Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This wheel arrangement became the second-most popular configuration for new steam locomotives in America in the mid-19th century. In the United States this type is commonly called a ten-wheeler.[1]
Other equivalent classifications are:
UIC classification: 2C (also known as German classification and Italian classification)
French classification: 230
Turkish classification: 35
Swiss classification: 3/5
Russian classification: 2-3-0
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The 4-6-0 was constructed in large numbers for passenger and mixed traffic trains during the second half of the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. A natural extension of the venerable 4-4-0, the four-wheel leading truck gave good stability at speed and allowed a longer boiler to be supported, while the lack of trailing wheels gave a high adhesive weight.
The primary limitation of the type was the small size of the firebox, which limited power output. In passenger service it was superseded by the 4-6-2 (Pacific) type, whose trailing truck allowed it to carry a greatly enlarged firebox. Addition of a fourth driving axle gave the 4-8-0 type, but these were rare in North America.
The first 4-6-0 built in America was the Chesapeake. It was built by Norris in March 1847 for the Philadelphia and Reading railroad. There is still a question as to who was the original designer of this type. Many authorities attribute the design to Septimus Norris, but in a paper written in 1885, George E. Sellers attributes the design to John Brandt.
Brandt worked for the Erie Railway between 1842 and 1851. The Erie's own management didn't feel it in their best interests to pursue construction, so Brandt showed the design to Baldwin and Norris. Baldwin was similarly unimpressed, but Norris liked the idea. According to Sellers, James Millholland, of the Reading, saw the 4-6-0 design as well and ordered one from Norris for the Reading. However, Sellers may have misrecalled a few of the specifics as Millholland did not work for the Reading until 1848, a year later. Also, Sellers lists the first 4-6-0 constructed as the Susquehanna, which was the Erie railroad's first 4-6-0.
The attribution to Septimus Norris lies in a patent that many sources cite for this locomotive type that was filed in 1846. However, such a patent has not yet been found in searches at the USPTO. Septimus Norris did file a patent in 1854 for running gears, and the patent application showed a 4-6-0 in the drawing. Norris' wording in the 1854 patent was vague in regard to the 4-6-0 wheel arrangement; the filing didn't specifically claim invention of the 4-6-0 type.
A few days after William Norris completed the Chesapeake, Hinkley completed their first 4-6-0, the New Hampshire for the Boston and Maine Railroad. The first 4-6-0 from Rogers was the previously mentioned Susquehanna for the Erie Railroad.
Baldwin's first 4-6-0 did not appear until 1852. Through the 1860s and into the 1870s, demand for the 4-6-0 grew as more railroad executives switched from purchasing a single, general-purpose type of locomotive (at that time, the 4-4-0), to purchasing locomotives for specific purposes. Both the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) were early adopters of the 4-6-0, using them for fast freight and heavy passenger trains. One of the B&O's 4-6-0 locomotives, built in 1869, is preserved at the B&O Railroad Museum. Another is at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. A third, GN 1355, although built in 1909 as a 4-6-0, underwent a major rebuild in 1924 becoming a 4-6-2, and is in Sioux City, Iowa.
Probably the most famous American ten-wheeler is Illinois Central 382, the locomotive driven by Casey Jones in the wreck that was immortalized in Wallace Saunder's song.
British made 4-6-0 designs began to be imported into South Africa, beginning with 92 locomotives built by Robert Stephenson and Company and Neilson and Company between 1878 and 1884, which later became South African Railways (SAR) class 04. These had both side tanks and a tender to increase their range, but the side tanks were later removed.[2] Dübs and Company also supplied 50 locomotives during 1890 and 1891 which later became SAR class 05.[3]
The first 4-6-0 to be introduced to Britain was the Highland Railway Jones Goods Class of 1894, although within five years the wheel arrangement was being used primarily on passenger and locomotives as British heavy freight trains being generally too slow to require a four-wheel leading truck. The type was the largest express passenger locomotive type in everyday use in Britain between 1906- and 1925 as a logical development of the typical 4-4-0 type previously used. It continued to be used for mixed-traffic locomotives until the end of steam in the UK in 1967.
Wilson Worsdell of the North Eastern Railway used the type for his express passenger on his S and S1 classes (LNER B13 and B14 classes) of 1899 and 1900. Soon afterwards, these were followed by designs by John G. Robinson of the Great Central Railway (GCR Class 8) of 1902, and in 1903 by Francis Webb of the London and North Western Railway with his unsuccessful 4-cylinder compound locomotives of the 1400 'Bill Bailey' class, and George Jackson Churchward's GWR 2900 ("Saint") Class which was the first in a long line of mixed traffic 4-6-0 classes operated by the Great Western Railway, and the 105 locomotives of the LNWR Whale Experiment Class, built 1905 - 1910.
