2-6-6-2
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CSAR experimental Mallet, SAR Class MD
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| Equivalent classifications | |
|---|---|
| UIC class | 1CC1, refined to (1'C)C1' |
| French class | 130+031 |
| Turkish class | 34+34 |
| Swiss class | 3/4+3/4 |
| Russian class | 1-3-0+0-3-1 |
| First known tender engine version | |
|---|---|
| First use | 1910 |
| Country | South Africa |
| Locomotive | SAR Class MD |
| Railway | Central South African Railways |
| Designer | American Locomotive Company |
| Builder | American Locomotive Company |
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a 2-6-6-2 is a locomotive with one pair of unpowered leading wheels, followed by two sets of three pairs of powered driving wheels and one pair of trailing wheels. The wheel arrangement was principally used on Mallet-type articulated locomotives, although some tank locomotive examples were also built. A Garratt type locomotive with the same wheel arrangement is designated 2-6-0+0-6-2.
Under the UIC classification the wheel arrangement is referred to as (1'C)C1' for Mallet locomotives.
The 2-6-6-2 wheel arrangement was most often used for articulated compound steam Mallet locomotives. In a compound Mallet, the rear set of coupled wheels are driven by the smaller high pressure cylinders, from which spent steam is then fed to the larger low pressure cylinders that drive the front set of coupled wheels.
This type of locomotive was commonly used in North America on logging railroads. The 2-6-6-2 wheel arrangement was also used in South Africa and the Soviet Union.
The Serbian Government used a Mallet articulated compound locomotive for freight service on 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge. It was built for the Serbian Government by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO).
The South African Railways (SAR) operated 22 Mallet locomotives with this wheel arrangement, spread over five classes, all of them built to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge.
The wheel arrangement also appeared in Soviet Russia as a 5 ft (1,524 mm) locomotive, the P34, built by . It was a modern but compact Mallet of which only one was built.
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Wikipedia