 Front of locomotive at left | |||||||||||||
.jpg) LSWR 0298 Class orBeattie Well Tank | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Under theWhyte notation for the classification ofsteam locomotives,2-4-0 represents thewheel arrangement of twoleading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupleddriving wheels on two axles and notrailing wheels. In most of North America it became known as aPorter.
The notation2-4-0T indicates atank locomotive of this wheel arrangement, on which its water and fuel is carried on board the engine itself, rather than in an attachedtender. A subset is2-4-0WT, a configuration in which the water is under the bolier in a well tank.
The 2-4-0 configuration was developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1830s or early 1840s as an enlargement of the2-2-0 and2-2-2 types, with the additional pair of coupled wheels giving better adhesion. The type was initially designed for freight haulage. One of the earliest examples was thebroad-gaugeGWR Leo Class, designed byDaniel Gooch and built during 1841 and 1842 byR. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company;Fenton, Murray and Jackson; andRothwell, Hick and Rothwell. Because of its popularity for a period with English railways, noted railway authorC. Hamilton Ellis considered the 2-4-0 designation to have the nickname (under theWhyte notation) ofOld English.
During 1846–47,Alexander Allan of the newly establishedLondon and North Western Railway (LNWR) created theCrewe type of locomotive, with a 2-2-2 wheel arrangement for passenger classes and 2-4-0 for freight. During the 1850s and 1860s, these designs were widely copied by other railways, both in the United Kingdom and overseas.[1]
During the mid-1840s,John Hawkshaw developed a new style of 2-4-0 passenger locomotive withoutside cylinders in front of theleading wheels and the reardriving axle behind thefirebox. This layout provided steady running at high speeds, despite a long overhang at the front.[2]
Joseph Beattie of theLondon and South Western Railway was one of the first British locomotive engineers to use this type on express locomotives.[3] From 1858, he began experimenting with 2-4-0 designs for passenger work, culminating in hisSeven-Foot2-4-0 express passenger locomotives, built between 1859 and 1868.[4] Beattie was also responsible for the long-lived0298 Class of 2-4-0well tanks, designed for suburban passenger work in 1874, some examples of which were still working in 1961. A locomotive of this type hauled the firstOrient Express fromParis toMunich, a notable achievement for such a small engine.
After 1854, the Hawkshaw type of 2-4-0 was adopted byBeyer, Peacock and Company, who built many examples of the type for export, including to theSwedish State Railways in 1856 and the Zealand Railway inDenmark in 1870.[5]
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheNew South Wales Government RailwaysF351 (later X10) class 2-4-0 tank locomotives were intended to haul suburban passenger trains in Sydney, and delivered in 1885 - 1887. After a derailment incident, from 1901, the entire class was withdrawn from passenger work. These locomotives were then allocated toshunting, yard and depot duties. Ten of the class were sold to various private railway operators, including for industrial use. Two are preserved.
South Australian Railways usedP class 2-4-0 tank locomotives to haul suburban passenger services in Adelaide, from 1884 to 1929. One locomotive is preserved.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(October 2020) |
TheBavarian B V andBavarian B VI 2-4-0 locomotives of theRoyal Bavarian State Railways were the first types to be produced in Bavaria in large numbers. In all, 208 were built between 1853 and 1863. One example is preserved in theNuremberg Transport Museum.
Between 1864 and 1869, theGrand Duchy of Mecklenburg Friedrich-Franz Railway bought 19 Hawkshaw typeMecklenburg III2-4-0 locomotives fromRichard Hartmann inChemnitz.
Between 1877 and 1885, altogether 294 passenger locomotives of thePrussian P 2 class were delivered to thePrussian state railways and its forebears.
The Indonesian Railways Class B50, formerly the Dutch Indies Railways Class 200, were the only tender types to be used for pulling passenger trains fromMadiun to Ponorogo. In all, 60 were built bySharp, Stewart and Company. Until today, only 1 survived, which is B5004, while the tender was attached into B2301.
