When the VR determined to close the Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook narrow gauge route in the mid-1950s, the Victorian community refused to let the train die. Two of these little locomotives arrived from Baldwin Locomotive works in 1898 and a total of seventeen saw service throughout the state on the various narrow gauge timber and gold lines, including the Wangaratta and Walhalla. The principal 2-6-2T locomotives which were built for the narrow gauge system of the Victoria Railway (VR), are the now famous 'Puffing Billy' engines.

The Silverton Tramway operated two 2-6-2T locomotives from 1891, both of which are preserved in South Australia. 2605 at the State Mine Museum in Lithgow. 2606 at the Rail Transport Museum at Thirlmere and no. In New South Wales a class of twenty engines, the Z26 class, formerly the (I)17 class, entered service in 1892 and operated until the end of steam.

In Australia, no tender versions of the 2-6-2 operated on any system. Victorian Railwaysclass NA 2-6-2 tank locomotive on the Puffing Billy Railway Though some engines, like the Chicago and Great Western of 1903, had the connecting rod aligned onto the third driver, most examples were powered via the second driver and were prone to the nosing problem. The reciprocation rods, when working near the centre of gravity, induce severe side-to-side nosing which results in intense instability if unrestrained either by a long wheelbase or by the leading and trailing trucks. This name was often also used for British locomotives with this wheel arrangement.Īs with the 2-10-2, the major problem with the 2-6-2 is that these engines have a symmetrical wheel layout, with the centre of gravity almost over the centre driving wheel. The type was thus nicknamed the Prairie in North American practice. The first 2-6-2 tender locomotives for a North American customer were built by Brooks Locomotive Works in 1900 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, for use on the Midwestern prairies. The majority of American 2-6-2s were tender locomotives, but in Europetank locomotives, described as 2-6-2T, were more common. This arrangement is commonly called a Prairie. Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-6-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. (Redirected from 2-6-2T) 2-6-2 (Prairie) Equivalent classifications

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