Under theWhyte notation for the classification ofsteam locomotives,0-4-4 represents thewheel arrangement of noleading wheels, four powered and coupleddriving wheels on two axles, and fourtrailing wheels on two axles. This type was only used fortank locomotives.
In the UK 0-4-4 tanks were mainly used for suburban or rural passenger duties. In America, the wheel arrangement became known as theForney, after a specific design of 0-4-4s, theForney locomotive, became heavily used on the narrow curves ofelevated railways and otherrapid transit lines.
Other equivalent classifications are:
TheFinnish Steam Locomotive Class F1 entered service with SVR in 1885 were used until 1935. One example is preserved at theFinnish Railway Museum.
The earliest 0-4-4's in the UK werewell tanks. BothJohn Chester Craven of theLondon Brighton and South Coast Railway andJames Cudworth of theSouth Eastern Railway (UK) introduced classes in 1866.[1] They were followed byMatthew Kirtley on theMidland Railway (690 Class and780 Class, 26 locomotive built 1869-70) andPatrick Stirling on the Great Northern Railway (48 locomotive built 1873-81).[2]
The more common side-tank version was introduced on theGreat Eastern Railway bySamuel Waite Johnson in 1872, and was soon afterwards adopted by most mainline railways in the UK, becoming the standard configuration for a passenger tank locomotive until about 1900. Examples have included theLSWR O2 andM7 classes, theMidland Railway 2228 Class, and theCaledonian Railway 439 Class. The last British design of 0-4-4T were theLMS Stanier Class 2 0-4-4T of 1932, based on the 2228 Class.
Preserved 0-4-4T locomotives in the UK areSECR H class No. 263 on theBluebell Railway, O2 class No. W24 'Calbourne' on theIsle of Wight Steam Railway, Nos. 245 in theNational Railway Museum and 53 (as BR 30053) on theSwanage Railway,Metropolitan Railway E Class No. 1 at theBuckinghamshire Railway Centre, CR No.419 by theScottish Railway Preservation Society and the Duke of Sutherland's'Dunrobin' which was brought back from Canada byBeamish Museum. The Class G5 Locomotive Company Limited[3][4] are recreating a replicaNER Class O (LNER class G5).
The 0-4-4 configuration appears to have been introduced in the US, with theForney locomotive, was patented byMatthias N. Forney between 1861 and 1864. These were characterized by a single frame under the boiler and fuel/water tank, which is supported at the rear by the truck under thecoal bunker/water tank. The locomotives were designed to run cab (or bunker) first and were built for commuter lines in cities such as New York, Chicago and Boston.
