0-4-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were connected by a single gear wheel, but from 1825 the wheels were usually connected with coupling rods to form a single driven set.

The notation 0-4-0T indicates a tank locomotive of this wheel arrangement on which its water and fuel is carried on board the engine itself, rather than in an attached tender.

In Britain, the Whyte notation of wheel arrangement was also often used for the classification of electric and diesel-electric locomotives with side-rod-coupled driving wheels.Whyte notation

Under the UIC classification used in Europe and, in more recent years, in simplified form in the United States, a 0-4-0 is classified as B (German and Italian) if the axles are connected by side rods or gearing and 020 (French), independent of axle motoring. The UIC's Bo classification for electric and diesel-electric locomotives indicates that the axles are independently motored, which would be under the Whyte notation.

Overview 0-4-0 locomotives were built as tank locomotives as well as tender locomotives. The former were more common in Europe and the latter in the United States, except in the tightest of situations such as that of a shop switcher locomotive, where overall length was a concern. The earliest 0-4-0 locomotives were tender engines and appeared as early as c. 1802. The 0-4-0 tank engines were introduced in the early 1850s. The type was found to be so useful in many locations that they continued to be built for more than a century and existed until the end of the steam era.

Richard Trevithick's Coalbrookedale (1802), Pen-y-Darren (1804) and Newcastle (1805) locomotives were of the 0-4-0 type, although in their cases the wheels were connected by a single gear wheel. The first 0-4-0 to use coupling rods was Locomotion No. 1, built by Robert Stephenson and Company for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. Stephenson also built the Lancashire Witch in 1828, and Timothy Hackworth built Sans Pareil which ran at the Rainhill Trials in 1829. The latter two locomotives later worked on the Bolton and Leigh Railway.

A four-wheeled configuration, where all the wheels are driving wheels, uses all the locomotive's mass for traction but is inherently unstable at speed. The type was therefore mainly used for switcher locomotives (also known as shunter locomotives in the United Kingdom). Because of the lack of stability, tender engines of this type were only built for a few decades in the United Kingdom. They were built for a longer period in the United States.

The possible tractive effort of an 0-4-0 within normal axle load limits was not enough to move large loads. By 1900, they had therefore largely been superseded for most purposes by locomotives with more complex wheel arrangements. They nevertheless continued to be used in situations where tighter radius curves existed or the shorter length was an advantage. Thus, they were commonly employed in dockyard work, industrial tramways, or as shop switchers.

The wheel arrangement was also used on specialised types such as fireless locomotives, crane tank locomotives, tram engines and geared steam locomotives. It was also widely used on narrow gauge railways.

Usage

Australia In New South Wales, Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum has preserved twelve 0-4-0 steam locomotives and eight 0-4-0 diesel locomotives, a total of twenty examples, all on the one site.

Austria

In Tyrol, Achensee Railway operates three 0-4-0 geared steam cog locomotives on their 1-meter narrow gauge tourist railway and has one on display. The locomotives were originally built by Wiener Lokomotivfabrik, but one has been rebuilt from scavenged parts.

Angola

The Catumbela Sugar Estate in Angola operated a narrow gauge line on the estate. One of their locomotives, Rührthaler Maschinen-Fabrik 963 of 1929, was later rebuilt with a diesel engine."100 Jahre Rührthaler Maschinenfabrik", a CD by Jens Merte & Martin Schiffmann (Lokrundschau Verlag GmbH, 2001, )

Finland

Finland had the E1 and Vk4 classes with an 0-4-0 wheel arrangement.

The E1 was a class of only two locomotives, numbered 76 and 77.

The Vk4 was also a class of only two locomotives, built by Borsig Lokomotiv Werke (AEG) of Germany in 1910. The Vk4s were used at a fortress, and were eventually also used in dismantling the fortress, after which one locomotive went into industrial use and was scrapped in 1951. The other was sold to the Finnish Railways and nicknamed Leena. It became No. 68 and is now the oldest working broad gauge locomotive in Finland, being preserved at the Finnish Railway Museum.

Indonesia

The Samarang-Cheribon Stoomtram Maatschappij or SCS imported 27 cape gauge 0-4-0T SCS Class 100 locomotives between 1908 and 1911, originally to operate services from Kalibrodi-Samarang to Tanggung and Yogyakarta. They were built by Sächsische Maschinenfabrik in Chemnitz, Germany. They were a modern locomotive design for the time, equipped with a superheater.

The largest allocation of SCS 100s were in Tegal, Central Java for services to Purwokerto. Some were later converted to tram engines and worked in Tegal and Purwokerto.

After Japanese occupation and Indonesian Independence, these locomotives were renumbered to B52 class. All 27 locomotives were in existence at the end of 1960, but by 1970 only 15 units remained. Two locomotives have been preserved, B5212 at the Transportation Museum of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah and B5210 at the Ambarawa Railway Museum.

New Zealand The NZR A class of 1873 consisted of three engine types of similar specification but differing detail. They were British and New Zealand-built and several were preserved.

