Wheel configurations: whats in a name?

[Old Gringo]

Back in post 6 of the topic, Steve commented, "Strange how many of the names originated in America" and John (Allegheny 1600) confirmed this (post 36, on page 2): 

"As has been pointed out, the reason so many of these names originated in the USA was simply because the type either was invented there, or became very well used there, to whit: the British called a 4-4-0 just that, whereas the Americans called the 4-4-0, “the American”!" 

 

John also suggested some more studying and after a bit more poking around in an assortment of railway books, here's some extra information, regarding building steam locomotives and the names given to their wheel arrangements.

 

According to Philip Atkins, a grand total of approximately 640,000 locomotives were built in 40 countries around the world.  The top three countries on this list were the U.S.A., Germany and Great Britain who between them built 430,000 of the total.  (ref: Dropping the Fire, Irwell Press 1999, p.1).  Large numbers of the locomotives built in these three countries were for export around the World.

 

From around 1900, the U.S. builders of Alco and Baldwin were at the leading edge of steam locomotive design, incorporating worldwide technological developments in their products, by engineers such as Walschaerts, Wootton and Belpaire, later, Schmidt, Cole and Woodard, etc. (note 1) .

 

For domestic manufacture Alco and Baldwin's goals were the search for greater power and then maximum thermal performance, balanced against operating economies;, whilst their worldwide aim was to deliver locomotives that helped them to stay on the top of the export business table. 

 

On page 255 of 'The Willing Servant - History of the Steam Locomotive' (2004), David Ross puts forward the following explanation of why so many of the wheel configuration names originated in the U.S.A.:  "The great majority of these names arose in the U.S.A. and while some, like 'Atlantic, Pacific and Mikado became universal, others were used patchily in other countries, like Mogul, etc. "Several names were applied to wheel arrangements rarely, or never seen outside the U.S.A. and these may have had a public relations connection; a name bestowed by the builder on behalf of the first U.S. railroad to use the type.  Thus the 2-10-2 became the 'Santa Fe', the 2-10-4 the 'Texas', etc..  Later, aspirational names crept in, for example 'Challenger' for the Union Pacific's 4-6-6-4, or 'Big Boy' for the later 4-8-8-4s."

 

So far in this topic, over twenty names have been mentioned against the Whyte notations and in a few cases more than one has been discovered against the same wheel configuration.

 

But, how many more wheel arrangements received names?

 

There are a couple of published lists and lots of names are quoted in various texts, see the refs below.  It's also possible that many of the names cited in Alan Jackson's Dictionary (published in 1992) began with those found in Railway Wonders of the World (a weekly magazine, published in 50 parts during 1935), or 'The World's Railways and How they Work,' Odhams, 1947, page 41.

 

None of these texts appear to contain all the names included in the following list of 43, which of course may well not be all the possibilities.

 

1.   2-2-0 - Planet type, inside cylinders, plate, or bar framed (ref: RD/p217).

2.   0-4-0 - Grasshopper type (U.S.) Vertically operated cylinders (CT/p75).

3.   2-2-2 - Patentee, Jenny Lind, inside cylinders, plate frames  (RWW & RD/p212/p144).

4.   2-4-0 - French tank engine type 'Bicyclettes' - see Pacific 231 note earlier in the topic.

5.   2-4-2 - Columbian (U.S.) and Calumet (U.S.) (RWW, RD/p58/p43 & ASL/p59).

6.   4-2-2 - Single Driver, Bicycle (RWW, RD/p244 & ASL/p).

7.   4-4-0 - American (U.S), inside or outside cylinders (RWW & RD/p5).

8.   4-4-2 - Atlantic (U.S.), inside or outside cylinders (RWW, RD/p10 & ASL/p60.

9.   4-4-4 - Reading (U.S.), or Jubliee (RWW & RD/p235/p145).

10. 0-6-0 - Boubonnais, (RWW & RD/p30) inside cylinders, Mammouth, outside cylinders.

11. 2-6-0 - Mogul  (RWW & RD/p183) Neilson 1878 ref: Middlemass p97.

