2-6-2

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A Pairie type built for the Burlington by Baldwin.

Builder's photo of Santa Fe 1000, also built by Baldwin, which was used on the 1905 Scott Special.

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a 2-6-2 has two leading wheels (normally arranged in a 2-wheel leading truck, sometimes called a "pony truck"), six coupled driving wheels, and two trailing wheels (normally arranged in a 2-wheel trailing truck).

The equivalent UIC classification is 1'C1'.

The majority of 2-6-2s were tender locomotives, but some, particularly in Europe, were tank locomotives, classified 2-6-2T.

2-6-2T tank locomotives were built in the 1880s for the Central Pacific Railroad, and the earliest 2-6-2 tender locomotives were built in 1885 by Baldwin for the New Zealand Railways Department as the NZR N class. In 1891, Baldwin supplied two more N class locomotives to New Zealand, this time to the private Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company. One of these 1891 locomotives, WMR No. 10 and later NZR N 454, set a new world speed record for the 1,067mm (3'6") narrow gauge on 20 July 1892 when it hit 103.6km/h (64.4mph) across the coastal plains of Horowhenua between Levin and Shannon.

The first 2-6-2 tender locomotives built for a North American customer were built by Brooks in 1900 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad for use on the Midwestern prairies. The type was thus nicknamed the Prairie in North American practice; this name was often used in British practice as well.