NB: Frederick Methvan Whyte's system of wheel classification was devised soon after he left the Chicago & North Western in 1899 for the New York Central Railroad; he cited the contributions of the American Engineer's G M Basford and Schenectady Locomotive Works's L R Pomeroy. Whyte's rational plan was advocated by American Engineer & Railroad Journal in its December 1900 editorial pages. But as a debate in the Annual Meeting of the Master Mechanics in 1901 suggests, not everyone embraced the idea right away. See Report of proceedings of the ... annual convention of the American Railway Master Mechanics' Association, 1901, pp. 99-110.
The London-based Locomotive Magazine offered its own support of the system, which could be detected at a few points in 1903's issues, but the first issue of 1904 reflected a further move to adopting it wholesale. The trend became more pronounced in the magazine's report on the US Louisiana Purchase Exposition, in which every locomotive was identified by the Whyte system (p. 144).
There were a myriad of other ways of describing a locomotive and some were widely used outside of the Anglo-Saxon orbit. Two in particular deserve mention, those that Locobase calls Continental and German.
The Continental -- used in France and Spain, as well as other countries -- applied the same logic as Whyte, but counted axles rather than wheels. So a Whyte 4-6-4 was a 232. If the locomotive was articulated, e.g., a Whyte 2-8-8-0, it would be styled a 140+040. This also served for the Garratts operated in Spain, such as the 2-6-2+2-6-2, which on the Renfe was designated 131+131.
The German system was more elaborate and quite informative, because it included more information as a matter of course. The axle layout was described in letters (powered axles) and numbers (unpowered). So a 4-6-4 was a 2' C 2. In addtion, one could determine if the locomotive whether it was saturated (n) or superheated (h), used compound expansion (v for verbund), and how many cylinders it had. So this superheated, compound 3-cylinder 4-6-4 would be designated 2' C' 2 hv3.
| Principal Dimensions by Steve Llanso of Middle Run Media | |
|---|---|
| Class | Whyte |
| Locobase ID | 10463 |
| Railroad | Whyte wheel classification |
| Country | All |
| Whyte | |
| Number in Class | |
| Road Numbers | |
| Gauge | |
| Number Built | |
| Builder | |
| Year | 1998 |
| Valve Gear | |
| Locomotive Length and Weight | |
| Driver Wheelbase (ft / m) | |
| Engine Wheelbase (ft / m) | |
| Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheelbase | |
| Overall Wheelbase (engine & tender) (ft / m) | |
| Axle Loading (Maximum Weight per Axle) (lbs / kg) | |
| Weight on Drivers (lbs / kg) | |
| Engine Weight (lbs / kg) | |
| Tender Loaded Weight (lbs / kg) | |
| Total Engine and Tender Weight (lbs / kg) | |
| Tender Water Capacity (gals / ML) | |
| Tender Fuel Capacity (oil/coal) (gals/tons / Liters/MT) | |
| Minimum weight of rail (calculated) (lb/yd / kg/m) | |
| Geometry Relating to Tractive Effort | |
| Driver Diameter (in / mm) | |
| Boiler Pressure (psi / kPa) | |
| High Pressure Cylinders (dia x stroke) (in / mm) | |
| Low Pressure Cylinders (dia x stroke) (in / mm) | 26.5" x 27.6" / 673x701 |
| Tractive Effort (lbs / kg) | |
| Factor of Adhesion (Weight on Drivers/Tractive Effort) | |
| Heating Ability | |
| Tubes (number - dia) (in / mm) | |
| Flues (number - dia) (in / mm) | |
| Flue/Tube length (ft / m) | |
| Firebox Area (sq ft / m2) | |
| Grate Area (sq ft / m2) | |
| Evaporative Heating Surface (sq ft / m2) | |
| Superheating Surface (sq ft / m2) | |
| Combined Heating Surface (sq ft / m2) | |
| Evaporative Heating Surface/Cylinder Volume | |
| Computations Relating to Power Output (More Information) | |
| Robert LeMassena's Power Computation | |
| Same as above plus superheater percentage | |
| Same as above but substitute firebox area for grate area | |
| Power L1 | |
| Power MT | |