12. 2-6-2 - Prairie (U.S.) - (RWW, RD/p222 & ASL/p63).

13. 2-6-4 - Adriatic (European & U.S.) - (RWW & RD/p2).

14. 4-6-0 - Ten wheeler (U.S.) - (RWW & RD/p281).

15. 4-6-2 - Pacific (N.Z / U.S.) - (RWW & RD/p208).

16. 4-6-4 - Hudson (U.S., 1927, CT/p76) & Baltic (U.K., Europe) - (RWW & RD/p133/p13).

17. 0-8-2 - London (U.K.) perhaps just one class had the name ref.?

18. 2-8-0 - Consolidation (U.S., 1866) - (RWW, RD/p61 & CT/p75).

19. 2-8-2 - Mikado (U.S., 1897), Mike - Macarthur (U.S., 1941) - (RWW & RD/p181).

20. 2-8-4 - Berkshire (U.S., 1925) - (RWW & RD/p21, ASL/p219).

21. 4-8-0 - Mastodon (U.S.) - (RD/p173, ASL/p48).

22. 4-8-2 - Mountain (U.S. & Europe) & Mohawk on New York Central RR (RWW & RD/p182).

23. 4-8-4 [ii] - Northern (U.S. 1926 , CT/p76) & Confederation in Canada (RWW & RD/p196/p60).

24. 0-10-0 - Decapod (G.B.) only 2 examples (RWW, RD/p74 & ASL/p48).

25. 2-10-0 - Decapod (U.S. 1867 and later Europe) - (RWW, RD/p74 & ASL/p48).

26. 2-10-2 - Santa Fe (U.S.) - (RWW, RD/p74 & ASL/p107).

27. 2-10-4 - Texas (U.S.) & Selkirk in Canada (RD/p292, ASL/p225).

28. 4-10-0 - Mastodon (U.S.) later configuration from 4-8-0 (RWW & AJ.RD/173).

29. 4-10-2 - Super Mountain (U.S.) also Southern Pacific & Overland (AJ.RD/282/271/206).

30. 2-12-0 - Centipede (U.S.) - (RWW & AJ.RD/49).

31. 2-12-2 - Javanic (from Tank locomotives supplied to Java - AJ.RD/143)).

32. 4-12-2 - Union Pacific / 9000 Class (U.S.) - (AJ.RD/316).

33. 4-14-4 - Russian or Soviet (engine built in 1935 - RWW & AJ.RD/271).

34. 2-6-6-6 - Allegheny (U.S.), Chesapeake & Ohio, 1941 (AJ.RD/4).

35. 2-8-8-2 - Chesapeake (U.S.) earlier C. & O. Mallet type, 1928. (AJ.RD/52).

36. 2-8-8-4 - Yellowstone (U.S.) Northern Pacific Mallet, 1929. (AJ.RD/338).

37. 4-8-8-2 - Cab-forward (U.S.) Southern Pacific AC-Series (ref.?).

38. 4-6-6-4 - Challenger (U.S. CT/77) Union Pacific, 1936 (AJ.RD/50).

39. 4-8-8-4 - Big Boy (U.S.) Union Pacific, 1941 (AJ.RD/22).

40. 4-4-6-4 - Duplex (U.S.) Pennsylvania Q-class (ref.)

41. 6-4-4-6 - Pennsylvania (ref. ASL.).

42. 2-8-8-8-2 - Triplex (U.S.) Erie Triple Mallet, 1914 (RWW, p983).

43. 2-10-10-2 - Virginian ? (possible ref. from a Trains Annual?).

 

I hope this list proves interesting to all those who like me are still fascinated by the steam locomotive.

All the very best, John

 

Notes:

From 1925, the Super-power concept (by Lima) was added into the U.S. product range.

[ii] The wheel arrangement credited with the most 'names' is the 4-8-4 (Northern), which was tagged as the 'King of wheel arrangements' by Robert McGonigal, the editor of Classic Trains.

(See the following post for a lot more possibilities for the 4-8-4 type, but are they all configuration names, or are class types included?)

