered leading wheels, followed by two sets of three pairs of powered driving wheels and one pair of trailing wheels. The wheel arrangement was principally used on Mallet-type articulated locomotives, although some tank locomotive examples were also built. A Garratt type locomotive with the same wheel arrangement is designated 2-6-0+0-6-2.


2-6-6-2
Under the UIC classification the wheel arrangement is referred to as (1'C)C1' for Mallet locomotives.


2-6-6-2, Overview
The 2-6-6-2 wheel arrangement was most often used for articulated compound steam Mallet locomotives. In a compound Mallet, the rear set of coupled wheels are driven by the smaller high pressure cylinders, from which spent steam is then fed to the larger low pressure cylinders that drive the front set of coupled wheels.


2-6-6-2, Overview
This type of locomotive was commonly used in North America on logging railroads. The 2-6-6-2 wheel arrangement was also used in South Africa and the Soviet Union.


2-6-6-2, Usage, Serbia
The Serbian government used a Mallet articulated compound locomotive for freight service on 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge. It was built for the Serbian government by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO).


2-6-6-2, Usage, South Africa
The South African Railways (SAR) operated 22 Mallet locomotives with this wheel arrangement, spread over five classes, all of them built to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge.


2-6-6-2, Usage, Soviet Union
The wheel arrangement also appeared in Soviet Russia as a 5 ft (1,524 mm) locomotive, the P34, built by Kolomna Locomotive Works. It was a modern but compact Mallet of which only one was built.


2-6-6-2, Usage, United States
This "Mallet Mogul" wheel configuration existed on both the Norfolk & Western Railroad as Class L-76 (built by Norfolk & Western), later sold to Denver and Rio Grande Western, and the Denver and Rio Grande Western's standard gauge line as Class 340/L-62 (built by Alco-Schenectady), and  in 1947 the Class L-76 from Norfolk & Western. D&RGW purchased these for helper service in 1910 (Soldier Summit and Tennessee Pass), and later added the two N&W locomotives to "beef up helper service" once again. All were retired between 1947 and 1952.


2-6-6-2, Usage, United States
- C&O 1309 is under steam late 2020 to early 2021 on Western Maryland Scenic Railroad after a restoration


2-6-6-4
In the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotive wheel arrangement, a 2-6-6-4 is a locomotive with a two-wheel leading truck, two sets of six driving wheels, and a four-wheel trailing truck. All 2-6-6-4s are articulated locomotives, of the Mallet or related simple articulated type.


2-6-6-4
The UIC classification is refined to (1'C)C2' for Mallet locomotives.


2-6-6-4
The 2-6-6-4 was a fairly late development, a product of the superpower steam concept, introduced by  the Lima Locomotive Works, which encouraged the use of large fireboxes supported by four-wheel trailing trucks. Such a firebox could sustain a rate of steam generation to meet any demands of the locomotive's cylinders, even at high speed. High speeds were certainly among the design goals for the 2-6-6-4; most of the type were intended for use on fast freight trains.


2-6-6-4
The first 2-6-6-4s built in the United States were for the Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad, and these were not high speed locomotives but rather mountain luggers. They received three in 1934 and four more in 1937 and operated the 2-6-6-4s until 1953.


2-6-6-4
The next of the type were a class of ten ordered by the Seaboard Air Line in 1935 and 1937. These were high speed freight engines and were successful. Upon dieselisation the road sold the locomotives to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1947, who operated them until 1953.


2-6-6-4
The final class of 2-6-6-4s was the Norfolk & Western Railway's Class A, built starting in 1936. 43 were built until 1950 but were operated until 1959 to prepare the ending of steam power. The powerful 2-6-6-4s were capable of more than 5000 drawbar horsepower at 45 mph (72 km/h) and could reach 70 mph (110 km/h), and could lug heavy coal trains. They were used until dieselisation in 1959. One locomotive, Norfolk & Western 1218, was preserved and in 1987 was restored to running order, running on excursions until 1991. Today it is on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. It is the only surviving 2-6-6-4 in the world.


2-6-6-6
The 2-6-6-6 (in Whyte notation) is an articulated locomotive type with two leading wheels, two sets of six driving wheels and six trailing wheels. Only two classes of the 2-6-6-6 type were built. One was the "Allegheny" class, built by the Lima Locomotive Works. The name comes from the locomotive's first service with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway beginning in 1941, where it was used to haul loaded coal trains over the Allegheny Mountains. The other was the "Blue Ridge" class for the Virginian Railway. These were some of the most powerful reciprocating steam locomotives ever built, at 7,500 HP (which was only exceeded by the PRR Q2 in indicated horsepower), and one of the heaviest at 386 tons for the locomotive itself plus 215 tons for the loaded tender.


2-6-6-6
Other equivalent classifications are:UIC classification: 1CC3 (also known as German classification and Italian classification)French classification: 130+033Turkish classification: 34+36Swiss classification: 3/4+3/6


2-6-6-6
The UIC classification is refined to (1'C)C3' for Mallet locomotives.


2-6-6-6, History
Two classes of 2-6-6-6 locomotives were built; the sixty H-8 "Allegheny" class locomotives for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) between 1941 and 1948, and the eight AG "Blue Ridge" class locomotives for the Virginian Railway in 1945. (The locomotives were Series AG on the Virginian, which was thought to be an abbreviation for Allegheny, but that referred to their being Articulated, Series G.)   All were built by the Lima Locomotive Works. The "Allegheny" name refers to the C&O locomotives' job of hauling coal trains over the Allegheny Mountains. C&O-1601's power output is 7,500 hp.


2-6-6-6, History
Though it was apparent to many knowledgeable people in the railroad industry that reciprocating piston driven steam locomotives might soon be replaced by diesel power, Lima and C&O set out to build the ultimate in high power steam locomotives and they succeeded. No diesel engine ever surpassed the output of these giants, which were among the heaviest steam locomotives ever constructed. The three-axle trailing truck supporting the firebox was unusual, carrying over 190,000 lbs, allowing the huge firebox needed for the high power. As it turned out, steam locomotives continued in service for almost another 20 years.


2-6-6-6, History
Gene Huddleston's book, "C&O Power", reports tests of the C&O with a dynamometer car indicating momentary readings of 7,498 hp (5.6 MW) with readings between 6,700 to 6,900 hp (5.0 to 5.1 MW) at about 45 mph (72 km/h). The state of calibration of the dynamometer car is not known. The calculated starting tractive effort was only 110,200 lbf (490.2 kN), but no one has published a higher dynamometer horsepower for any steam locomotive.


2-6-6-6, History
The locomotive was built to power coal trains on the 0.57% eastward climb from White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia to Alleghany, Virginia. With one at the front and another at the back, 11,500-ton coal trains left Hinton, WV and were at full throttle from White Sulphur Springs to the top of the grade at Alleghany. C&O's 2-6-6-6s also handled coal trains from West Virginia to Columbus, Ohio. Huddleston says that 23 locomotives were equipped with steam piping for heating passenger trains.


2-6-6-6, History
While delivering the first group of locomotives in 1941, Lima miscalculated and misrepresented the H-8s' weight. Maintenance crews recalculated the weight, and discovered that the H-8s weighed 771,300 pounds, which was thousands of pounds heavier than Lima first claimed. The train crews that worked with the H-8s, whom were getting paid based on the locomotive's weight on the driving wheels at the time, started seeing this misrepresentation as an attack on their Livelihood. The C&O was forced to pay their crews thousands of dollars to make up for lost payment, and they subsequently sued Lima for over 3 million dollars in 1944.


2-6-6-6, History
Multiple unit operation in the diesel era removed the need to pack the highest horsepower in a single unit. The H-8's 80,000+ pound axle load demanded heavy rail and track structure.


2-6-6-6, History
One H-8, the 1642, suffered a crown sheet failure and subsequent boiler explosion at Hinton, WV in June, 1953. The force of the explosion rocketed the boiler off the running gear towards the rear, killing all three crew. While these locomotives had two sources of water for the boiler, a steam turbine pump-fed Worthington hot pump and one injector, it is not known whether any were defective at the time of dispatch. According to the family of the locomotive's engineer, Wilbur H. Anderson, of Hinton, previous crews had complained of a faulty water level gauge. Anderson's widow, Georgia Anderson, was given $10,000 in compensation by the C&O.


