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.[1] In the United States, this type of locomotive was widely built from the early 1860s to the 1920s.
Other equivalent classifications are:
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This wheel arrangement was principally used for tender locomotives in the USA and Europe, and although examples were built as early as 1852–53 by two Philadelphia manufacturers (Baldwin and Norris), these first examples had their leading axles mounted directly and rigidly on the frame of the locomotive rather than on a separate truck or bogie.[2] In these early 2-6-0s, the leading axle was merely used to distribute the weight of the locomotive over a larger number of wheels. It did not serve the same purpose as the leading trucks of the Americans or Ten-Wheelers that had been in use for at least a decade.
The first 2-6-0 with a rigidly mounted leading axle was the Pawnee, built for heavy freight service on the Philadelphia & Reading. In total, about 30 locomotives of this type were built for various railroads. While they were generally successful in slow, heavy freight service, the railroads that used them didn't see any great advantages in them over the 0-6-0 or 0-8-0 designs of the time. Essentially, this design was an 0-8-0 with the lead axle unpowered.
The first true 2-6-0s were built in the early 1860s, the first few being built in 1860 for the Louisville & Nashville railroad. The design recognized today required the invention of a single-axle swivelling truck. Such a truck was first patented in Great Britain by Levi Bissell in May 1857.[2]
The New Jersey Locomotive and Machine Company built their first 2-6-0 in 1861 as the Passaic for the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The Erie Railroad followed in 1862 with the first large order of this locomotive type. In 1863, Rogers built what some cite as the first 2-6-0 built in the United States for the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company.
It is likely that the locomotive class name Mogul derives from a locomotive built by Taunton in 1866 for the Central Railroad of New Jersey; that locomotive was named Mogul. However it has also been suggested that, in England, it derived from the engine of that name, built in 1879 by Neilson and Company for the Great Eastern Railway.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's number 600, a 2-6-0 Mogul built at the B&O's Mt. Clare shops in 1875, won first prize the following year at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.[3] It is preserved at the B&O Railroad Museum (the former Mt. Clare shops in Baltimore).
The railroads that used these first 2-6-0 examples noted their increased pulling power, but also found that their rather rigid suspension made them more prone to derailments than the 4-4-0s of the day. Many railroad mechanics attributed their derailments to having too little weight on the leading truck. In 1864, William S. Hudson, then the superintendent of Rogers, patented an equalized leading truck that was able to move independently of the driving axles. This equalized suspension worked much better over the uneven tracks of the day. The first locomotive built with such a leading truck was likely completed in 1865 for the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company as their number 39.
Very few of these classic steam locomotives still exist, most of them having been scrapped as newer, faster, and more powerful steam engines were developed in the twentieth century. The USRA standard designs of 1914 did not include a 2-6-0.
Four notable US 2-6-0 locomotives are still in operation.
In the United Kingdom, where locomotives are generally smaller than in the US, the 2-6-0 was found to be a good wheel arrangement for mixed-traffic locomotives. The first unsuccessful examples were fifteen locomotives built to a design of William Adams (locomotive engineer) for the Great Eastern Railway in 1878-9.[4]
The Midland and South Western Junction Railway acquired two examples built to an Australian design by Beyer, Peacock and Company in 1895 and 1897. In 1899 the Midland Railway (MR), the Great Northern Railway (GNR) and the Great Central Railway all purchased examples from the Baldwin Locomotive Works in the USA.[4] The MR also bought ten from the Schenectady Locomotive Works at the same time.[2]
At the time of the Grouping in 1923 2-6-0s were operated by the Caledonian Railway (34 class, 1912), the Glasgow and South Western Railway (403 class, 1915), the GNR (H2, H3 and H4 classes 1920), the Great Western Railway (2600 (1900) and 4300 (1911) classes), the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (K class 1913) and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (N class 1922).
Several of these designs continued to be built by the Big Four British railway companies after 1923, and several new and successful designs were introduced so that the 2-6-0 became the principal type for medium-loaded mixed traffic duties. Notable new designs included the Southern Railway U class (1928), the London Midland and Scottish Railway LMS Hughes Crab (1926), the LMS Stanier Mogul (1934), the LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 (1946), the LMS Ivatt Class 4 (1947), the London and North Eastern Railway LNER Class K4 (1937) and the LNER Thompson/Peppercorn Class K1 class which were built in 1949-50 after the nationalisation of British Railways.
