Under the Whyte notation

Whyte notation

The Whyte notation for classifying steam locomotives by wheel arrangement was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte and came into use in the early twentieth century encouraged by an editorial in American Engineer and Railroad Journal...

 for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-6-4 locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

 has two leading wheel

Leading wheel

The leading wheel or leading axle of a steam locomotive is an unpowered wheel or axle located in front of the driving wheels. The axle or axles of the leading wheels are normally located in a truck...

s, six coupled driving wheel

Driving wheel

On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons...

s and four trailing wheel

Trailing wheel

On a steam locomotive, a trailing wheel or trailing axle is generally an unpowered wheel or axle located behind the driving wheels. The axle of the trailing wheels was usually located on a trailing truck...

s. The wheel arrangement was usually used on tank locomotive

Tank locomotive

A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...

s, with two exceptions.

Equivalent classifications

Other equivalent classifications are:

• UIC classification
  UIC classification
  The UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements describes the wheel arrangement of locomotives, multiple units and trams. It is set out in the International Union of Railways "Leaflet 650 - Standard designation of axle arrangement on locomotives and multiple-unit sets". It is used in much...
  
  : 1C2 (also known as German classification and Italian classification)
• French classification: 132
• Turkish classification
  Turkish classification
  In the Turkish classification system for railway locomotives, the number of powered axles are followed by the total number of axles. It is identical to the Swiss system except that the latter places a slash between the two numbers.Thus0-6-0 becomes 33...
  
  : 36
• Swiss classification: 3/6

Tender Locomotives

The earliest known example was the South African Class 6 2-6-4 designed by Cape Government Railways

Cape Government Railways

The Cape Government Railways was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways in 1910.-Private railways:...

 (CGR) Chief Locomotive Superintendent H.M. Beatty in 1903.

Two Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n express locomotives were also of the same type: the Class 210 of 1908 and Class 310 of 1911, both designed by Karl Gölsdorf

Karl Gölsdorf

Karl Gölsdorf was an Austrian engineer and locomotive designer.-Early Life:Karl Gölsdorf was born on 8 June 1861 in Vienna, the son of Louis Adolf Gölsdorf. Even as a schoolboy he was introduced to locomotive design by his father, the chief mechanical engineer of the Imperial and Royal Southern...

. The type was therefore sometimes known as the Adriatic arrangement, named for the Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...

 which bordered Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 until 1918.

Tank Locomotives

2-6-4T tank engines were produced for many different railway systems worldwide for suburban passenger and freight working. They have been less successful on express passenger trains.

South Africa

Six 2-6-4T locomotives were ordered by the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway (PPR) from Beyer, Peacock and Company

Beyer, Peacock and Company

Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway Locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Gorton, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer and Richard Peacock, it traded from 1854 until 1966...

 in 1897 and 1900. In 1912 they became the South African Railways (SAR) Class D

South African Class D 2-6-4T

Between 1898 and 1900 the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway placed six 2-6-4T tank steam locomotives in service. During the Second Freedom War, the Transvaal government took possession of the railway and it became part of the Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij until the Imperial...

.

In 1901 the CGR placed four Class 6 2-6-2

2-6-2

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-6-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels.Other equivalent classifications are:...

 steam locomotives in service, built by Neilson, Reid and Company, that were soon modified to a 2-6-4 "Adriatic" wheel arrangement. In 1902 another four were placed in service, built with the 2-6-4 wheel arrangement. In 1912, when they were assimilated into the SAR, later renamed Spoornet and eventually Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), they were all renumbered and reclassified to Class 6Z

South African Class 6Z 2-6-4

In 1901 the Cape Government Railways placed four Class 6 steam locomotives with a 2-6-2 Prairie wheel arrangement in service, that were soon modified to a 2-6-4 Adriatic wheel arrangement. In 1902 another four locomotives were placed in service, built with the 2-6-4 wheel arrangement. These latter...

.

New Zealand

Ferrymead Railway

Ferrymead Railway

The Ferrymead Railway is a New Zealand heritage railway built upon the formation of New Zealand's first public railway, the line from Ferrymead to Christchurch, which opened in 1863. On the opening of the line to Lyttelton on 9 December 1867, the Ferrymead Railway became the Ferrymead Branch and...

, Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, New Zealand has a 42 inch (1067 mm) gauge 2-6-4T that was in regular operation until recently taken off-line for boiler repairs. It was built by Baldwin

Baldwin Locomotive Works

The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...

 in 1901.

