American development

Five years after new locomotive construction had begun at the West Point Foundry in the United States with the 0-4-0 Best Friend of Charleston in 1831, the first 4-4-0 locomotive was designed by Henry R. Campbell, at the time the chief engineer for the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railway. Campbell received a patent for the design in February 1836 and soon set to work building the first 4-4-0.^[1]

At the time, Campbell's 4-4-0 was a giant among locomotives. Its cylinders had a 14-inch (360 mm) bore with a 16-inch (410 mm) piston stroke, it boasted 54-inch-diameter (1,400 mm) driving wheels, could maintain 90 psi (620 kPa) of steam pressure and weighed 12 short tons (11 t). Campbell's locomotive was estimated to be able to pull a train of 450 short tons (410 t) at 15 mph (24 km/h) on level track, outperforming the strongest of Baldwin's 4-2-0s in tractive effort by about 63%. However, the frame and driving gear of his locomotive proved to be too rigid for the railroads of the time, which caused Campbell's prototype to be derailment-prone. The most obvious cause was the lack of a weight equalizing system for the drivers.^[1]

At about the same time as Campbell was building his 4-4-0, the company of Eastwick and Harrison was building its own version of the 4-4-0. This locomotive, named Hercules, was completed in 1837 for the Beaver Meadow Railroad. It was built with a leading bogie that was separate from the locomotive frame, making it much more suitable for the tight curves and quick grade changes of early railroads. The Hercules initially suffered from poor tracking, which was corrected by giving it an effective springing system when returned to its builder for remodeling.^[1]

Even though the Hercules and its successors from Eastwick and Harrison proved the viability of the new wheel arrangement, the company remained the sole builders of this type of locomotive for another two years. Norris Locomotive Works built that company's first 4-4-0 in 1839, followed by Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works, the Locks & Canals Machine Shop and the Newcastle Manufacturing Company in 1840. After Henry Campbell sued other manufacturers and railroads for infringing on his patent, Baldwin settled with him in 1845 by purchasing a license to build 4-4-0s.^[1]

As the 1840s progressed, the design of the 4-4-0 changed little, but the dimensions of a typical example of this type increased. The boiler was lengthened, drivers grew in diameter and the firegrate was increased in area. Early 4-4-0s were short enough that it was most practical to connect the pistons to the rear drivers, but as the boiler was lengthened, the connecting rods were more frequently connected to the front drivers.^[1]

In the 1850s, locomotive manufacturers began extending the wheelbase of the leading bogie and the drivers as well as the tender bogies. By placing the axles farther apart, manufacturers were able to mount a wider boiler completely above the wheels that extended beyond the sides of the wheels. This gave newer locomotives increased heating and steaming capacity, which translated to higher tractive effort. Similarly, by placing the leading bogie axles further apart enabled the cylinders to be placed between them in a more horizontal orientation, thereby distributing the engine's weight more evenly when going around curves and uneven track. These advancements, combined with the increasingly widespread adaptation of cowcatchers, bells, and headlights, gave the 4-4-0 locomotives the appearance for which they are most recognized.^[1]

The design and subsequent improvements of the 4-4-0 configuration proved so successful that, by 1872, 60% of Baldwin's locomotive construction was of this type and it is estimated that 85% of all locomotives in operation in the United States were 4-4-0s. However, the 4-4-0 was soon supplanted by bigger designs, like the 2-6-0 and 2-8-0, even though the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement was still favored for express services. The widespread adoption of the 4-6-0 and larger locomotives eventually helped seal its fate as a product of the past.^[1]

Although largely superseded in North American service by the early 20th century, Baldwin Locomotive Works produced two examples for the narrow gauge Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán in early 1946, probably the last engines of this wheel arrangement intended for general use.^[3] A number of individual engines have been custom-built for theme parks in recent years, resembling early designs in appearance.