Philippines

The only examples of this type in the Philippines were the five Manila class light-duty tank locomotives built by Hunslet Engine Company for the Manila Railway. They were ordered in 1885 for the Tranvía system until they were used on the Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan in the 1890s. After being retired from the Manila Railroad in 1927, Manila was sold to the newly-formed Central Azucarrera de Tarlac, where it was made into a tank-tender locomotive until the 1980s. The locomotive was scrapped by 1991.

South Africa

Brunel gauge

In 1847, the government of the Cape Colony established harbour boards at its three major ports, Table Bay, Port Elizabeth and East London. While railway lines were laid at all these harbours, trains were for the most part initially hauled by oxen or mules. The first steam locomotives to see service at these harbours were Brunel gauge engines which were placed in service on breakwater construction at Table Bay Harbour in 1862 and East London Harbour in 1874. At Table Bay Harbour a third Brunel gauge 0-4-0T locomotive was acquired from Fletcher, Jennings & Co. in 1874 to haul tip-wagons from the Victoria Basin excavation site to the breakwater which was being constructed simultaneously.Table Bay Harbour construction locomotives The East London Harbour's construction locomotives were 0-4-0 vertical boiler engines, similar in appearance to the American Grasshopper type. Four of them were acquired from Alexander Chaplin & Co. between 1873 and 1880, although the first one was only placed in service in 1874.John Middleton on vertical boiler locomotives in South Africa A fourth locomotive was added at Table Bay Harbour in 1879, a 0-4-0 well-tank engine, also built by Fletcher, Jennings. Three 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives entered breakwater construction service in Table Bay Harbour, two in 1881 and one more in 1893, built by Black, Hawthorn & Co.Classification of S.A.R. Engines with Renumbering Lists, issued by the Chief Mechanical Engineer's Office, Pretoria, January 1912, pp. 2, 17. (Reprinted in April 1987 by SATS Museum, R.3125-6/9/11-1000)

Standard gauge

In September 1859 Messrs. E. & J. Pickering, contractors to the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company for the construction of the Cape Town-Wellington railway line, imported a small broad gauge 0-4-0 side-tank steam locomotive from England for use during the construction of the railway. This was the first locomotive in South Africa. In 1874 the locomotive was rebuilt to a 0-4-2T configuration before it was shipped to Port Alfred, where it served as construction locomotive on the banks of the Kowie river and was nicknamed Blackie. It has been declared a heritage object and was plinthed in the main concourse of Cape Town station.Blackie, Article by D. Littley, SA Rail September–October 1989, Published by RSSA, p. 133.

The first railway locomotive to run in revenue earning service in South Africa was a small broad gauge 0-4-0WT well tank engine named Natal, manufactured by Carrett, Marshall and Company of Leeds. It made its inaugural run from Market Square to Point station in Durban during the official opening of the first operating railway in South Africa on 26 June 1860.The South African Railways - Historical Survey (Editor George Hart, Publisher Bill Hart, Sponsored by Dorbyl Ltd, Circa 1978, pp. 6–8.)Carrett Marshall & Co., Sun Foundry, Dewsbury Road, LeedsGrace's Guide – The Best of British Engineering 1750-1960s

In 1865, the Natal Railway Company obtained a saddle-tank locomotive with a wheel arrangement from Kitson and Company. This was the Natal Railway's second locomotive and was named Durban.It's a Puzzlement, Article by Bruno Martin, SA Rail December 1990, pp. 214–215.

In 1878, while construction work by the Kowie Harbour Improvement Company was underway at Port Alfred, the Cape Government Railways acquired one broad gauge (Saddle Tank) locomotive named Aid from Fox, Walker and Company of Bristol for use as construction locomotive on the east bank of the Kowie river.

Cape gauge During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of 0-4-0 tank- and saddle-tank locomotives were imported into South Africa, many of them for use in harbours. Many of these locomotives came into South African Railways (SAR) stock in 1912, but were never classified.

In 1873 and 1874, three Cape gauge saddle-tank locomotives, built by Manning Wardle, were placed in service by the Cape Government Railways, two on the Midland System in 1873 and the third on the Western System in 1874. They were the first Cape gauge locomotives to enter service in South Africa.C.G.R. Numbering Revised, Article by Dave Littley, SA Rail May–June 1993, pp. 94–95. In 1874, a third saddle-tank locomotive, also built by Manning Wardle, was delivered to the Midland System of the CGR in Port Elizabeth. The locomotive was of a smaller design than the earlier locomotives of 1873.Railway History of South Africa no. 2 - Early Locomotives of the Cape Government Railway, Article by Leith Paxton, The Uloliwe, Vol 4 no 1, January 2013, pp. 62–63. Between 1875 and 1882, six saddle-tank locomotives with domeless boilers and three with domes were placed in service on all three systems of the CGR. They were all designated First Class when a classification system was adopted. In 1881, two Cape gauge saddle tank locomotives with a 0-4-0 wheel arrangement were placed in service by Teague and Company, who operated Teague's Tramway at the Kimberley diamond mine. In 1885 one was sold to the mine and the other to the CGR for use during the construction of a temporary rail bridge across the Orange River at Norvalspont. In the process the CGR locomotive, nicknamed Coffee Pot, became the first locomotive to run across the border between the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State.John Middleton on the Coffee Pot