The New Zealand Government Railways Wf class was built between 1903 and 1928 and was a general purpose tank design. It was used all over New Zealand, and also ran as the Tasmanian Government Railways Ds class. Three survived for preservation, including:

• Wf386, one of the engines used on the first Wellington to Auckland train, preserved at Paekakariki
• Wf393, preserved at Ferrymead
• Wf403, preserved at Nelson

United Kingdom

The first British examples of the 2-6-4T type were two locomotives built for the narrow-gauge Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway in 1904; the first standard-gauge examples were the class 1B

GCR Class 1B

The GCR Class 1B was a class of 2-6-4T locomotives on the Great Central Railway. They were notable as the first locomotives of the 2-6-4T wheel arrangement to be used by a British standard-gauge railway; there had been two narrow-gauge examples on the Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway since...

 of the Great Central Railway

Great Central Railway

The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...

 built in 1914.

Richard Maunsell

Richard Maunsell

Richard Edward Lloyd Maunsell held the post of Chief Mechanical Engineer of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway from 1913 until the 1923 Grouping and then the post of CME of the Southern Railway in England until 1937....

 of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway

South Eastern and Chatham Railway

The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee , known by its shorter name of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway , that operated services between...

 (SECR) designed the K class in 1914 for express passenger duties, and later introduced a 3-cylinder variant K1 class for he Southern Railway in 1925. These locomotives proved to be unsteady at speed, and following the Sevenoaks railway accident

Sevenoaks railway accident

The Sevenoaks railway accident occurred on 24 August 1927 between Dunton Green railway station and Sevenoaks railway station. The Southern Railway's afternoon express from Cannon Street to Deal left London at 5pm, in charge of River Class tank engine No 800 River Cray. Several passengers later...

 in 1927 they were rebuilt as 2-6-0

2-6-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called a Mogul...

 tender locomotives. Maunsell did however use the type more successfully for his W class

SR Class W

The SR Class W were 3-cylinder 2-6-4T tank engines designed in 1929 by Richard Maunsell for use on the Southern Railway . They were introduced in 1932 and constructed at Eastleigh and Ashford...

 freight locomotives of 1930.

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway

London, Midland and Scottish Railway

The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...

 (LMSR) built nearly 500 2-6-4Ts for suburban passenger work to four similar designs between 1927 and 1947 (see LMS/BR Class 4 2-6-4T locomotives

LMS/BR Class 4 2-6-4T locomotives

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway and British Railways Class 4 2-6-4T was a family of classes of steam locomotives. A grand total of 800 engines were built to five separate designs by four different mechanical engineers, over a period of 29 years. Each new design was a development of the...

. The last of these, the LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T

LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T

The London Midland and Scottish Railway Fairburn Tank 2-6-4T steam locomotives are a class of steam locomotive. They were designed by Charles E. Fairburn for the London Midland and Scottish Railway...

, continued to be built by British Rail

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

ways until 1951. George Ivatt

George Ivatt

Henry George Ivatt known as George Ivatt, was the post-war Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. He was the son of the Great Northern Railway locomotive engineer Henry Ivatt....

 of the LMS also built eighteen examples of a very similar design at Derby Works

Derby Works

The Midland Railway Locomotive Works, known locally as "the loco" comprised a number of British manufacturing facilities in Derby building locomotives and, initially, rolling stock in Derby, UK.-Early days:...

, for use in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 between 1946 and 1950. These later became the Northern Counties Committee WT class

NCC Class WT

The NCC Class WT is a class of 2-6-4T steam locomotives built by the Northern Counties Committee's parent company, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway for service in Northern Ireland.-History:...

.

Fairburn's LMSR design also formed the basis of the very successful BR Standard Class 4 2-6-4T which continued to be produced until 1957.

A prototype of the London and North Eastern Railway

London and North Eastern Railway

The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...

 (LNER) L1 class

LNER Thompson Class L1

The London and North Eastern Railway Thompson Class L1 was a class of 2-6-4T steam locomotives designed by Edward Thompson. The prototype no. 9000 was built in 1945, but the remaining 99 were built under British Railways jurisdiction in the period 1948-1950...

 designed by Edward Thompson

Edward Thompson (engineer)

Edward Thompson was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway between 1941 and 1946.- Biography :Edward Thompson was the son of an assistant master at Marlborough College. He was educated at Marlborough before taking the Mechanical Science Tripos at Pembroke College,...

 was built in 1945. The remaining 99 members of the class were built under British Railways during the period 1948-1950.

Germany

Two Deutsche Bundesbahn

Deutsche Bundesbahn

The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...

 (DB) Class 66 locomotives designed for fast goods train and passenger train were built in 1955 as part of the DB's Neubaulok construction programme. They were both withdrawn in 1968, one has been preserved.