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I try not to make my videos too technical. Partly because I know a lot of people who watch these
aren't hardcore train nerds like me, but also because I'm certainly not any kind of expert.
Where I do use technical terms, I try to explain them as best I can. But something I don't think
I've ever properly explained is the sets of numbers I use when describing locomotives.
For instance, this engine is an 0-4-0. This engine is a 4-6-0. This is known as Whyte notation
and is a method of describing the way the wheels are arranged on a steam locomotive.
If you're familiar with the design of locomotives in general, the wheel arrangement can be quite a
useful piece of information and I'll explain why shortly. Whyte notation is an American
system devised by Frederick Whyte of the New York Central Railroad. It was used in North America
and Britain among other places. It tends not to be applied to modern locomotives because
modern engines usually have their wheels mounted on bogies. Some diesel shunters,
such as the class 08, are similar to steam locomotives in terms of their design layout,
so they do use Whyte notation. Basically, as with just about everything in railway history,
there are no absolute rules. Maybe I should just explain how it works. The Whyte system
consists of (typically) three numbers. The first number represents the number of unpowered wheels
that support the locomotive at the front. The middle number represents the driving wheels,
that is, the connected wheels through which power is transmitted from the cylinders,
and the final number represents the number of unpowered wheels at the back. Larger engines
often have a tender to carry coal and water. This isn't counted as part of the locomotive,
so the wheels aren't listed. So, for example, here we have a 4-6-2. Four wheels at the front, six in
the middle, two at the back. Here, meanwhile, we have an 0-6-0. No wheels at the front, six driving
wheels in the middle, none at the back. Sometimes you have more than one set of driving wheels. So,
for instance, here is a double Fairie that's classed as an 0-4-4-0. There might be a letter
or two letters after the numbers to tell you a little more about the engine. For instance,
this engine is an 0-6-0T. T stands for "tank engine," i.e. one that does not have a tender
(and yes I realise that "tender" also begins with a T and it's things like that that make studying
railway history such a fun and in-no-way-annoying pursuit). As I said earlier, you can tell a lot
about an engine from its wheel arrangement, especially as locomotive designs evolved and
became more specialised. An engine designed for heavy freight typically has more driving wheels
and fewer supporting wheels. The 9F, perhaps the ultimate in heavy freight locomotives on British
Railways, was a 2-10-0. At the other end of the scale, locomotives designed for fast passenger
trains in the 19th and early 20th centuries often only had two driving wheels. They were 2-2-2s or
4-2-2s, so from the wheels you can get an idea of what an engine was built for and perhaps when
it was built. All these numbers are a little confusing and impersonal, so wheel arrangements
often acquired nicknames. These again seem to be American in origin. A 4-6-2 was a Pacific.
A 4-4-2 was an Atlantic. A 2-6-2 was a Prairie. There were also Moguls, Mikados, Baltics, Jubilees
Adriatics and a whole raft of other names. Some of them didn't catch on in Britain. In America,
a 4-4-0 was known as an American, after the 4-4-0 locomotives that were absolutely synonymous with
American railways in the 19th century. But they didn't have that association over here.
Some nicknames didn't catch on in Britain because we just didn't have engines that big.
Some examples are the 4-8-4 Northerns, the 4-10-2 Overlands and the 2-12-0 Centipedes. A big engine
in Britain is a medium-sized engine in America. Some railways had their own codes for wheel
arrangements. The London and North Eastern Railway used letters. A indicated a 4-6-2, B a 4-6-0,
C a 4-4-2 and so on. More experimental locomotives ended up with strange wheel arrangements.
This engine, a one-off built by the London and North Eastern Railway, is a 2-8-0-0-8-2.
And this one, which believe it or not is a steam engine known as the Leader, is an 0-6-0-0-6-0.
And its wheels are mounted on bogies, which ruins that point I made earlier about why we don't use
Whyte notation for modern locomotives. As diesels and electric locomotives superseded steam engines,
a totally different system known as the UIC system came into use. This is a fearsomely complicated
code, which i'm not going to go into here. Maybe some other time. Or maybe not. Who knows?
Well, I hope you enjoyed today's video. If so, please do leave a like and subscribe for more.
Also, let me know if you'd like to see me cover more of these technical subjects. Like I say, I am
no engineer, but I'm happy to learn. Thanks as ever to my donors on Ko-Fi and Patreon, you are
the connecting rods to my driving wheels. Thanks to Surfshark for once again sponsoring my video.
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and I'll see you all again very soon. Cheerio!