Portal:Trains/Featured article/Week 49, 2005

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A 4-4-0, most commonly known as the American type, is a type of steam locomotive. In Whyte notation, 4-4-0 signifies that it has a two-axle bogie to help guide it into curves, and two driving axles coupled by a connecting rod; the equivalent UIC classification is 2'B. Almost every major railroad that operated in North America in the first half of the 19th century owned and operated locomotives of this type. The famous locomotive named The General was a 4-4-0. The first use of the name American to describe locomotives of this wheel arrangement was made by Railroad Gazette in April 1872. Before that time, this wheel arrangement was known as a Standard or Eight-Wheeler. This locomotive type was so successful on US railroads that many earlier 4-2-0 and 2-4-0 locomotives were rebuilt as 4-4-0s by the middle of the 19th century.

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