2-6-8-0

File:Great Northern steam locomotive 1951, Skykomish, ca. 1924.jpg

GN #1951 at Skykomish, Washington in 1924.

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.

Equivalent classifications

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.

Examples

This type of articulated locomotive is unusual in having different numbers of driving axles in each set. The Great Northern Railway and the Alabama Great Southern a predecessor of the Southern Railway, both in the United States, were the sole users of this type of locomotive. Great Northern received 35, numbered 1950–1984, designated class M-1, from Baldwin in 1910. In 1926 and 1927 the M1s were rebuilt to use simple expansion and were redesignated class M-2. Most of the M-2s did not last long, being converted to class O-7 2-8-2s between 1929 and 1931; the thirteen exceptions were not retired until 1949–1954. The AGS had a single example in this classification, number 300.

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

• GN Steam Locos
• Erie Condensed Steam Locomotive Roster
• Alabama Great Southern 300