2-6-6-6, Preservation
There are only two surviving Alleghenies. Upon retirement in 1956, 1601 was donated to The Henry Ford  museum in Dearborn, Michigan, where it has been on display indoors since. 1604 was initially sent to C&O's scrap lines behind their diesel shops at Russell, Kentucky. It was then donated to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke circa 1969 where it was displayed next to N&W 1218. On November 4th, 1985, it was partially damaged by a flood, which washed away the ground under it and nearly turned the locomotive over.


2-6-6-6, Preservation
In 1987, parent company Norfolk Southern did a cosmetic overhaul on it at their Roanoke Shops before it was sent to Baltimore to be displayed as the centerpiece of the then Mount Clare Junction shopping center which was adjacent to the B&O Railroad Museum. In 1989, the shopping center donated it to the museum, where it presently resides.


2-6-6-6, In popular culture
The 2-6-6-6 inspired the creation of the locomotive character "Sam", who was added to the animated children's show, Thomas And Friends in 2015.


2-6-6T
In the Whyte notation for describing steam locomotive wheel arrangement, a 2-6-6 is a locomotive with a two-wheeled  leading truck, six driving wheels, and a six-wheeled trailing truck. All the locomotives produced of this arrangement have been tank locomotives, and the vast majority in the United States. It was a popular arrangement for the larger Mason Bogies, as well as some of the largest suburban tank locomotives.


2-6-6T, Equivalent classifications
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2-6-8-0
A 2-6-8-0 steam locomotive, in the Whyte notation for describing locomotive wheel arrangements, has two leading wheels, a set of six driving wheels, a set of eight driving wheels, and no trailing wheels. These locomotives usually employ the Mallet principle of articulation, with a swinging front engine and a rigidly attached rear engine.


2-6-8-0, Equivalent classifications
Other equivalent classifications are:UIC classification: 1CD (also known as German classification and Italian classification)French classification: 130+040Turkish classification: 34+44Swiss classification: 3/4+4/4


2-6-8-0, Equivalent classifications
The UIC classification is refined to (1'C)D for Mallet locomotives.


2-6-8-0, Examples
This type of articulated locomotive is unusual in having different numbers of driving axles in each set, and was only found in the United States of America and Germany. The Great Northern Railway and the Alabama Great Southern, a predecessor of the Southern Railway, both in the United States, were the sole long-term users of this type of locomotive.


2-6-8-0, Examples
Great Northern received 35 from Baldwin in 1910, numbered 1950–1984, designated class M-1. The M1s were rebuilt to use simple expansion In 1926 and 1927 and were redesignated class M-2. Most of the M-2s did not last long, being converted to class O-7 2-8-2s between 1929 and 1931; the thirteen exceptions remained in service until 1949–1954. The AGS had a single example in this wheel arrangement, number 300. It went to the Southern Railway and was later joined by two other 2-6-8-0 numbered 4002 and 4003.


2-6-8-0, Examples
This unusual wheel arrangement was the subject of some experimentation. The Erie Railroad briefly had a locomotive of this type numbered 2900, but it was rebuilt to a 2-8-0 in 1916 after only six years. The Baldwin Locomotive Works marketed a front end "kit" whereby conventional 2-8-0 locomotives could be converted to 2-6-8-0 types. None of this type locomotive have been preserved.


2-6-8-0, Examples
In Germany, during World War II, Deutsche Reichsbahn started work on a condensing 2-6-8-0 mallet locomotive built by Borsig. These were to have dual smoke stacks and had smoke deflectors to help with the driver's visibility while driving the locomotive. The locomotive would have been the largest on the German rail network, but as it was nearing completion in Borsig Werke it was destroyed in a RAF bombing raid.


2-8-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-8-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. In the United States and elsewhere, this wheel arrangement is commonly known as a Consolidation, after the Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad’s Consolidation, the name of the first 2-8-0.


2-8-0
The Consolidation represented a notable advance in locomotive power. After 1875, it became "the most popular type of freight locomotive in the United States and was built in greater quantities than any other single wheel arrangement."


2-8-0, Overview
Of all the locomotive types that were created and experimented with in the 19th century, the 2-8-0 was a relative latecomer.


2-8-0, Overview
The first locomotive of this wheel arrangement was possibly built by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). Like the first 2-6-0s, this first 2-8-0 had a leading axle that was rigidly attached to the locomotive's frame, rather than on a separate truck or bogie. To create this 2-8-0, PRR master mechanic John P. Laird modified an existing 0-8-0, the Bedford, between 1864 and 1865.


2-8-0, Overview
The 2-6-0 Mogul type, first created in the early 1860s, is often considered as the logical forerunner to the 2-8-0. However,  a claim is made that the first true 2-8-0 engine evolved from the 0-8-0 and was ordered by the United States' Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad, which named all its engines. The name given to the new locomotive was Consolidation, the name that was later almost globally adopted for the type. According to this viewpoint, the first 2-8-0 order by Lehigh dates to 1866 and antedates the adoption of the type by other railways and coal and mountain freight haulers.


2-8-0, Overview
From its introduction in 1866 and well into the early 20th century, the 2-8-0 design was considered to be the ultimate heavy-freight locomotive. The 2-8-0's forte was starting and moving "impressive loads at unimpressive speeds" and its versatility gave the type its longevity. The practical limit of the design was reached in 1915, when it was realised that no further development was possible with a locomotive of this wheel arrangement.


2-8-0, Usage
As in the United States, the 2-8-0 was also a popular type in Europe, again largely as a freight hauler. The type was also used in Australia, New Zealand, and Southern Africa.


2-8-0, Usage, Australia
The 2-8-0 locomotive was used extensively throughout Australia. It served on the 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge, 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge and 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge and was employed mostly as a freight locomotive, although it was often also employed in passenger service in Victoria.


2-8-0, Usage, Australia
The first Australian locomotive class with this wheel arrangement were the Queensland railways C13 and C15, built as goods locomotives in 1879 by Baldwin Locomotive Works. Another lot of Consolidation engines consisted of 20 standard-gauge New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) J Class engines, which arrived from Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1891. The Js remained in service in New South Wales until 1915, when they were withdrawn. Wartime shortages between 1916 and 1920 had six engines re-entering service after being shopped and fitted with superheaters. The last engine of this class was finally withdrawn in 1934 and all were scrapped by 1937.


2-8-0, Usage, Australia
The next batch of NSW 2-8-0 locomotives to appear, between 1896 and 1916, was the NSWGR T class engines. The class was delivered from one local and several overseas builders, 151 locomotives from Beyer, Peacock and Company, 84 from North British Locomotive Company, 10 from Neilson and Company, 30 from Clyde Engineering in Australia, and five from Dübs and Company. During World War II, 14 of these locomotives were equipped with superheaters, which raised their tractive effort from 28,777 lbf (128.0 kN) to 33,557 lbf (149.3 kN).


2-8-0, Usage, Australia
From 1899, the Victorian Railways (VR) also used a range of broad-gauge 2-8-0 locomotives.


2-8-0, Usage, Australia
The first 2-8-0 engines in private service on the Midland Railway of Western Australia  arrived in 1912. These were 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge locomotives. The five in the class operated until 1958. All were gone by 1963.


2-8-0, Usage, Australia
In 1912, some of the NSWGR T class types were also purchased by the private East Greta Railway, later to become the South Maitland Railway, but these were converted to 2-8-2 tank locomotives. The class proved to be successful throughout its long service life, until being retired from government revenue service in 1973.


2-8-0, Usage, Australia
During 1916, several of these same T class engines were also purchased from NBL by the Commonwealth Railways for the Trans-Australian Railway.


2-8-0, Usage, Australia
In 1924, a private coal company, J&A Brown in NSW, obtained three ex-British military Railway Operating Division ROD 2-8-0 locomotives. Brown later ordered another 10 of these locomotives, but only nine of that order arrived in Australia. The last was withdrawn in 1973.


2-8-0, Usage, Belgium
To compensate for wartime losses, Belgian railways acquired 300 2-8-0 locomotives in 1946. They were built in North America, 160 by Montreal Locomotive Works in Canada, 60 by the Canadian Locomotive Company, and 80 by the American Locomotive Company in the United States. These machines proved to be very reliable and were used for mixed traffic until the end of the steam era, when number 29.013 hauled the last scheduled steam passenger train from Ath to Denderleeuw on 20 December 1966.