British Railways continued to build the Ivatt and Thompson/Peppercorn designs and then introduced three standard designs, based on the Ivatt classes. These were the BR Standard Class 2 2-6-0 1952, the BR Standard Class 3 2-6-0, 1954 and the BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 1952. 2-6-0s continued to be built until 1957 and the last were withdrawn from service in 1968.
Between 1875 and 1877 eighteen 2-6-0 tender locomotives were delivered to the Cape Government Railways (CGR) by Beyer, Peacock and Company and the Avonside Engine Company. They were designated 1st Class by the CGR. Three of them survived to be assimilated by the South African Railways (SAR) in 1912, when they were considered as obsolete types and designated Class O1. They were withdrawn from service by 1916.[5][6]
Two further locomotives were acquired by the CGR from the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1891. These were the first American built locomotives in South Africa and the first with bar frames, and were also designated 1st Class by the CGR. One of them still survived in 1912 and was also designated Class O1 by the SAR. It was withdrawn from service in 1920.[5][6]
In 1902 the CGR placed three steam locomotives with a Mogul wheel arrangement in service on the Hopefield narrow gauge branch line that was being constructed from Kalbaskraal. They were built by Baldwin and were of a standard type that was being used on the narrow gauge railroads of Maine in the United States. A fourth locomotive, identical to the first three, was ordered from the same manufacturer in 1911.[5][7]
In 1912, when these locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered with an "NG" prefix to their running numbers. When a system of grouping narrow gauge locomotives into classes was eventually introduced somewhere between 1928 and 1930, they were to be classified as Class NG7 but had already been withdrawn from service.[5][7]
One 2-6-0T tank engine was built for the Garstang and Knot-End Railway between 1870 and 1923.[8]
In 1875 and 1876 ten 2-6-0 Mogul tender locomotives were supplied to the CGR by Kitson and Company, but they were soon converted to 2-6-0ST saddle tank locomotives. In spite of this difference they were also designated 1st Class by the CGR, along with the tender locomotives. A further three, built by Kitson as saddle tank locomotives, were supplied to the Port Elizabeth Harbour Board in 1901. These saddle tanks as well as the remaining Baldwin, Avonside and Beyer, Peacock built Cape 1st Class Mogul tender locomotives were all later designated SAR Class O1, being considered obsolete types.[5][6][9]
In 1877 and 1878 seven Mogul tank locomotives were delivered to the Natal Government Railways by Beyer, Peacock. They were the first locomotives to be ordered for use on the then newly laid Natal main line into the interior. Two of them came into SAR stock in 1912, but remained unclassified as "Obsolete ex NGR Beyer, Peacock Tank". Although they were considered obsolete, they remained in service as late as 1931.[5]
In 1900, while the Second Freedom War was still in progress, four 2-6-0T locomotives built by the Dickson Manufacturing Company of Scranton, Pennsylvania and apparently intended for the Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij (NZASM) in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR), ended up being delivered to Indwe Collieries in the Cape. When the CGR later took control of the colliery line, these locomotives were classified as part of the Cape 3rd Class. In 1912 they were designated SAR Class O3. They were withdrawn by 1915.[5]
In 1904 eleven Mogul saddle tank locomotives, built by Hunslet Engine Company, were delivered to the Table Bay Harbour Board. All came into SAR stock in 1912, but were considered obsolete and remained unclassified.[5][9]
Staatsspoorwegen (SS) in Indonesia operated 83 2-6-0 tank locomotives of the C12 series built by Sächsische Maschinenfabrik of Chemnitz, Germany in 1896. They were wood burning locomotives which consumed 2 cubic meters of wood and 3500 litres of water for 4.5 hours of steam production.
43 locomotives survived the invasion by Japan and were operated following independence from the Dutch. They were based in Cepu, Indonesia and were used on the now closed route Cepu-Blora-Purwodadi-Semarang-Bojonegoro-Jatirogo. By the early 1980s the survivors of the class were in poor condition. One example, C1218 457, was revived in Dipo Ambarawa in 2002 after 25 years. In mid-2006 it was operational.
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