For heavy coal and ore traffic in Lorraine and Luxembourg, the Imperial Railways skipped eight-coupled locomotives and introduced the first German 2-10-0 in 1905. The wheel flanges of the second and third driving axles were weakened, while the fifth had a 15 mm play to both sides. In general these were De Glehn compounds, but in this case the high pressure cylinders were on the inside and the low pressure cylinders on the outside. On a 1.26 percent incline, they could either haul 356 tonnes at 40 km/h or 605 tonnes at 20 km/h.

At the time of their introduction, they were designated C 33. When the Prussian system was introduced only one year later, they became the G 8. With the next change in 1912, they now became the G 11. At this time, they had already been replaced by the two-cylinder simple and superheated G 10 in service with the heaviest trains. Starting in 1928, 13 were rebuilt into the 2-10-2T tank locomotives of the type T 19 which were simpled, but not superheated. While the last rebuilt locomotives where used until 1951, the unrebuilt ones had been retired by 1935.

In order to be able to operate coal trains weighing up to 1,600 tonnes from the Moravian-Silesian coal fields, a more powerful freight locomotive was needed. Although Gölsdorf had already developed a ten-coupled freight locomotive with the classes 80 and 180 before the First World War, they could not be used in front of express freight trains due to the lack of a leading axle. The designs came in 1916 from Gölsdorf's successor Rihosek and initially envisaged a compound engine. 

The locomotives that were only delivered after the end of the war from 1920 onwards were ultimately given a simple engine, since the additional expense of a compound engine was now considered unnecessary for freight locomotives. Not only the boiler was largely taken over from the classes 380 and 470, but also many other parts such as the chassis. The Adams axle could be moved laterally by 65 mm and the first and fifth driving axles had a side play of 26 mm. In contrast to the 80 and 180, the third driving axle, which was the main driver here, could not be moved and therefore had no wheel flanges. 

The prototype 81.01 delivered in 1920 could be recognized by the Kobel chimney. During test runs on a gradient of around one percent, 598 tonnes were hauled at 38.5 km/h. On the Tauern railway with 2.78 percent, 303 tonnes could still be hauled at 28 km/h, with power reserves apparently still being available in the boiler. The production machines that were then delivered had a normal chimney, a larger steam dome and different types of feedwater heaters. 

The locomotives, which were only put into service after the collapse of the monarchy, could no longer be used on the intended lines and were therefore run in other regions. There they were used not only for express freight trains, but also for express passenger trains. By 1923, 40 locomotives were built for the BBÖ in Floridsdorf, 16 in the StEG factory, 14 in Wiener Neustadt and three at Krauss in Linz. The last 18 were designated class 81.4 and had received Lentz valve gear, a Dabeg mixing preheater and partly a superheater with 92.4 square meters of smaller tubes.

Ten more locomotives were purchased by the SHS Kingdom railways in Wiener Neustadt and later listed as class 29 by the JDŽ. The locomotives of the BBÖ were classified by the Reichsbahn as class 58⁷ from 1938 and kept their running numbers with the ÖBB after the Second World War. 17 of them came to JDŽ. The Austrian locomotives were retired by 1961. Today there are still one Austrian and one Yugoslavian locomotive.

A few years before the First World War, Jean-Baptiste Flamme developed a very powerful boiler that was to be installed in a goods and an express locomotive at the same time. From 1909 the type 36 with 2-10-0 wheel arrangement and from 1910 the Pacific of the Type 10 came into existence. The boilers differed only in the firebox, which had enough space between the last coupled axle and the trailing axle on the type 10, but had to be accommodated above the last two coupled axles on the type 36.

The very large firebox had a direct heating surface of 19 square meters and included a grate of 5.1 square meters. The long boiler tapered in front of the firebox, but still had a large diameter in the front area. It made the Type 36 the most powerful goods locomotive in Europe.

To ensure running in curves, the leading axle was combined with the first coupled axle to form a Zara steering frame, and the last coupled axle could be moved 29 mm to the side. The four cylinders were all in one plane and were only controlled by two external Heusinger valve gears for easier maintenance. The inner cylinders acted on the second coupled axle, and the outer ones on the third.

In a first series, 136 pieces were completed, 17 more followed after the First World War. 113 of the pre-war machines were rescued to France during the war, where they were not used due to their high axle loads. As early as 1915, 60 units were sold to Russia, where they were to be used on standard-gauge routes in Eastern Europe. Ultimately, they were converted to broad gauge and used in the Soviet Union until 1962.

The engines returned to Belgium were fitted with double blast pipes and longer smokeboxes in the 1920s. Together with other smaller conversions that were made up to the early forties, the service weight increased by almost four tons and the power to 2,300 hp. They were now designated type 36^bis and were used until 1947.