2-8-0, Usage, Belgium
This locomotive survived in preservation and is used on special excursions. On 16 December 2006, number 29.013 re-enacted the last 1966 run on the same route.


2-8-0, Usage, Canada
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) N-2-a, b, and c class locomotives were a class of altogether 182 Consolidation type locomotives, built by Montreal Locomotive Works between 1912 and 1914. They were numbered in the range from 3600 to 3799 and were used almost everywhere around the system. The order for these engines came about when CP needed bigger locomotives for their mainline since their current engines were wearing out and were too small for the loads that were being hauled. Most of the class were converted to oil-firing in later years.


2-8-0, Usage, Canada
One of the locomotives, No. 3716, is run and maintained in Summerland, BC as part of the Kettle Valley Steam Railway.


2-8-0, Usage, Finland
Finland had five tender locomotive classes with a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement, the classes Tk1, Tk2, Tk3, Tv1, and Tv2. The class Tk1s were numbered from 271 to 290 and were nicknamed Amerikan Satikka.


2-8-0, Usage, Finland
The class Tk2s were numbered 407 to 426 and 457 to 470. They were nicknamed Satikka. Three were preserved, No. 407 at Närpes, No. 418 at Junction City, Oregon, in the United States, and No. 419 at Haapamäki. The class Tk3s were numbered 800 to 899, 1100 to 1118, and 1129 to 1170. They were built by Tampella, Lokomo, and Frichs. The class Tv1s were numbered 594 to 617, 685 to 741, 900 to 948, and 1200 to 1211. They were built by Tampella and were nicknamed Jumbo. Four were preserved, No. 609 at Haapamäki, No. 933 at the Veturi museum at Toijala, No. 940 at Lapinlahti and No. 943 at Ylivieska. The class Tv2s were numbered from 618 to 637. They were nicknamed Wilson. Only No. 618 was preserved, also at Haapamäki.


2-8-0, Usage, Finland
Finland had only one tank locomotive class with a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement, the class M1 consisting of one solitary locomotive numbered 66. It was not preserved.


2-8-0, Usage, Germany
The 2-8-0 wheel arrangement enjoyed a brief period of popularity in Germany during the era of the Länderbahnen or State Railways, from about 1840 to 1920, prior to the establishment after the First World War of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German National Railways. Under the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) classification system, all 2-8-0 locomotives were assigned to class 56 (Baureihe or BR 56), with different types receiving subclassifications. The earliest type was the Prussian G73 of 1893.


2-8-0, Usage, Italy
In Italy, the state-controlled railways company Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), after comparing two models of 2-8-0 engine in 1906 (a simple-expansion [simplex] locomotive purchased from Baldwin and a compound type assembled by German and Italian builders) opted for a simplex 2-8-0 as basic power for its freight and mixed trains. Production of such locomotives, classified Gr. 740 in Italy, began in 1911 and stopped four years later when Italy entered the First World War.


2-8-0, Usage, Italy
Thereafter, Italian industry was devoted to producing military equipment, so FS bought locomotives from North American firms. From 1917 to 1922, American Locomotive Company and Montreal Locomotive Works built almost 393 2-8-0 locomotives for Italy. The FS classified these engines as Gr 735 and used them for freight and passenger services. After the war, the supply of Italian-built Gr. 740 resumed. Both Gr. 740 and Gr 735, very similar in performance, remained in service until the end of the 1960s.


2-8-0, Usage, New Zealand
Several 2-8-0 locomotives were supplied to New Zealand by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia in the United States. Six O Class locomotives were built for the New Zealand Railways in 1885.


2-8-0, Usage, New Zealand
The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, which operated the Wellington-Manawatu line, had four similar locomotives built by Baldwin, two in 1888, one in 1894 and one in 1896. The WMR locomotives of 1894 and 1896, No. 12 and No. 13, were Vauclain compound locomotives, the first in New Zealand and the first narrow-gauge compounds in the world. While standard gauge compounds usually had the low-pressure cylinder mounted below the high-pressure cylinder on each side, this was often reversed on narrow-gauge locomotives, which had the larger low-pressure cylinders mounted above the high-pressure cylinders to provide greater clearance at platforms.


2-8-0, Usage, New Zealand
In 1908, when the WMR was nationalized, these locomotives were classified into three NZR subclasses because of detail differences, the two 1888 locomotives as OB class, the 1894 locomotive as OA class, and the 1896 locomotive as OC class.


2-8-0, Usage, North Korea
The Korean State Railway have locally built 500-series (used by rubber recycling plant) and 810 series Japanese built narrow gauge (762mm) 2-8-0 locomotives. The 810 series was likely retired in 2006 and 500-series may still be operating.


2-8-0, Usage, Russia
In Russia, the 2-8-0 wheel arrangement was represented by the prerevolutionary Sch (Shuka-pike) class. These two-cylinder compound locomotives without superheaters were declared the standard Russian freight locomotive in 1912, but since they were relatively low-powered, they were only useful on easier lines without steep gradients such as the Saint Petersburg-Moscow route.


2-8-0, Usage, South Africa
Five 2-8-0 locomotive classes saw service in South Africa, all of them initially acquired by the Cape Government Railways (CGR), which classified all but two as 8th Class. All of them were variations on the same design, used saturated steam, and had cylinders with overhead slide valves, actuated by inside Stephenson valve gear.


2-8-0, Usage, South Africa
While subjecting the Consolidations to exhaustive testing on all types of traffic and under varying conditions, some trouble was experienced with the leading pony truck and it was dropped in favour of a four-wheeled bogie in later orders for more eighth class locomotives. All subsequent Cape eighth class locomotives were therefore built with a 4-8-0 Mastodon wheel arrangement.


2-8-0, Usage, South West Africa
In 1907 and 1910, the Staatsbahn Keetmanshoop (Keetmanshoop State Railway) in German South West Africa placed 21 tank locomotives in service. After the first World War, when all railways in the territory came under the administration of the South African Railways in 1922, five locomotives of the batch of 1910 survived. They were not classified or renumbered, but were referred to as the eight-coupled tanks.


2-8-0, Usage, South West Africa
In 1911, nine tender locomotives were placed in service by the Staatsbahn Lüderitzbucht-Keetmanshoop (Lüderitzbucht-Keetmanshoop State Railway). After the first World War, all nine locomotives came onto the roster of the SAR, where they were referred to as the eight-coupled tenders.


2-8-0, Usage, Sweden
The unusual M3t Turbine Steam Locomotive was of this type but also the E2 class and a number of other freight class locomotives where of this type in Sweden.


2-8-0, Usage, Turkey
Turkey was a neutral country during the Second World War and to retain Turkish goodwill, Great Britain supplied several locomotives to the Turkish Railways, where they were classified 8F.


2-8-0, Usage, Turkey
Two of these 8F class locomotives were brought back from Turkey early in 2011 and one of them is on display at the National Railway Museum in Shildon, England.


2-8-0, Usage, United Kingdom
The 2-8-0 gradually became the standard heavy-freight steam locomotive type in the United Kingdom during the first half of the 20th century. The first 2-8-0 to be built in Britain was the Great Western Railway's 2800 Class, with 84 locomotives built between 1903 and 1919, followed by a further 83 of the very similar GWR 2884 Class between 1938 and 1942. In 1904, George Whale of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) began to rebuild some of his predecessor's 0-8-0 compound locomotives to 2-8-0.


2-8-0, Usage, United Kingdom
In 1911, John G. Robinson of the Great Central Railway (GCR) introduced his very successful GCR Class 8K for heavy freight. 129 of these were originally built by the GCR. During the First World War, the design was adopted by the Ministry of Munitions and it became the standard locomotive of the Railway Operating Division of the Royal Engineers as the ROD 2-8-0. Altogether, 521 of these ROD locomotives were built during the war. After the war, large numbers of these were purchased by the LNWR and GWR, while some were also sold to a private Australian coal company, J&A Brown in New South Wales. Altogether, 273 were purchased by the LNWR during the early 1920s.


