Tender Locomotives 4-6-0 “Ten-wheeler”

The wheel arrangement 4-6-0 designates a steam locomotive with a leading, two-axle bogie and three coupled axles. This design was used for freight, passenger and express service. In different countries, this wheel arrangement is referred to as follows:

Ten-Wheeler

UIC: 2'C

Whyte: 4-6-0

Switzerland: 3/5

France: 230

Turkey: 35

The first locomotive of this type was “Chesapeake” built by Norris for the Philadelphia & Reading in 1847. It had been created because the operator wanted a freight locomotive with more adhesive weight and pulling power than a 4-4-0, but with better running characteristics as the existing 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 locomotives. So it was built with the same basic layout as a 4-4-0, but with six driving wheels that had a diameter of only 46 inches (1,168 mm). Hinkley built a similar locomotive in the same year and Rogers and Baldwin only followed in 1852. From the 1860s, the 4-6-0 established itself in the USA as the standard type for fast freight and heavy passenger trains.

From the 1890s, 4-6-0 locomotives with large drivers were increasingly used for long express trains with wooden cars, some which reached speeds of nearly 100 mph. When all-steel cars had been introduced, these locomotives had too small fireboxes to sustain high speeds, so they were replaced by 4-6-2 Pacifics. These used their trailing axle to carry a wide firebox with a huge grate. But the 4-6-0 was still built for fast freights and commuter trains, with some built in the twenties where the locomotive without tender weighed considerably more than 200,000 pounds. 

In the UK, the first 4-6-0 was the “Jones Goods” of the Highland Railway built in 1894 that had drivers of 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm). But most operators in the country preferred the 0-6-0 for freight traffic, so most 4-6-0 locomotives were built for passenger or mixed traffic as a more powerful successor to the 4-4-0. In the first decade of the 20^th century, the 4-6-0 became the British standard for express traffic. It also remained in this role until the late twenties since the British companies hesitated to switch to the Pacific. Their explanation for this was that the 4-6-0 could use a greater portion of its total weight for adhesion.

As a result, there were locomotives with large wheels, like the LMS Royal Scot or the LNWR Claughton with a diameter of 6 ft 9 in or 2,057 mm. The GWR built a wide variety of 4-6-0 locomotives until 1950, some of which had four cylinders. The two-cylinder Saint class and the four-cylinder Castle class had drivers of 6 ft 8 1/2 in or 2,045 mm to haul the fastest express trains. For very heavy express trains which were only slightly slower, the King class had drivers of 6 ft 6 in or 1,981 mm. The one with the smallest drivers was the Grange class with only 5 ft 8 in or 1,727 mm for mixed traffic. One of the most iconic British steam locomotives was the LMS Stanier class 5 “Black Five”, that was also a 4-6-0 with drivers of 6 feet or 1,829 mm and used for all kinds of trains. Even the British Railways Standard Programme of the fifties included 4-6-0 locomotives.

In Germany, the 4-6-0 was also introduced in the 1890s to haul heavy passenger and express trains. With nearly 4,000 built, the Prussian P 8 is being recognized as the most numerous class of steam passenger locomotives of all time. Its sisters for express service were multiple variants of the S 10 which had larger drivers and different cylinder configurations. But in Germany, the 4-6-0 did not have a long live since the Pacific soon became the standard for express service.

In Sweden, the type B was an important mixed-traffic locomotive that was likely based on the Prussian P 8. Finland used several types of 4-6-0 locomotives for their light rails since the weight was spread over five axles. Many of these locomotives had been built in the USA. In Russia, the 4-6-0 became a wide-spread type of passenger and express locomotive also from the 1890s. They also remained longer in this role since the Л was the only Pacific introduced in Russia, and this one was built only in small numbers. Another country that intensely used the 4-6-0 was South Africa. There the CGR and the SAR used several variants of the 6^th class.