In New Zealand, two classes oftank locomotive were built with the 2-4-0T wheel arrangement. They were theNew Zealand Railways (NZR)D class in 1874 and 1929, and theNZR L class in 1878, both classes having been designed for mixed traffic use.
Five D class locomotives were built byDübs and Company in Glasgow, Scotland, nineteen were built byNeilson and Company and eleven were built byScott Brothers of Christchurch. The first members of the D class entered service in 1874 and all had been withdrawn from NZR service by the end of 1927, which allowed the D classification to be used again in 1929.
Of the 33 D class locomotives built, seven have been preserved, although only D16 and D140 were in operational condition.
All ten L class locomotives were built by theAvonside Engine Company inBristol. The first L class built entered service in 1878 and another nine L class locomotives were ordered. In 1893–94, three of the L class 2-4-0T locomotives were rebuilt to a4-4-0 wheel arrangement at Newmarket workshops, with larger boilers and enlarged cylinders. This new design was classified La, but their limited coal bunker capacity remained a drawback. The solution was to add a trailingpony truck to accommodate a larger coal bunker, converting them to a4-4-2T wheel arrangement. A further four L class locomotives were similarly converted. Three were not rebuilt, but sold to thePublic Works Department between 1901 and 1903. Three new4-4-2T locomotives were built in 1902–03. When the conversion program was completed in 1903, the classification for all ten remaining NZR locomotives was changed back to L.
Of the ten L class locomotives built, numbers 207 (507), 208 (508) and 219 (509) survived long enough to be preserved, all three operational.
A standard gauge railway line betweenSalt River andWynberg in theCape of Good Hope, constructed with private capital, was opened to the public on 19 December 1864. The Cape Town Railway and Dock Company undertook to rent and operate the line and acquiredthree 2-4-0 tank locomotives as motive power for the line in 1864.[6][7]
In 1872, the locomotives came onto the roster of theCape Government Railways when it took over the operation of all railways in the Cape of Good Hope. They remained in service on this line until after its conversion to dualstandard-and-Cape gauges around 1872 and were retired in 1881, when sufficient Cape gauge locomotives were in service.[6][7]
Before 1846, the type was used on theLiverpool and Manchester,Birmingham and Gloucester,North Midland andLondon and South Western Railways.[8]
Between 1846 and 1880, the 2-4-0 was the standard type for passenger andmixed-traffic locomotives and was built in large numbers by, amongst others, the LNWR (1846–96), theMidland Railway (1846–1880), theGreat Northern Railway (1849–97), theNorth Eastern Railway (1856–88) and theGreat Eastern Railway (1856–1902).
Most United Kingdom railways used 2-4-0s, including those designed byJames Holden on the Great Eastern Railway,Matthew Kirtley on the Midland Railway,Joseph Armstrong on theGreat Western Railway andFrancis Webb on theLondon and North Western Railway. One of the latter's types, theImproved Precedent ClassHardwicke famously set outstanding records for the LNWR during theRace to the North in 1895.
In the collection of theCalifornia State Railroad Museum is theJ.W. Bowker locomotive, a2-4-0 engine built byBaldwin Locomotive Works in 1875 for theVirginia and Truckee Railroad.[9] Today, theJ.W. Bowker is the sole remaining Baldwin 2-4-0 in existence.
At theCedar Point amusement park inSandusky, Ohio, four 2-4-0s run tourist trains around a 2 mi (3.2 km) loop of track alongsideLake Erie and pass many of the park's attractions. Two of the 2-4-0s were built byVulcan Iron Works as 0-4-0Ts in 1922 and 1923 and now run as theMyron H. no. 22 andJudy K. no. 44 respectively. They are the two main engines for theCedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad. The third engine was built byH.K. Porter, Inc. as an 0-4-0T in 1942 and now runs as theGeorge R. no. 4. The fourth engine was built byDavenport Locomotive Works as a 2-4-4T in 1927 and now runs as theG. A. Boeckling no. 1. No. 1 was converted from oil-burning in 2010 and all engines now run on coal. One of the oldest 2-4-0s in the US is theJohn Bull.