2-8-0, Usage, United Kingdom
Other successful 2-8-0 designs were built in the UK. The classes O1 and O2 were introduced by Nigel Gresley of the Great Northern Railway in 1913 and 1918, respectively, and the Class 7F by Henry Fowler of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway in 1914. Whilst most British 2-8-0 designs were intended for heavy freight, the GWR 4700 Class were designed for heavy mixed-traffic work, but were initially employed aminly on fast overnight freight trains; later they were used on express excursions in the summer.


2-8-0, Usage, United Kingdom
The most successful British 2-8-0 class was the Class 8F, designed in 1935 by William Stanier for the London Midland and Scottish Railway. By 1946, 852 had been built. During the Second World War, the War Department originally chose the class 8F as its standard freight locomotive, and large numbers of them saw service overseas, notably in the Middle East.


2-8-0, Usage, United Kingdom
The class 8F was superseded after 1943 by the cheaper WD Austerity 2-8-0 for war service. A total of 935 of these were built and again, many saw service overseas.


2-8-0, Usage, United States
In the United States, only a few railroads purchased Consolidation types when Baldwin Locomotive Works first introduced its version. Even the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, which eventually had nearly 180 2-8-0 locomotives in regular service by 1885, did not purchase any of this type until 1873. The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway, which eventually became part of B&O, purchased 15 of this type from Brooks Locomotive Works in 1883.


2-8-0, Usage, United States
The 2-8-0 design was given a major boost in 1875, when the Pennsylvania Railroad made it their standard freight locomotive, and 1875 was also when the Erie Railroad began replacing its 4-4-0s in freight service with 2-8-0s. The railroads had found that the 2-8-0 could move trains twice as heavy at half the cost of its predecessors. From a financial standpoint at the time, the choice of the 2-8-0 as new freight locomotive was therefore clear.


2-8-0, Usage, United States
The S160 Class of the United States Army Transportation Corps was built by American manufacturers and was designed for use in Europe for heavy freight work during the Second World War. A total of 2,120 of this class was built and they worked on railroads across the world. Production of the 2-8-0 type in the United States totalled more than 23,000 locomotives, of which 12,000 were export versions.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Great Northern Railway Consolidation No. 1147 is on display in a park in Wenatchee, Washington.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Great Northern Railway Consolidation No. 1246 is in storage in southern Oregon.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Southern Pacific No. 895, a 2-8-0 Consolidation locomotive built by ALCO in 1913 is on static display at Roseland Park in Baytown, Texas. SP No. 895 was retired after 44 years of service and donated by Southern Pacific Railroad to the Robert E. Lee High School Key Club,  then towed on temporary tracks to its current location at Roseland Park in April, 1957.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Baltimore & Ohio No. 545 "A.J Cromwell", built in 1888, is preserved at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
The Southern Pacific Railroad's locomotive no. SP 2562 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1909, serial No. 29064. It is on exhibit in the Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler, Arizona. The locomotive and its tender are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, reference No. 09000511.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad's class 759 locomotive No. 761 was built around 1890. When active, it was used on the railroad's mainline between Chicago and the west. No. 761 is plinthed next to the historic Wickenburg, Arizona, train depot that is now the town's visitor center.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
The Colorado & Southern (C&S) narrow-gauge No. 60 is on display in Idaho Springs, Colorado, while C&S No. 71 is in Central City, Colorado.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
A Ks1 class 2-8-0, No. 630, is run and maintained in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. In 2014, this locomotive participated in the Norfolk Southern 21st Century Steam program.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
In 1962, the Arcade & Attica Railroad purchased an ALCO-build locomotive from the Boyne City Railroad in Michigan. The locomotive, now numbered 18, is billed as the last operating steam excursion in New York State.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Three out of the four SC-1 hogs from the LS&I survived the scrapper's torch. Engine No. 33 has been restored by the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway, before being purchased by the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio, where it operates today. Engine No. 35 has been on static display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois since 1985.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
In 1992, the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad acquired SC-1 class No. 34. The locomotive was restored to operating condition and cosmetically changed to look like an original Western Maryland 2-8-0. The locomotive was renumbered 734 in honor, so to speak, of the H-7 (701-764) class of 2-8-0 that the Western Maryland harbored and of which none was preserved. Although, it also has an overall appearance of an H-8. As of 2020, Mountain Thunder, as No. 734 is nicknamed, is waiting for a 1,472 day boiler inspection.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
UPRR No. 561 is on static display along US Highway 81 in Columbus, NE.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
UPRR No. 423 is on static display on 10th street in Gering, Ne.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
UPRR No. 6072 is on static display at Wyman park in Fort Riley ks.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Baldwin Locomotive Works No. 40, built in December 1925 for the Lancaster and Chester Railroad in South Carolina, and later purchased by the Cliffside Railroad in North Carolina, now pulls scenic excursion trains at the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad in New Hope, Pennsylvania, which opened in August, 1966.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Great Western No. 60, built in August 1937 by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York, is currently operated on the Black River and Western Railroad in Ringoes, New Jersey. No . 60 originally operated on the Great Western Railway of Colorado.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Baldwin Steam Locomotive No. 1702 , built in 1942 for the United States Army, was purchased by the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (GSMR) of Bryson City, North Carolina, in the mid-1990s for use on its scenic railway excursions. After a decade of service, No. 1702 was retired in 2004. In October 2012, a partnership formed between GSMR and Swain County to provide funding to restore the locomotive. In 2013, a complete restoration was launched and the locomotive returned to service during summer 2016.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
In the late 1980s, four ex-Lake Superior and Ispheming 2-8-0s were purchased by the Grand Canyon Railway based in Williams, Arizona. No. 14 was built by ALCO in 1906 and was eventually renumbered 29, while Nos. 18, 19, and 20 were also built be ALCO in 1910 originally as 11, 12, and 13. Nos. 19 and 20 were cosmetically restored for static display at Williams Depot while 18 and 29 were fully restored to operation for use between Williams and the Grand Canyon National Park. By 2007, the Grand Canyon Railway sold off almost all of their 2-8-0s.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
No. 19 was already sold in 1993 to MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas, Nevada, and later on, it was sold to the City of Frisco, Texas for use on static display, appearing as a typical Frisco locomotive. The Frisco operated a fleet of over 200 consolidations before dieselization in the 1950s.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Nos. 18 and 20 were sold to the Mount Hood Railroad in Hood River, Oregon, and now reside at the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad based in Alamosa, Colorado, where 18 was often used in excursion service until 2013 and is now homed at the Colebrookdale Railroad, while 20 was sold to the City of Allen, Texas. No. 29 remains as the only 2-8-0 homed at the Grand Canyon Railway and is currently waiting for a 1,472 day boiler inspection.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Pennsylvania Railroad 1187, of the class R, later H3, is on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. This class is described in detail in the book Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman 1904-1949.


2-8-0, Usage, United States, Preservation
Virginia & Truckee No. 29 is currently operational on the Virginia and Truckee Scenic Railroad.


2-8-0+0-8-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, the 2-8-0+0-8-2 is a Garratt articulated locomotive. The wheel arrangement is effectively two 2-8-0 locomotives operating back to back, with the boiler and cab suspended between the two power units. Each power unit has a single pair of leading wheels in a leading truck, followed by four coupled pairs of driving wheels and no trailing wheels. Since the 2-8-0 type is sometimes known as a Consolidation, the corresponding Garratt type could be referred to as a Double Consolidation.


2-8-0+0-8-2
A similar wheel arrangement exists for Mallet type locomotives, but is referred to as 2-8-8-2.


2-8-0+0-8-2, Overview
This Garratt wheel arrangement was somewhat common, especially for locomotives intended for freight service. The first 2-8-0+0-8-2 locomotive was a single metre gauge locomotive built by Beyer, Peacock & Company in 1924 for the Burma Railways as their class GA.I. The second, and perhaps the better known, was the single Class U1 of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER), built in 1925.


2-8-0+0-8-2, Use, Burma
Apart from their first single class GA.I locomotive of 1924, the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge Burma Railways acquired another locomotive from Beyer, Peacock & Company in 1927, classifying it GA.II. In that same year, another four of class GA.III were placed in service, also from Beyer, Peacock. In 1929, Krupp of Essen in Germany delivered eight more, designated Class GA.IV.