The class 9F goods locomotive was built from 1954 as the last and most powerful of the standard steam locomotives from British Railways. This was ordered when extensive electrification of the British railway network was still considered realistic and powerful steam locomotives were needed for the transitional period. After Robert Riddles had already developed the 2-10-0 wheel arrangement war locomotives for the War Department, he also developed the 9F. This wheel arrangement was chosen because of the greater adhesive weight after initially planning to develop a locomotive with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement.

A goal in the development was to realize the greatest possible power, taking into account the British loading gauge and a relatively low axle load. The five driving axles were able to negotiate curves by designing the wheels of the middle coupled axle without a wheel flange and by providing the wheels of the second and fourth axle with weakened wheel flanges. It was soon found that the locomotives ran very well at higher speeds with this wheel arrangement, despite the fact that the driving wheels were only five feet in diameter and there were only two cylinders. In the course of production, the output was further increased with a double chimney. Adaptations such as a Franco-Crosti boiler and mechanical stoker were less successful and were not implemented in large numbers.

Like many more powerful British goods steam locomotives, the 9F also had to be used to pull express trains in heavy holiday traffic, especially on weekends. There are credible reports of runs where the locos hit just over 90 mph. A total of 251 had been built by March 1960. Number 92220 “Evening Star” was the last steam locomotive built for British Railways and was also the 999th standard steam locomotive. This one was not withdrawn even after the steam ban in 1968 and was ran in preservation without interruption until the 1980s. Today it is a static exhibit, while eight more of its sisters, which were retired until 1968, were also preserved and some are still running today. One of these, No. 92203 “Black Prince”, pulled the heaviest train in Great Britain ever hauled by a steam locomotive at 2,178 tons in 1982.

For the increased demands in freight traffic after the end of the war, a total of 510 freight locomotives were made by Škoda, which had the same boiler as the 4-8-2 locomotives of the class 475.1. All the modern achievements of steam locomotive engineering were used, such as a boiler pressure of 18 bars, Kylchap blast pipe, stoker, roller bearings and more. The result was a locomotive with a low axle load that was still able to pull freight trains weighing 3,000 tonnes in flat country tests. In practice, two locomotives pulled coal trains weighing up to 4,000 tonnes and they sometimes had to assist in front of express trains in the mountains. They were also used in neighboring countries and in 1983 were the last regular steam locomotives operating in Czechoslovakia.

After the First World War, the French Eastern Railway received six 2-10-0 freight locomotives as reparations, which they grouped as numbers 5201 to 5206. These were examples of the Saxon XIII H, which were derived from the Prussian G 12¹ and built in Chemnitz by Hartmann. These simple three-cylinder locomotives performed well, but were too few to replace the existing 2-8-0 freight locomotives pulling heavy coal and ore trains.

Thus, Grafenstaden used the Saxon locomotives as the basis for a new series, of which the Est procured a total of 195 units between 1926 and 1931. A further ten were ordered by the État to replace existing 2-8-2 locomotives pulling heavy ore trains. Of these 205 locomotives, only 72- were built by Grafenstaden, another 107 came from Fives-Lille and 16 from Blanc-Misseron.

In terms of the basic design, the French locomotives essentially corresponded to their models, but innovations had also been incorporated. Among other things, exhaust systems with cloverleaf-shaped inlets were used, initially with three and later six jets. Changes were also made to the chassis. The front Bissel axle was exchanged for a construction common on the Est and the last coupled axle could no longer be shifted sideways. Instead, the third coupled axle was designed without wheel flanges and the second and fourth with weakened wheel flanges. 

When SNCF was founded in 1938, the Est locomotives became the 1-150 E 1 to 195 and the État locomotives became the 3-150 A 1 to 10. After the Second World War, the eight remaining État locomotives were also transferred to the eastern region and then renumbered to 1-150 196 through 203 to match their sister engines. The last example to withdraw from service was 1-150 E 173 on January 26, 1963.

After initial attempts with the Franco-Crosti boiler on the class 42 were unsuccessful due to corrosion damage, a new attempt was made in 1954 on a class 50 locomotive. Since this enabled a coal saving of 22 percent to be achieved, 30 other locomotives were converted in exactly the same way in 1958 and 1959. One problem was the smoke from the central chimney, which was improved with a wind deflector. As early as 1961, corrosion damage to the boiler was also found on these locomotives. Since the conversion measures now required were more expensive than the savings in coal, the locomotives were retired by 1967.

The class 42 or KDL 3 war locomotive was a compromise between the class 52 war locomotive (KDL 1) and the class 44 heavy freight locomotive. It was developed because the class 52 did not always have sufficient power for heavier freight trains, but the axle loads of the bigger sister were too high for many routes. Austria, which was annexed in 1938, and Poland, which was conquered later, were to be the preferred areas of operation.

As a basis, a boiler with the same dimensions as that of the 44 was used and placed on the chassis of the 52. Only two cylinders were used as power plant, which resulted in very rough running when operating at high speeds and when the entire power was called up. The construction of the boiler of the two pre-production models from 1943 corresponded to the Brotan design developed in Austria. Since this did not provide the desired performance, a conventional boiler was used in series production from 1944. Compared to the class 44, the smoke tubes were shortened to save weight.