British development

The first British locomotives to use this wheel arrangement were the 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) broad gauge 4-4-0 tank engine designs which appeared from 1849. The first British tender locomotive class, although of limited success, was the broad gauge Waverley class of the Great Western Railway, designed by Daniel Gooch and built by Robert Stephenson & Company in 1855.^[4]

The first American-style British 4-4-0 tender locomotive on 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge, designed by William Bouch for the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1860, followed American practice with two outside cylinders.^[5]

Britain's major contribution to the development of the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement was the inside cylinder version, which resulted in a steadier locomotive, less prone to oscillation at speed. This type was introduced in Scotland in 1871 by Thomas Wheatley of the North British Railway.^[6]

Australia

The first 4-4-0s appeared in South Australia in 1859. From that initial order for two locomotives, the numbers of this wheel arrangement multiplied and eventually appeared in most of the Australian colonies. Tender, tank and saddle tank versions, varying in size from small engines to express passenger racers with 6 feet 6 inches (1,981 millimetres) driving wheels, worked in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania on 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge, 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge and 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge.^[7]

The locomotives originally from British builders such as Dübs & Company and Beyer, Peacock & Company, however, from late 1870's into the 1880s, railways also bought locomotives from American builders, mostly from Baldwin, as well as a few examples bought from the Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works in New Jersey. From the 1880s onward, local firms such as James Martin & Co. in Gawler, South Australia, and the Phoenix Foundry in Ballarat, Victoria would also build examples. In New South Wales and Victoria, the 4-4-0 ruled the rails for mainline passenger services until the early 1900s. In Western Australia, some were later converted to 4-4-2s.^[8][9]

Finland

In Finland, the 4-4-0 was represented by the Classes A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 and A7.

• The Class A4 was a class of nine locomotives, built in 1872 and 1873 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for use on the Hanko–Hyvinkää railway.
• The Finnish Steam Locomotive Class A5 was a class of only two locomotives, built in 1874 and 1875 by the Finnish State Railroad's workshops in Helsinki. One of them is preserved at the Finnish Railway Museum.

Indonesia

The 4-4-0 two cylinder compound tender locomotives began to set its step on Java in 1900s. The Staatsspoorwegen (SS) ordered 44 of these from 3 different manufacturers, they were from Hanomag, Sächsische Maschinenfabrik (Hartmann) and Werkspoor and they were imported in 1900–1910.

After they had already arrived in Java, they were classified as SS Class 600 with 1,503 mm driving wheels which way much bigger than any operational SS locomotives at the time and used as the main workhorse for express trains. The SS 600s could be found hauling local trains in Tanah Abang–Rangkasbitung–Merak/Labuan, Madiun–Kertosono–Blitar and Babat–Jombang lines. Some of them were also found in Maos–Kroya–Kutoarjo and Surabaya–Pasuruan lines. Then, the SS sent their five SS 600s to South Sumatra due to the increasing needs of railway transport in there. These locomotives were withdrawn from active service momentarily in 1929-1934 during great depression because of their cylinder compound technology which has a complicated mechanism system so the SS had to save its budget by preserving these locomotives, but they received extensive maintenance so they still could be used normally.

During Japanese occupation in 1942, all of private/state railway companies of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) were renumbered based on Japanese numberings, without exception to SS Class 600s were renumbered to B51 and it still used after Indonesian Independence with their Djawatan Kereta Api (DKA) or Department of Railways of the Republic of Indonesia up to now. One unit of B51 was sent out again to West Sumatra to serve coal train transport in Muaro–Pekanbaru line till it closed in September, 1945. From 44 locomotives, only B51 12 (ex-SS 612) of Hanomag is preserved. Previously, B51 12 was a yard shunter of Bojonegoro railway station.^[10] The B51 12 was once a static display for more than 30 years at Ambarawa Railway Museum, before finally fully restored in 2012 to haul the Ambarawa excursion train for Ambarawa–Tuntang line beside the Esslingen 0-4-2T B25 02 and 03 which were used on rack line between Jambu–Bedono.

Mozambique

Between 1895 and 1898, Pauling & Company placed 42 Falcon F2 and F4 4-4-0 tender locomotives in service on the 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railway which was being constructed for the Beira Railway in Mozambique. They were supplied in six batches by Falcon Engine & Car Works in England and the Glasgow Railway Engineering Company in Scotland.^[11][12][13]

In service, these locomotives were nicknamed Lawleys after the Beira Railway construction subcontractor. The construction of the last batch of ten F4 locomotives was subcontracted by Falcon to the Glasgow Railway Engineering Company in Scotland and these were consequently often referred to as the Drummond F4.^{[11][12][13][14]}