2-8-0+0-8-2, Use, India
The 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) Bengal Nagpur Railway in India used two of the class HSG, built by Beyer, Peacock & Company in 1925.


2-8-0+0-8-2, Use, India
Ten 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge examples were purchased by the British War Department in 1943 and used on the Bengal Assam Railway in India as their Class MWGX.


2-8-0+0-8-2, Use, Mauritius
The Mauritius Railway owned three 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge 2-8-0+0-8-2 Garratts, also built by Beyer, Peacock & Company in 1927.


2-8-0+0-8-2, Use, Turkey
The Ottoman Railways in Turkey acquired a single 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge 2-8-0+0-8-2 Garratt from Beyer, Peacock & Company in 1927.


2-8-0+0-8-2, Use, United Kingdom
The London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) owned a single Class U1 Garratt, built by Beyer, Peacock & Company in 1925. It was designed by Nigel Gresley for banking coal trains over the Worsborough Bank, a steeply graded line in South Yorkshire and part of the Woodhead line. The Class U1 was both the longest and the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run in the United Kingdom.


2-8-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-8-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and two trailing wheels on one axle, usually in a trailing truck. This configuration of steam locomotive is most often referred to as a Mikado, frequently shortened to Mike.


2-8-2
At times it was also referred to on some railroads in the United States of America as the McAdoo Mikado and, during the Second World War, the MacArthur.


2-8-2
The notation 2-8-2T indicates a tank locomotive of this wheel arrangement, the "T" suffix indicating a locomotive on which the water is carried in side-tanks mounted on the engine rather than in an attached tender.


2-8-2, Overview
The 2-8-2 wheel arrangement allowed the locomotive's firebox to be placed behind instead of above the driving wheels, thereby allowing a larger firebox that could be both wide and deep. This supported a greater rate of combustion and thus a greater capacity for steam generation, allowing for more power at higher speeds. Allied with the larger driving wheel diameter which was possible when they did not impinge on the firebox, it meant that the 2-8-2 was capable of higher speeds than a 2-8-0 with a heavy train. These locomotives did not suffer from the imbalance of reciprocating parts as much as did the 2-6-2 or the 2-10-2, because the center of gravity was between the second and third drivers instead of above the centre driver.


2-8-2, Overview
The first 2-8-2 locomotive was built in 1884. It was originally named Calumet by Angus Sinclair, in reference to the 2-8-2 engines built for the Chicago & Calumet Terminal Railway (C&CT). However, this name did not take hold.


2-8-2, Overview
The wheel arrangement name "Mikado" originated from a group of Japanese type 9700 2-8-2 locomotives that were built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge Nippon Railway of Japan in 1897. In the 19th century, the Emperor of Japan was often referred to as "the Mikado" in English. Also, the Gilbert and Sullivan opera The Mikado had premiered in 1885 and achieved great popularity in both Britain and America.


2-8-2, Overview
The 2-8-2 was one of the more common configurations in the first half of the 20th century, before dieselisation. Between 1917 and 1944, nearly 2,200 of this type were constructed by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO), Lima Locomotive Works and Baldwin, based on designs by the United States Railroad Administration (USRA). It was also known as the "McAdoo Mikado" in the United States, after William Gibbs McAdoo who was appointed as Director General of Railroads when the United States commenced hostilities during the latter part of the First World War and the USRA was established. Of all of the USRA designs, the Mikado proved to be the most popular. The total American production was about 14,000, of which 9,500 were for local customers and the rest exported.


2-8-2, Overview
"Mikado" remained the type name until the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Seeking a more American name, "MacArthur" came into use to describe the locomotive type in the United States, after General Douglas MacArthur. After the war, the type name "Mikado" again became the most common for this locomotive type.


2-8-2, Usage
Locomotives of this wheel arrangement saw service on all six populated continents. The 2-8-2 type was particularly popular in North America, but was also used extensively in Continental Europe and elsewhere.


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
The Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway bought eighteen 2-8-2T locomotives in three batches of six as their class 701 class. The first two batches came from North British Locomotive Company in 1908 and 1912, the third from Henschel & Sohn in 1913.


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
The BA&P also bought eight 2-8-2 tender locomotives from Beyer, Peacock and Company in 1928 as their 3001 class.


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
The Central Argentine Railway (FCCA) bought fifteen 2-8-2T locomotives as their class C7 in 1912; they were built by Robert Stephenson and Company with works numbers 3506 to 3520.


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
The FCCA also bought sixty 2-8-2 locomotives: twenty class CS8A from Beyer, Peacock and Company in 1926, and another twenty in 1928 from Robert Stephenson and Company. The final twenty to class CS9A were supplied by Vulcan Foundry in 1930. Both classes were cross-compound locomotives with one high-pressure cylinder with a bore of 21 inches (533 millimetres) and one low-pressure cylinder with a bore of 31+1⁄2 inches (800 millimetres), with a stroke of 26 inches (660 millimetres). The earlier class had  coupled wheels with a diameter of 62 inches (1,575 millimetres), whereas on the later class they were  55+1⁄2 inches (1,410 millimetres).


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, Standard gauge
The East Argentine Railway bought four 2-8-2 locomotives from Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1924. As class X they were numbered 70 to 74; they became General Urquiza Railway 701 to 704 in the 1948 nationalisation. Baldwin had classified them as 12-30-1⁄4-E.


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge
The Province of Buenos Aires Railway bought a single 2-8-2 locomotive from Hanomag of Germany in 1910. Numbered 251 and classified as class E, it was the only 2-8-2 on that railway's system.


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge
The Central Northern Railway (FCCN) bought seven classes of 2-8-2 locomotives totalling 134 locomotives. The first 100 were all bought in 1911: Fifteen from Borsig (class C7, numbered 700–714), 25 from Henschel & Sohn (class C8, 715–739), 10 from Hanomag (class C9, 740–749) and 50 from North British Locomotive (class C10, 750–799). The next 25 came from Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1920; they were Baldwin class 12-30-1⁄4-E, 55 to 79, FCCN class C11, numbered 7000–7024. The last nine new locomotives were built by Henschel between 1928 and 1930 (class C13, numbers 7025–7033, and class C13A, number 7034). In addition the FCCN rebuilt 20 4-8-0 locomotives of classes C6 and C7 into 2-8-2s between 1938 and 1940.


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge
The Córdoba Central Railway (FCCC) bought 31 locomotives in four classes. The first was a solitary locomotive, numbered 800, class C6A built by Alco's Brooks Works in 1910. It was nearly a decade before they bought any more with a dozen class C9A locomotives, numbered 1451 to 1462, coming from Montreal Locomotive Works, half in 1919 and half in 1920. MLW delivered another 15 Mikados later that same year; as class C10A they were numbered 1463 to 1477.


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge
FCCC's final three came from Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1925, they were Baldwin class 12-26-1⁄4-E; FCCC numbered them 1501 to 1503, class C11A. When the FCCC was taken over by the FCCN in 1939, their new owner changed the classification by adding 20 to the FCCC's old classification; the locomotives kept their old numbers, except for FCCC 800 which became FCCN 1400.


2-8-2, Usage, Argentina, 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) gauge
On the Ferrocarriles Patagónicos, 75 locomotives were bought in 1922. Fifty were built by Henschel & Sohn, numbered 101 to 150 and class 75H; 25 were built by Baldwin, numbered 1 to 25, class 75B with Baldwin classifying then as 12-18-1⁄4-E.


2-8-2, Usage, Australia
Possibly the world's first 2-8-2T was the South Maitland Railways 10 Class, first delivered in 1911, by Beyer-Peacock, and spasmodically continuing delivery until 1925, then totaling 14 in the class.


2-8-2, Usage, Australia
The requirement for locomotives that could be converted from 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge without major re-engineering led to the introduction of Mikado locomotives by the Victorian Railways (VR) in the 1920s. Whereas previous 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotives featured long, narrow fireboxes between the frames that made gauge conversion impractical, the N class light lines and X class heavy goods locomotives both featured wide fireboxes positioned behind the coupled wheels and above the frames.


2-8-2, Usage, Australia
The South Australian Railways (SAR) employed four distinct classes of 2-8-2 locomotive, the locally designed 700 and 710 class, the 740 class that was originally built for China by Clyde Engineering and purchased by the SAR after the order was cancelled in the wake of the Chinese Communist Revolution, and the 750 class, a group of ten surplus VR N class locomotives.