In use, the typical weaknesses of the war locomotives, which were partly caused by poor quality production, quickly became apparent. Some locomotives had so many defects that they had to be parked damaged after a test run. The closed driver's cab offered protection from the cold in winter, but also led to unbearably high temperatures in summer. In addition, the two jet pumps were installed inside the driver's cab and generated additional heat.

Production took place at several manufacturers in Germany, Austria and Poland, who were combined in the Gemeinschaft Großdeutscher Lokomotivfabriken (Community of Greater German Locomotive Factories). Due to the course of the war, however, the target of initially 8,000 and later 3,300 locomotives could not be achieved. Only 844 examples were completed by the end of the war. After the war, there were not only many examples of this series in Germany, but also in Poland and Austria larger numbers were ready. Some were also scattered in other countries. However, as most of these were in very poor condition, a lot of work had to be done before they could run again.

Simultaneously with the repairs, there were efforts in the post-war period to improve the structural defects of the war locomotives through conversions. In addition, there were still unfinished locomotives in many places, from which further examples were created. Thus the total number rose to 1,061 by 1949. Since there were a large number of steam locomotives that were not so greatly simplified in German-speaking countries, the class 42 did not last very long there. The decommissioning at DB, DR and ÖBB took place in 1962, 1969 and 1968. The last examples, designated as Ty43 there, retired from service in Poland in 1995.

The two-cylinder class 43 and the three-cylinder class 44, both with single steam expansion, were the first freight locomotives from the standard program. The 44 was designed to tow 1,200 tonnes on low mountain lines with moderate gradients and 600 tonnes on steep ramps. In addition, ore trains weighing up to 4,000 tonnes should be able to be handled double-headed. With an axle load of 20 tonnes, it could only be used on well-developed main routes.

While the two outer cylinders acted on the third coupled axle, the middle cylinder was installed at an angle and connected to the second coupled axle. Measuring 600 by 660 mm, the cylinders developed considerable power. The boiler was essentially taken over from the 01 and also had a wide firebox, which was above the coupled wheels. The maximum permitted speed was 70 km/h.

In 1926 only ten pre-production machines were built. Since the class 44 consumed a lot of steam compared to the 43 and also had too high an axle load, the decision was initially made in favor of the 43 and no further production of the 44 followed. In 1932 and 1933, the 44 011 and 44 012 were built, their boilers being operated with a medium pressure of 25 bars and with a four-cylinder compound engine. These are not considered optimally designed because the cross-sectional ratio between the high and low pressure cylinders was too large at 2.6. It remained with these two vehicles, one each of which went to the Bundesbahn and Reichsbahn after the war and were used for several decades.

Series production of a lighter variant only began in 1937, which only had a cylinder diameter of 550 instead of 600 mm and a boiler pressure of 16 instead of 14 bars. Production peaked during the war to cope with the increased freight volumes. From 1942, probably starting with road number 44 786, production was switched to a “Übergangskriegslokomotive” (transitional war locomotive). Some materials were replaced by indigenous materials and some simplifications were made. This included the omission of the smoke deflectors and the front side windows of the driver's cab.

During the war, other locomotive factories were obliged to build the class 44, including some in the conquered areas. In addition to Fablok in Poland and Frichs in Denmark, these included a particularly large number of French companies. By the end of the war, 1,753 machines for the Reichsbahn had been completed. After the liberation of France by the Allies, production continued there and a further 226 were made. In the GDR, ten were made using boilers that were left over from Frichs.

The Bundesbahn had received the largest part with 1,242 pieces. Although at least 291 machines, most of which were built in France, had to be handed over to France as reparations, the class 44 formed the backbone of heavy freight traffic on the Bundesbahn. The locomotives were given the nickname “Jumbo” and were initially barely changed apart from the replacement of the smoke deflectors. A total of 36 machines were converted to oil firing, mainly in 1965 and 1966, in order to increase performance and economy while relieving the fireman. The oil-fired locomotives were classified as the class 043 from 1968, while the coal-fired locomotives became the 044. The importance of the locomotives decreased when the main routes were increasingly electrified or converted to diesel traction. The decommissioning took place between 1970 and 1977.

The Reichsbahn in the east received 335 units, significantly fewer than the Bundesbahn. Of these, 97 were converted to oil firing and 22 to pulverized coal. The unconverted locomotives were taken out of service by 1974 after diesel and electric locomotives were introduced on the low mountain ranges. In view of the oil crisis in the early 1980s, most of the oil-fired locomotives were converted back to coal-firing, but they were rarely used.

After the war, apart from Germany and France, there were 67 in Poland, three in Czechoslovakia, 16 in Austria and one in Belgium. With more than 70 pieces, the whereabouts could not be traced. Today there is still one operational example in Germany and the Netherlands each. 15 more are still preserved, but no longer roadworthy.