 

References:

RWW: Railway Wonders of the World (published in August 1935) Part 30, page 944 had the initial list of 30 tender locomotive wheel arrangements and 20 names.

TWR: The World's Railways and How they Work, published by Odhams Press, 1947; Page 41 has a superb half-tone illustration by L. Ashwell-Wood with 41 wheel arrangements and 22 names.

RD: The Railway Dictionary, Alan Jackson, 1992 confirmed possible 32 names.

CTM: Classic Trains Magazine, 'Fantastic 4-8-4 Locomotives', Robert McGonigal.

ASL: American Steam Locomotives, Design & Development, William Withuhn, 2019.

[Old Gringo]

As a postscript to the previous list and after some more page turning:

 

The 'the King of wheel arrangements' was a tag given to the 4-8-4 (by Robert McGonigal) and this popular type had the most names applied to it.  However (IMO), some of these possibly described the class types of the different 4-8-4s (like Clan, Britannia and Merchant Navy were names for different class-types of Pacifics in the U.K.), rather than a description of another wheel configuration?

 

In 2012, Classic Trains magazine produced Special edition No. 10 entitled, 'Fantastic 4-8-4 Locomotives' and it begins with the information that this wheel arrangement was used by 36 U.S. and Canadian Railroads, besides all those constructed for export worldwide.

 

Six names have already been mentioned in this topic against the wheel arrangement and below are all those that were listed in the Classic Trains article by John Hankey.

 

1.  Northern, from the first 4-8-4, Northern Pacific's A-Class, built by Alco in December 1926.

2.  Confederation, built by Canadian in 1927 for the C.N.R. and by Alco for Grand Trunk Western.

3.  Pocono, built by Alco from 1927 for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western.

4.  3751 Class, built by Alco from 1927 for the 'Santa Fe' (ATSF).  Credited on Wikipedia also as Heavy Mountain and New Mountain, from ATSF correspondence. 

5.  Empire Builders, built by Alco in 1929 for the Great Northern Railroad.

6.  Dixies (Yellow Jackets & Stripes) built by Alco in 1930 for the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Loius.

     The Dixie Line wasn't ready to use the word 'northern' yet. (only 65 years after Appomattox!).

7.  Golden State, for the 1930 GS-Series engines built by Baldwin for the Southern Pacific and . . .

8.  General Service substituted for the later builds (after 1941) by Lima for the Southern Pacific.

9.  Wyomings, were built by both Alco & Baldwin in 1931 for the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

10. Greenbriers, built by Lima from 1935 for Chesapeake & Ohio's hotel in White Sulphur Springs.

11. Generals (1937) & Governors (1938) the first two classes built by Baldwin and Wiki adds Statesmen for the 1944 locomotives for the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad.  Each engine named after notable Virginians.

12. FEFs (Four-Eight-Fours!) built by Alco between 1937 & 1944 for the Union Pacific.

13. R-1 Class built in 1938 by Baldwin for the Atlantic Coast Line.

14.  Just simply Js, on the Roanoke-built, Norfolk & Western's streamliners, built from 1941-1950.

15.  Big Apples were built for the Central of Georgia by Lima in 1943.

16.  Niagara was chosen by the New York Central for the Alco-built S-Class of 1945,

       Rated at 6,600hp* at 85mph and tagged with the name of the huge landmark waterfall.

17.  Niagra chosen by the National of Mexico for their Alco & Baldwin builds of 1946.

18.  Potomac (inspired by the river) built by Baldwin in 1947 for the Western Maryland.

 

Hope this proves interesting and useful to all the steam enthusiasts on RMweb,

All the very best,

John

 

References:

Classic Trains Magazine, Special No.10, 'Fantastic 4-8-4 Locomotives',Ed. Robert McGonigal, (John Hankey, pages 74 - 79 and other contributors), 2012, Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI.  and American Steam Locomotives, Design & Development, William Withuhn, 2019, from p269.

* 6,600 cylinder horsepower = 5,200 max. drawbar horsepower.