2-8-2, Usage, Australia
To assist with the postwar rebuilding of Australian railways, American-designed Mikado locomotives were also introduced after the Second World War, such as the Baldwin-built New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) D59 class and the Queensland Rail (QR) AC16 class.


2-8-2, Usage, Australia
A Mikado was also the last new class of mainline steam locomotive to be introduced in Australia, the V class heavy freight locomotive of the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) of 1955.


2-8-2, Usage, Austria
The 4-cylinder compound class 470, developed in 1914 by Karl Gölsdorf, was built for express trains on mountain lines. From 1927, some of these locomotives were rebuilt to two-cylinder superheated steam locomotives and designated class 670. They were reclassified to class 39 from 1938 and remained in service until 1957.


2-8-2, Usage, Belgian Congo
In 1917, 24 Mikado type steam locomotives were built for the Chemins de Fer du Bas Congo á Katanga (BCK), a new line from the Northern Rhodesian border to Port Francqui in the Belgian Congo. Since the line was just being completed at the time, the full complement of locomotives were not required immediately and four, possibly six, of them were temporarily leased to the South African Railways to alleviate a wartime shortage of locomotives. In South Africa, they were known as the Katanga Mikado.


2-8-2, Usage, Belgian Congo
Six more of these engines were leased to the Beira and Mashonaland and Rhodesia Railways (BMR), which operated between Umtali in Southern Rhodesia and Beira in Mozambique. The locomotives were all forwarded to the Belgian Congo after the war, where they were numbered in the BCK range from 201 to 224.


2-8-2, Usage, Canada
The Canadian National Railway (CN) operated a few Mikado locomotives:


2-8-2, Usage, Canada
The Canadian Pacific (CP) used Mikado locomotives for passenger and freight trains throughout Canada. Most worked in the Rocky Mountains, where the standard 4-6-2 Pacifics and 4-6-4 Hudsons could not provide enough traction to handle the steep mountain grades.


2-8-2, Usage, Canada
The Temiskaming & Northern Ontario (renamed Ontario Northland Railway in 1946) operated seventeen Mikados, all ordered from Canadian Locomotive Company in three batches, the first six in 1916, second batch of four in 1921, and the final seven in 1923 to 1925. They were scrapped between 1955 and 1957 when the Ontario Northland was completely dieselized, except for three wrecked and scrapped in the 1940s. The Temiskaming & Northern Ontario operated its Mikados on both freight and passenger service, and were fitted with smoke deflectors. In 1946 65 out of 199 Canadian Pacific N2 2-8-0’s were rebuilt and converted to Class P1n 2-8-2’s . However all were scrapped around 1955 and 1958 . No P1n 2-8-2’s were preserved however CP no . 5468 is preserved


2-8-2, Usage, Canada
CP's no. 5468, on display in Revelstoke, British Columbia. And CP’s 5361 a Class P2e is preserved Depew New York.


2-8-2, Usage, China
Some local industries still actively use Mikados on freight service. The last regular Mikado passenger service was ended on 20 November 2015 in Baiyin. A few Chinese-made locomotives have found their way into the United States, including Class SY no. 3025, built in 1989, which operated as New Haven no. 3025, in honor of Class J1 no. 3001-3024, on the Valley Railroad in Connecticut. The locomotive now operates on the Belvidere & Delaware as no. 142. It is original to the New York, Susquehanna & Western as no. 142. It and two other Chinese 2-8-2s are currently in the United States.


2-8-2, Usage, Finland
Finland's sixteen 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge Class Pr1 were 2-8-2T passenger locomotives for use on local trains. They were nicknamed Paikku, which means local. The Class Pr1 was operational from 1924 to 1972. Numbered 761 to 776, they were built by Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG (Hanomag) in Germany and also by Finnish locomotive builders Tampella and Lokomo. The last one, no. 776, is preserved at the Finnish Railway Museum.


2-8-2, Usage, Finland
The Finnish Class Tr1 (or R1) tender locomotive was built by Tampella, Lokomo and German locomotive builders Arnold Jung from 1940 and remained in service until 1975. They were numbered from 1030 to 1096 and were nicknamed Risto, after Finnish President Risto Ryti. 1030, 1033, 1037, 1047, 1051, 1055, 1057, 1060, 1067, 1071, 1074, 1077, 1082, 1087, 1088, 1092, 1093, 1094, 1095 and 1096 are preserved


2-8-2, Usage, France
France used a fairly large number of 2-8-2s in both tender and tank configurations, designated 141 class from the French classification system of wheel arrangements.


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tender locomotives
Of the pre-nationalisation railway companies that existed before the formation of the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF), the Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) had the most Mikados. Their first twelve were initially numbered from 1001 to 1012 and later renumbered to 141.A.1 to 141.A.12. The PLM's second series, numbered from 1013 to 1129 and later renumbered 141.B.1 to 141.B.117, were built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in the United States. Their third and largest class was numbered from 141.C.1 to 141.C.680. Of these latter locomotives, those fitted with feedwater heaters bore the class letter D. The PLM also rebuilt forty-four 141.C and 141.D class locomotives to 141.E class. The SNCF modified the PLM numbers by adding the regional prefix digit "5".


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tender locomotives
The PLM's 141.A class Mikados were copied by the Chemins de Fer du Nord, who had fifty, numbered from 4.1101 to 4.1150, which became 2-141.A.1 to 2-141.A.50 on the SNCF.


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tender locomotives
The Chemins de Fer de l'État also had a class of 250 Mikados, numbered from 141-001 to 141-250. These later became the 141.B class on the SNCF and were renumbered 3-141.B.1 to 3-141.B.250. After modifications, the 141.B class locomotives became the 141.C class, as well as one 141.D class (no. 141.D.136) and one 141.E class (no. 141.E.113). No. 3-141.C.100 has been preserved and designated a Monument historique.


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tender locomotives
The most powerful French Mikado was the SNCF 141.P class. At about 3,300 horsepower (2,500 kilowatts), these engines were among the most efficient steam locomotives in the world, thanks to their compound design. They could burn 30% less fuel and use 40% less water than their 141.R class counterparts, but could not compete when it came to reliability. Every locomotive of this 318-strong class has been scrapped.


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tender locomotives
The most numerous steam locomotive class France had, was the American and Canadian-built 141.R class. Of the 1,340 locomotives ordered, however, only 1,323 entered service since sixteen engines were lost at sea during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland while being shipped to France, while one more was lost in Marseille harbour. They were praised for being easy to maintain and proved to be very reliable, which may account for the fact that they remained in service until the very end of the steam era in 1975. Twelve of these locomotives have been preserved.


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tank locomotives
The Chemins de fer d'Alsace et de Lorraine had a class of forty 2-8-2T locomotives, the T 14 class, later numbered SNCF 1-141.TA.501 to 1-141.TA.540. They were identical to Germany's  Prussian T 14 class locomotive and were built between 1914 and 1918. (Also see Germany)


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tank locomotives
The Chemins de fer de l'Est had two Mikado classes. The first was numbered from 4401 to 4512, later renumbered 141.401 to 141.512 and finally SNCF 1-141.TB.401 to 1-141.TB.512. The other was numbered from 141.701 to 141.742 and later SNCF 1-141.TC.701 to 1-141.TC.742.


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tank locomotives
The Chemin de Fer du Nord also had two 2-8-2T classes. The first, consisting of only two locomotives, was numbered 4.1201 and 4.1202, later renumbered 4.1701 and 4.1702 and finally SNCF 2-141.TB.1 and 2-141.TB.2. The second, with 72 locomotives, was numbered from 4.1201 to 4.1272 and later SNCF 2-141.TC.1 to 2-141.TC.72.


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tank locomotives
The Chemins de Fer de l'État also had two Mikado classes. The first, numbered from 42-001 to 42-020, later became the SNCF 141.TC class and were renumbered 3-141.TC.1 to 3-141.TC.20. The second, numbered from 42-101 to 42-140, later became the SNCF 141TD class and were renumbered 3-141.TD.1 to 3-141.TD.141. They were copies of the 141.700 series of the Chemins de fer de l'Est.