The Falcon F4 was larger and heavier than the earlier F2, with a tractive effort that was increased from the 3,000 pounds-force (13.3 kilonewtons) of the F2 to 3,987 pounds-force (17.7 kilonewtons) at 75% boiler pressure. It could haul 180 long tons (182.9 tonnes) up the ruling gradients, compared to the 160 long tons (162.6 tonnes) that the F2 could manage.^[12]

New Zealand

The NZR L^A class tank locomotives of 1887 were built in Britain by Nasmyth, Wilson & Company in 1887 for the New Zealand Midland Railway Company. They were taken over by the New Zealand Railways Department in 1900, when the government acquired the incomplete Midland line.

Rhodesia

When the Beira Railway in Mozambique was regauged to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) by 1900 and the whole 4-4-0 Lawley locomotive fleet was staged, six of the Mozambican F4 locomotives were acquired by the Ayrshire Railway, which was then under construction in Southern Rhodesia. They remained in service there until 1914, when this line was also converted to Cape gauge and became the Sinoia branch of the Beira, Mashonaland and Rhodesia Railway.^[11][12][14]

South Africa

United Kingdom

United States

Since the first locomotives in the United States were imported from the United Kingdom, the British 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge was also adopted by the first United States railroads. When new locomotive construction began in the United States in 1831, some new railroads opted for a different gauge, resulting in breaks-of-gauge as railroads began to be joined. Apart from freight reloading issues, another result was that new locomotives for some of these railroads had to be delivered on flatcars.

The 4-4-0 played a major role in the development of rail transport in the United States. Some of the notable 4-4-0 locomotives that saw service on United States railroads are:

• Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company No. 3, built in 1842 by Eastwick & Harrison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is one of the oldest surviving locomotives of the 4-4-0-wheel arrangement, and the sole surviving 4-4-0 of the Reading Company. ^[20]
• The General, built in 1855 by Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor in Paterson, New Jersey, was the fleeing locomotive during the Great Locomotive Chase of the American Civil War.^[21][22]
• The Texas, built in 1856 by Danforth, Cooke & Company in Paterson, New Jersey, was the pursuing locomotive during much of the Great Locomotive Chase.^[23][24]
• The Jupiter, Central Pacific Railroad’s No. 60, built by Schenectady Locomotive Works of New York in September 1868, was one of the two locomotives to meet at Promontory Summit during the Golden Spike ceremony upon the completion of the First American Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869.^[25]
• Union Pacific No. 119, built by Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey in 1868, was the other locomotive at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869.^[26]
• The Virginia & Truckee Railroad’s Dayton, built in 1873 by the Central Pacific Railroad, had the honor of opening the branch line between Carson City and Minden in Nevada in 1906.^[27]
• The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad no. 999, built in 1893 to haul the railroad's Empire State Express, is believed to have been the first in the United States to travel at a speed of more than 100 miles per hour (160 kilometres per hour).^[28][29]
• Walt Disney World Railroad No. 4 Roy O. Disney, which was built in February 1916 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works as No. 66 (later No. 251 in the 1960s) for the United Railways of Yucatán in Mexico. It now operates on the railroad circling the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida.^[30] Since January 2024, this locomotive has been shipped to the Strasburg Rail Road for an extensive overhaul.^[31]

By 1910, the 4-4-0 was considered obsolete being replaced by Mikados, Pacifics and other larger engines, although they continued to serve to an extent into the 1950s. The last 4-4-0 to be built was a diminutive Baldwin product for the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán in 1945. Fewer than forty 4-4-0s survive in preservation in the United States, reproductions excluded.^[1]

Between 1959 and 1989, the Crown Metal Products Company of Wyano, Pennsylvania built live steam reproductions of classic 4-4-0 designs for use by amusement parks. The largest of these, of which 18 were produced, ran on 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge track. Most are patterned after 19th-century American designs, but those produced for Busch Gardens have European styling. Although Crown Metal Products ceased operations in 1989, many of their locomotives continue to see daily operation at parks such as Kings Island, Worlds of Fun, and the Omaha Zoo Railroad at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium.

North America

There are a handful of full-size 4-4-0 steam locomotives built prior to 1945 that are still operating in the US and Canada.^[32][33] The following is a list of locations with at least one working example and tracks on which to run it.