2-6-8-0

A 2-6-8-0 steam locomotive, in the Whyte notation for describing locomotive wheel arrangements, has two leading wheels, a set of six driving wheels, a set of eight driving wheels, and no trailing wheels. These locomotives usually employ the Mallet principle of articulation, with a swinging front engine and a rigidly attached rear engine.

Other equivalent classifications are:

UIC classification: 1CD (also known as German classification and Italian classification)

French classification: 130+040

Turkish classification: 34+44

Swiss classification: 3/4+4/4

The UIC classification is refined to (1'C)D for Mallet locomotives.

This type of articulated locomotive is unusual in having different numbers of driving axles in each set. The Great Northern Railway and the Southern Railway, both in the United States, were the sole users of this type of locomotive. Great Northern received theirs, designated type M1, from Baldwin in 1910. In 1926 and 1927 the M1s were modified to use simple expansion and were redesignated M2. The M2s did not last long, being converted to very large 2-8-2s between 1929 and 1931.

This unusual wheel arrangement was the subject of some experimentation. The Erie Railroad briefly had a locomotive of this type numbered 2900, but it was rebuilt to a 2-8-0 in 1916 after only six years. The Baldwin Locomotive Works marketed a front end "kit" whereby conventional 2-8-0 locomotives could be converted to 2-6-8-0 types.

During World War II, Deutsche Reichsbahn started work on a condensing 2-6-8-0, but it was never completed.

External links

* [http://www.gngoat.org/gn_steam_locomotives.htm GN Steam Locos]

* [http://www.erielackhs.org/Erie/prototype/ErieCondensedSteamRoster.html Erie Condensed Steam Locomotive Roster]