2-8-2, Usage, France, Tank locomotives
The Chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans (PO) also had two classes. The first was numbered from 5301 to 5490 and later SNCF 4-141.TA.301 to 4-141.TA.490. The second was numbered from 5616 to 5740 and later 4-SNCF 141.TB.616 to 4-141.TB.740.


2-8-2, Usage, Germany
German 2-8-2 tender locomotives were built in both passenger and freight versions.


2-8-2, Usage, Germany
Both standard gauge and narrow gauge 1D1 2-8-2 tank locomotive classes were used in Germany.


2-8-2, Usage, India, Broad gauge
On the 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) gauge, the Class XD was the first 2-8-2 in India to be built in quantity. Introduced in 1927, 78 were built before the Second World War by Vulcan Foundry, North British Locomotive Company (NBL), Armstrong Whitworth and Škoda Works. Production resumed after the war, and 110 were built by NBL in 1945 and 1946, while Vulcan Foundry built the last six in 1948.


2-8-2, Usage, India, Broad gauge
There was also a Class XE that was built by William Beardmore and Company and Vulcan Foundry. Wartime designs included the Class AWD and Class AWE, built by American company Baldwin Locomotive Works, and the Class X-Dominion (later Class CWD) built as part of Canada's Mutual Aid program by two Canadian companies, the Canadian Locomotive Company and Montreal Locomotive Works.


2-8-2, Usage, India, Broad gauge
After the war, a new design was produced and placed in production in 1950. The Class WG was the main post-war broad gauge freight locomotive type of the Indian Railways (IR). The first order of 200 was split evenly between NBL and Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW). Apart from Indian manufacture, examples were also built in England, Scotland, Germany, Austria, the United States, Japan and Italy. By the time production ceased in 1970, 2,450 Class WG locomotives had been built.


2-8-2, Usage, India, Metre gauge
After the First World War, an Indian Railway Standards (IRS) 2-8-2 class became the main heavy freight locomotive on the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge. While two versions were designed, the Class YD with a 10-ton axle load and the Class YE with a 12-ton axle load, none was built of the latter class.


2-8-2, Usage, India, Metre gauge
During the Second World War, many of the war-time United States Army Transportation Corps (USATC) S118 class locomotives were sent to India and 33 more were ordered after the war.


2-8-2, Usage, India, Metre gauge
The post-Second World War Mikado design was the Class YG, of which 1,074 were built between 1949 and 1972, with nearly half of them being manufactured in India.


2-8-2, Usage, India, Narrow gauges
Two narrow track gauges were in use in India. The 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge was the more widely used while the 2 ft (610 mm) gauge was used by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and the Scindia State Railway. Mikado type locomotives were used by the following:


2-8-2, Usage, India, Narrow gauges
The standard narrow gauge 2-8-2 locomotive was the ZE class, with 65 engines built by five companies between 1928 and 1954. Nasmyth, Wilson built ten in 1928, Hanomag built sixteen in 1931, Corpet-Louvet built twelve in 1950, Krauss-Maffei built fifteen in 1952 and another ten in 1954, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries built ten in 1954. In 1957 and 1958, six ZD class locomotives were also built by Nippon Sharyo in Japan.


2-8-2, Usage, Indonesia
Before 1945, the Dutch East Indies Railway Administration, Staatspoorwegen (SS), introduced two types of locomotives with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement, the class 1500 tender engine of 1920, later renumbered as class D51, and the class 1400 tank engine of 1921-22, later renumbered as class D14. The class 1500 was originally used on the Hedjaz Railway, but was later diverted to Java prior to the First World War.


2-8-2, Usage, Indonesia
After the independence of Indonesia in 1945, the government of Indonesia nationalised all of the Dutch-owned railway companies, including the SS whose name was later changed to Djawatan Kereta Api (DKA), the Departmental Agency of Railway. Shortly after, the DKA bought 100 new steam locomotives with a Mikado wheel arrangement from Krupp in Germany. These locomotives, designated the D52 type, were the most modern steam locomotive in Indonesia at that time, with a large physical appearance and equipped with electric lighting. It was similar to the Class 41 locomotive of the Deutsche Reichsbahn.


2-8-2, Usage, Indonesia
In Java, the D52 locomotives were placed in passenger service, but was occasionally also used as freight locomotives. Some people even idolized the D52 because of its loyalty in taking passengers anywhere, as happened on the Rapih Dhoho Train from Madiun to Kertosono. The D52 was a mainstay for this train until the end of steam operation in Indonesia.


2-8-2, Usage, Indonesia
In contrast to the Java-based units, Sumatra-based D52 locomotives were used for hauling freight trains, mainly coal trains from the Tanjung Enim coal mine, now owned by the PT Bukit Asam mining company, to the coal dumping sites at Kertapati and Tarahan.


2-8-2, Usage, Indonesia
The D52 locomotives were initially coal-fired but, from mid-1956, 28 locomotives, numbers D52002 to D52029, were converted to oil burners. The work was done in stages over five years by the locomotive repair shop at Madiun.


2-8-2, Usage, Indonesia
One locomotive from this class was written off from service near Linggapura station after a boiler explosion that killed its driver, as a result of steam pipe failure. The only one of the original 100 locomotives that survived into the 21st century is D52 number D52099, which is on display at the Transport Museum in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. Later on,the Locomotive moved to Purwosari Station for preservation,but its never finished.


2-8-2, Usage, Italy
Italian railways relied primarily on 2-6-2s for fast passenger services, while heavy passenger service was assigned to 2-8-0s of the classes 744 and 745. Although Mikado types had little opportunity for development in Italy, Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) commissioned the 2-8-2 class 746 for heavy passenger service on the Adriatic route. To serve local branches and mountain lines where tank locomotives were more suitable, FS derived the new class 940 from the 2-8-0 class 740, with the same dimensions but adding a rear Bissel truck to support the coal bunker behind the cab to make it a 2-8-2.


2-8-2, Usage, Japan
The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) built the Class D50 Class D51 Class D52 Mikado tender locomotive for use on the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge lines on the Japanese mainland and in its former colonies. (Also see Soviet Union.) One is plinthed at Kiso-Fukushima station on the Nagoya - Nagano line.


2-8-2, Usage, New Zealand
Only one 2-8-2 locomotive ever operated on New Zealand's national rail network, and it was not even ordered by the New Zealand Railways Department, who ran almost the entire network. The locomotive was ordered in 1901 from Baldwin Locomotive Works by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) for use on their main line's steep section between Wellington and Paekakariki. It entered service on 10 June 1902 as the WMR's no. 17. At the time, it was the most powerful locomotive in New Zealand and successfully performed its intended tasks.


2-8-2, Usage, New Zealand
When the WMR was incorporated into the national network in 1908, the Railways Department reclassified no. 17 as the solitary member of the BC class, no. BC 463, and the locomotive continued to operate on the Wellington-Paekakariki line until it was withdrawn on 31 March 1927.


2-8-2, Usage, Philippines
According to Iowa State University professor Jonathan Smith, the Mikado was the most popular wheel arrangement of freight-purpose tender locomotives on the Manila Railroad. 67 units of the wheel class were delivered between 1927 and 1951, distributed into 4 classes.


2-8-2, Usage, Philippines
The first 2-8-2 steam locomotive was the Baldwin-built Manila Railroad 250 class introduced in 1928. It was the freight version of the 4-6-2 Pacific-type 140 class built for passenger rail services in Luzon. More classes were ordered after the war. The United States Army Transportation Corps class S118, locally referred to as the Manila Railroad 800 class USA in which 45 units were ordered in 1944. These were numbered 851 to 895, with three named locomotives have been named: No. 865 Huckleberry Finn, No. 866 Tom Sawyer and No. 867 Hanibella. Two more locomotives were ordered in 1948 from the War Assets Administration and were numbered the 630 class. These were locally assembled at the MRR workshop in Caloocan. Lastly, 10 JNR Class D51 locomotives were ordered from Nippon Sharyo in 1951 and were numbered the 300 class.


2-8-2, Usage, Philippines
All of these locomotives were decommissioned in 1956 and were scrapped afterwards.


2-8-2, Usage, Poland
Between 1932 and 1952, Polish industry supplied PKP with 290 mikados of classes Pt31 and Pt47. They were used to work long-distance passenger trains on main lines.


