Although the first locomotives already had two coupled axles, the simplest design consisted of a two-axle locomotive with only one axle driven. A difference can be made here between the variant in which the front axle is driven and the variant in which the rear axle is driven.

Depending on the designation system, these two forms are denoted as follows:

NorthumbrianPlanetUICA11AWhyte0-2-22-2-0Switzerland1/21/2France011110Turkey1212

The first locomotive ever to be built with the 0-2-2 wheel arrangement is Stephenson's “Rocket”, which won the Rainhill race in 1829 and brought with it many new innovations which were picked up by other locomotives of the time to come. Although the “Locomotion No. 1” from 1825 already had coupled axles, no heavy loads had to be towed on the Rainhill. So Stephenson decided that the additional complexity for coupled axles was not worth it and therefore only powered the front axle.

Stephenson reduced the diameter of the rear wheels to save cost and weight. On the other hand, the front wheels could be made larger in order to keep the rotational speed within limits at increasing speeds. He now delivered eight more locomotives to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, all of which had the same wheel arrangement. From then on, he moved the boiler further forward in order to put a larger proportion of the weight on the front axle and thus get more traction. The name commonly used in Anglo-Saxon countries for this wheel arrangement was taken from one of these eight engines, the “Northumbrian”.

Image of “Planet”

A problem with the 0-2-2 locomotives was that the cylinders were located at the rear of the locomotive due to the front driving axle, where the firebox was normally located. In order not to get excessively long steam pipes, the steam chest also had to be attached to the rear. So only two options were open: either the firebox had to be on the front side of the locomotive, so that the driver and fireman were separated, or a complex returning flue had to be installed so that the firebox and steam collection were next to or on top of each other.

The solution was to move the driven axle to the rear and thus leave the steam collection and cylinders at the front. The first engine with this design was “Planet”, which Stephenson developed in 1830 for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The cylinders were located above the carrying axle and inside the frame, which led to optimal, very short steam paths and was to become the dominant design in British locomotive construction well into the 20th century.

These two wheel arrangements were very popular in the 1830s, until they were replaced by 2-2-2 wheel arrangements in express service and four-coupled in other duties. The only later applications for steam locomotives with 0-2-2 or 2-2-0 wheel arrangement were in the area of tank locomotives, when low-cost traction units were developed for low-density branch lines. These were used in German-speaking countries dubbed “omnibus locomotives” or “luggage locomotives”, were used in the autotrains in Anglo-Saxon countries and formed the basis for the development of steam railcars.