Two notable 4-6-0 express passenger designs appeared in 1906: the Caledonian 903 'Cardean' Class (which were then the most powerful locomotives in Britain) and the 4-cylinder Great Western 'Star' Class, also later developed and enlarged as the 4073 "Castle" class (1923) and the 6000 "King" class.
Other significant early express 4-6-0 designs included the LNWR Prince of Wales Class, (246 locomotives built 1911 - 1921), the LNWR Claughton Class (130 locomotives built 1913 - 1924) and the Great Eastern Class S69, (81 produced 1912 - 1928). Robert Urie of the London and South Western Railway introduced three successful classes: the LSWR H15 class, (26 locomotives built 1914 - 1925); the "King Arthur" (74 locomotives built 1919 - 1926) and the LSWR S15 class (45 locomotives built 1920 - 1936 by).
The 4-6-0 arrangement was used extensively by all of the "Big Four" companies. , especially by the Great Western Railway and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway who continued to develop new designs. However, from the early 1930s demands for more power and performance from express locomotives led to the widespread introduction of 4-6-2 'Pacific' locomotives where the trailing axle could support a larger firebox. The reduced traction of the driving wheels was not such a disadvantage with relatively light passenger trains and the 4-6-0 was displaced from top-rank express services on most railways where they had been used, with the exception of the Great Western Railway which continued to build both mixed-traffic and express 4-6-0s until nationalisation in 1948.
The GWR 4073 ("Castle") Class eventually consisted of 171 locomotives built 1923 - 1950. The design was enlarged as the GWR 6000 ("King") Class (30 locomotives built 1927 - 1930). The Southern Railway improved the "King Arthur" class and introduced Lord Nelson class (16 locomotives built 1926 - 1929) which and was briefly the most powerful class in Britain. The London Midland and Scottish Railway introduced the 7P "Royal Scot" class 71 locomotives built 1927 - 1930, and the 6P "Patriot", 52 locomotives built 1930 - 1934. The largest and most successful British 4-6-0 class was LMS Stanier Class 5 ("Black Five"), designed by William Stanier consisting of 842 locomotives built 1934 - 1951. He also designed the LMS 6P Jubilee (191 locomotives built 1934 - 1936).
Charles Collett of the Great Western Railway developed the "Saint class" with three further classes; the GWR 4900 Class (259 locomotives built 1928 - 1943), the GWR 6800 ("Grange") (80 locomotives built 1936 - 1939( and GWR 7800 ("Manor"), 30 locomotives built 1938 - 1950. Frederick Hawksworth later developed the design further with his GWR 6959 ("Modified Hall") Class (71 locomotives built 1944 - 1950) and GWR 1000 ("County") Class, (30 locomotives built 1945 - 1947).
The London and North Eastern Railway inherited large numbers of 4-6-0 locomotives from its constiuent companies, many of which were subsequently rebuilt, so that the company ultimately had sixty different classes and sub-classes with this wheel arrangement.[4] The company also introduced to new classes, the B17 class designed by Nigel Gresley, (73 built 1928-1937) and the B1 class, designed by Edward Thompson (410 locomotives built 1942 - 1952).
Following the formation of British Railways in 1948, two further 4-6-0 class were introduced, both in 1951. The BR standard class 5 was based on the successful LMSR Stanier Class 5 ("Black Five"). 172 locomotives had been built by 1957. A lighter, but less powerful design was the BR standard class 4 4-6-0. Eighty of these were built by 1957.
The 4-6-0T was a far less common type, used for passenger duties during the first decade of the twentieth cemtury, but were soon superseded by the 4-6-2T, 4-6-4T, and 2-6-4T types. The type was also used on narrow gauge Military railways during the First World War.
Between 1879 and 1884 Kitson and Company and Robert Stephenson and Company supplied 37 C class 4-6-0T to the Natal Government Railways. They were occasionally fitted with 4-wheel tenders to increase their fuel capacity for longer distances.[5]
The Réseau Breton 4-6-0 tank locomotives were a class of metre gauge locomotives built in 1904 by Société Franco-Belge of Raismes.[6] A further seven locomotives were built by SACM, Belfort. The Baldwin Class 10-12-D 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) gauge pannier tank locomotives were built in the USA by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the British War Department Light Railways for service in France during World War I in 1916–1917. A further batch was built by Alco. After the war many were sold to work in France, Britain and India.
Wilson Worsdell of the North Eastern Railway built 10 W class 4-6-0T in 1907-8[7] These were rebuilt as 4-6-2T NER Class W1 during 1914–1917.
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