2-8-2, Usage, Poland
Some 200 TKt48 2-8-2 tank locomotives were delivered to PKP between 1950 and 1957. They were used on suburban passenger trains and on goods trains in lower mountain areas.


2-8-2, Usage, South Africa
Only six Mikado locomotive classes saw service in South Africa, five on Cape gauge and one on narrow gauge. The type was rare, with only two of these classes built in quantity.


2-8-2, Usage, South Africa, Cape gauge
During 1887, designs for a 2-8-2 Mikado type tank-and-tender locomotive were prepared by the Natal Government Railways. The single locomotive was built in the Durban workshops and entered service in 1888, named Havelock, but was soon rebuilt to a 4-6-2 Pacific configuration. The engine Havelock was the first locomotive to be designed and built in South Africa and also the first to have eight-coupled wheels.


2-8-2, Usage, South Africa, Cape gauge
In 1903, the Cape Government Railways (CGR) placed two Cape Class 9 2-8-2 locomotives in service, designed by H.M. Beatty, Locomotive Superintendent of the CGR from 1896 to 1910, and built by Kitson and Company. They had bar frames, Stephenson's link motion valve gear and used saturated steam. In comparison with the Cape Class 8 2-8-0 locomotive of 1901, however, it was found that their maintenance costs were much higher without any advantage in terms of efficiency. As a result, no more of the type were ordered. In 1912, when these locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways (SAR), they were classified as Class Experimental 4.


2-8-2, Usage, South Africa, Cape gauge
In 1904, the Central South African Railways (CSAR) placed 36 Class 11 Mikados in service. Built by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL), it was designed by P.A. Hyde, Chief Locomotive Superintendent of the CSAR from 1902 to 1904, for goods train service on the Witwatersrand. It was superheated, with a Belpaire firebox, Walschaerts valve gear and plate frame. The Class 11 designation was retained when the CSAR was amalgamated into the SAR in 1912.


2-8-2, Usage, South Africa, Cape gauge
In 1906, the CGR placed a single experimental 2-8-2 in service, designed by H.M. Beatty and built by Kitson. It was a larger version of the Cape Class 9 in all respects, also with a bar frame, Stephenson's link motion valve gear and using saturated steam. The locomotive was not classified and was simply referred to as "the Mikado". On the CGR it was exceeded in size only by the Kitson-Meyer 0-6-0+0-6-0 of 1904. At the time, it was considered as a big advance in motive power, but the design was never repeated and the Cape Mikado remained unique. In 1912, it was classified as Class Experimental 5 on the SAR.


2-8-2, Usage, South Africa, Cape gauge
In 1917, the South African Railways placed at least four, possibly six, Mikado type steam locomotives in service. They had been built for the Chemins de Fer du Bas Congo á Katanga in the Belgian Congo and were obtained on temporary lease, to alleviate the critical shortage of locomotives as a result of the First World War's disruption of locomotive production in Europe and the United Kingdom. The Katanga Mikados, as the locomotives were known on the SAR, were all forwarded to the Belgian Congo after the war. (Also see Belgian Congo)


2-8-2, Usage, South Africa, Narrow gauge
Between 1931 and 1958, 21 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge Class NG15 Mikados, developed from the Class Hd and Class NG5 of South West Africa (SWA), were acquired for the Otavi Railway in SWA. Designed by the SAR, it was built by Henschel & Son and Société Franco-Belge. A major improvement on the earlier locomotives was the use of a Krauss-Helmholtz bogie, with the leading pair of driving wheels linked to the leading pony truck.


2-8-2, Usage, South Africa, Narrow gauge
The leading driving wheels had a limited amount of sideplay while the axle still remained parallel to the other three driving axles at all times, thus allowing the locomotive to negotiate sharper curves than its two predecessors. When the SWA narrow gauge line was regauged to Cape gauge in 1960, all these locomotives were transferred to the Eastern Cape for further service on the Langkloof narrow gauge line from Port Elizabeth to Avontuur. Here they were nicknamed the Kalahari. Victorias Milling Co. 2H is a Henschel built 0-8-0T dated 1927.


2-8-2, Usage, South West Africa (Namibia)
Two very similar Mikado classes saw service on the 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge Otavi Railway in South West Africa (SWA).


2-8-2, Usage, South West Africa (Namibia)
In 1912, the German administration in Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika acquired three locomotives for use on the line from Swakopmund to Karibib. They were built by Henschel & Son and were designated Class Hd. The locomotives were superheated, with Heusinger valve gear, piston valves and outside plate frames. Since they did not have separate bogie trucks, the leading and trailing carrying wheels were arranged as radial axles to allow for sideways motion of the wheels with respect to the locomotive frame. After the First World War, they were taken onto the roster of the South African Railways (SAR) and later reclassified as Class NG5 along with the similar locomotives of 1922.


2-8-2, Usage, South West Africa (Namibia)
In 1922, the SAR placed six Class NG5 locomotives in service on the Otavi branch in SWA, also built by Henschel. They were built to the same design as the Class Hd, but had a different coupled wheel suspension arrangement, different boilers and slide valves. In service, they were operated in a common pool with the Class Hd locomotives until they were all withdrawn from service when the SWA system was regauged to Cape gauge in 1960.


2-8-2, Usage, Soviet Union
At the end of the Second World War, several 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge Japanese Class D51 2-8-2 locomotives were left behind on Russia's Sakhalin island, formerly Karafuto, by retreating Japanese forces. In addition, two Class D51 wrecks were abandoned to the north of the city. Until 1979, the serviceable Japanese locomotives were used on the island by the Soviet Railways.


2-8-2, Usage, Soviet Union
One was then plinthed outside the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk railway station, and another is still in running condition and is kept at the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk railway station.


2-8-2, Usage, Soviet Union
The Sakhalin Railway has a connection with the mainland via a train ferry operating between Kholmsk on the island and Vanino on the mainland. The Japanese gauge still remains in use on the island, although in 2004 conversion began to the Russian 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) gauge. (Also see Japan)


2-8-2, Usage, Spain
The 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in) Iberian gauge network of Spain used one Mikado tank locomotive and two versions of tender locomotives.


2-8-2, Usage, Spain
The Spanish manufacturer MTM delivered six 2-8-2T locomotives to the Madrid-Caceres-Portugal line in 1925. A project at MTM in 1942 to build a big 2-8-2 never realised.


2-8-2, Usage, Spain
The first tender version was built by two American companies in 1917, fifteen by Brooks Locomotive Works and forty by Schenectady Locomotive Works. They were numbered from 4501 to 4555 and were a slightly smaller version of the USRA Light Mikado. The locomotives served well in the Norte system, where they were nicknamed Chalecos.


2-8-2, Usage, Spain
In 1953, RENFE (acronym of REd Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles), the nationalised railway company, acquired twenty-five locomotives of the second tender version from North British Locomotive Company (NBL) of Glasgow. Spanish builders MTM, MACOSA and Euskalduna and the American Babcock & Wilcox built 213 more between 1953 and 1960, with only minor detail differences such as double chimneys, Llubera sanders, ACFI feedwater heaters and oil-burning. Their empty weight was 94 tonnes (92.5 long tons; 103.6 short tons) and they had 1,560 millimetres (61.42 inches) diameter coupled wheels. They performed well in both freight and passenger service and lasted until the official end of steam in common service in 1975.


2-8-2, Usage, Spain
One Norte and eighteen RENFE locomotives are preserved, three of them in good working condition.


2-8-2, Usage, Thailand (Siam)
The first Mikado locomotives of the Royal State Railways of Siam (RSR), the predecessor of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), were acquired from 1923 as standard locomotives for express and mixed trains, to supersede the E-Class locomotives which had been commissioned between 1915 and 1921. The first Siamese Mikado class was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1923, Nasmyth, Wilson and Company in 1924 and Batignolles-Châtillon, France in 1925.


2-8-2, Usage, Thailand (Siam)
However, it was not until the first batch of eight of Thailand's second class of 2-8-2 locomotives, numbers 351 to 358, was imported from Japan in 1936 that Mikado locomotives really became successful in Thailand. The RSR imported more Mikado standard locomotives to meet railways as well as military demands between 1938 and 1945.