 

Edit: a couple of facts added from Wikipedia.

[Compound2632]

12 hours ago, Old Gringo said:

17. 0-8-2 - London (U.K.) perhaps just one class had the name ref.?

 

 

I do wonder what was in the coiner's mind there? The most significant British class of 0-8-2s was the LNWR 4'3" tank of 1911, of which 30 were built up to 1917, intended for heavy shunting. I don't know that they were particularly associated with London, any more than the Barry Railway's and Port Talbot Railway's outside-cylindered engines built by Sharp Stewart in the late 1890s. Ivatt's Class L1 engines were originally intended for the Great Northern's suburban services over the Metropolitan Widened Lines but were soon moved to goods work in the West Riding. Perhaps the epithet "London" was applied to them by the Yorkshire enginemen?

[Allegheny1600]

On 02/06/2021 at 12:15, Pacific231G said:

How, if at all, did American ralroaders describe locos that had "boosters", two cylinder auxiliary steam engines fitted to the loco's trailing axle or the first axle of the tender to give extra power for starting or at low speeds on steep gradients. I know Nigel Gresley also used them on the GNR and LNER* . 

More to the point, how would they be described in the UIC system that uses letters for powered axles and numbers for unpowered axles, given that these were unpowered most of the time?   

 

*The first, fitted experimentally on a GNR Ivatt C1 Atlantic , used compressed air from a Westinghouse pump but that was soon replaced by steam. I don't know whether air boosteres were ever used in America- their efficiency must have been incredibly low.

Hi David, All,

 I don’t know how I’ve missed the rest of this fascinating topic up until now, sorry it’s late!

In answer to your query, all I can say is that I’ve only ever heard (read) the phrase “booster equipped” to describe locos fitted so and never seen any description or notation of the amount of axles so driven.

Obviously, it’s much harder to prove something by its absence but in my fairly substantial library, I’ve never noticed anything other than the above.

A description might be as follows - “the Chesapeake and Ohio’s 3000 class 2-10-4s were equipped with boosters on the trailing trunk to help them with heavy coal trains” - I’m paraphrasing something that Huddleston, Dixon etc might have written!

Cheers,

 John 

[EddieB]

On 23/05/2021 at 19:26, Nearholmer said:

 

Very widespread, yes; universal, no. It isn't common across much of Europe, anywhere with strong French or German influence, and I can't even guess how the Russian and Chinese systems work.

The Chinese classification system utilises two prefix letters that generally refer to the wheel arrangement (though different classes having a given wheel arrangement may be designated by more than one set of letters).  These may be a Chinese term, but a fair few are borrowed from recognisable English/America terms.  For example ‘KD’ referred to 2-8-0s (KD-6 the USATC S160), is clearly derived from “consolidation”.  Amusingly the 2-6-2 classes had the prefix ‘PL’ from mispronunciation of the term “Prairie”.

[BR60103]

In a recent magazine, there was a reference to Union Pacific's TTT class --  2-10-2.

 

[Wickham Green too]

TTT ? ...................................... never heard of that scale ! 🙃

[kevinlms]

8 hours ago, BR60103 said:

In a recent magazine, there was a reference to Union Pacific's TTT class --  2-10-2.

 

Probably because it is going to be restored.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_5511

[Artless Bodger]

On 17/12/2022 at 02:32, BR60103 said:

In a recent magazine, there was a reference to Union Pacific's TTT class --  2-10-2.

 

TTT two ten two, the UP 4-8-4 preserved is FEF.

[Colin_McLeod]

So a pacific would be fairly F(a)ST.

[rodent279]

On 24/05/2021 at 08:01, Colin_McLeod said:

 

Slightly OT but isn't 'double single' an oxymoron rather that a tautology?   Discuss. 

Surely a double single is just a double, mathematically at least?

[rodent279]

I think I prefer the UIC notation. 2C1 says it all to me.

A UP Big boy is a 2-D-D-2, Gresley's 10000 is a 2-C-2.

Is a booster fitted P1 a 1-D-B?