Wheel Arrangements

This page lists all 37 steam wheel arrangements represented in the RailRosterDB catalog database.

About Whyte Notation

Wheel arrangements are expressed using the Whyte notation system, introduced by Frederick Methvan Whyte in 1900. The notation consists of three numbers separated by hyphens, representing the count of:

• Leading wheels — unpowered wheels at the front of the locomotive that guide it into curves
• Driving wheels — the large powered wheels connected to the pistons
• Trailing wheels — unpowered wheels at the rear that support the firebox

For example, a 4-6-2 locomotive has 4 leading wheels, 6 driving wheels, and 2 trailing wheels — commonly known as a Pacific.

Articulated locomotives with two sets of driving wheels use a four-number notation. A 2-8-8-4 has 2 leading wheels, then two groups of 8 driving wheels, then 4 trailing wheels — commonly known as a Yellowstone.

A suffix of T indicates a tank locomotive — one that carries its water and fuel on the locomotive itself rather than in a separate tender. For example, a 0-6-0T is a six-wheel switcher in tank configuration.

Click any wheel arrangement to browse all Lionel locomotives of that type.

Diagram	Notation	Common Name(s)	Products
	0-4-0	Four-Wheel-Switcher	32 products
	0-4-0T	Tank Four-Wheel Switcher	5 products
	0-6-0	Six-Wheel-Switcher	28 products
	0-6-0T	Tank Six-Wheel Switcher	29 products
	0-8-0	Eight-Wheel-Switcher	71 products
	2-4-0	Porter	3 products
	2-4-2	Columbia	45 products
	2-6-0	Mogul	25 products
	2-6-2	Prairie	5 products
	2-6-6-2		20 products
	2-6-6-4		12 products
	2-6-6-6	Allegheny (Blue Ridge)	9 products
	2-8-0	Consolidation	35 products
	2-8-2	Mikado (MacArthur)	90 products
	2-8-4	Berkshire (Kanawha, Lima, Lima)	82 products
	2-8-8-2	Chesapeake (Cab Forward)	49 products
	2-8-8-4	Yellowstone	16 products
	2-8-8-8-2	Triplex	9 products
	2-10-0	Decapod	23 products
	2-10-4	Texas (Selkirk, Colorado)	26 products
	2-10-10-2	Virginian	4 products
	4-4-0	American (Eight-Wheeler)	27 products
	4-4-2	Atlantic	46 products
	4-4-4-4	Duplex	0 products
	4-6-0	Ten-Wheeler	57 products
	4-6-2	Pacific	72 products
	4-6-4	Hudson (Baltic, Shore Line)	67 products
	4-6-6T	Tank Ten Wheeler / Atlantic Tank	8 products
	4-6-6-4	Challenger	33 products
	4-8-2	Mountain (New Haven, Mohawk)	47 products
	4-8-4	Northern (Greenbrier, GS, Niagra, Heavy Mountain, FEF, Pocono, Wyoming)	113 products
	4-8-8-2	Cab Forward	15 products
	4-8-8-4	Big Boy	32 products
	4-12-2	Union Pacific	15 products
	6-4-4-6		4 products
	6-8-6	Turbine	14 products
No diagram	Geared	Geared (Shay / Heisler / Climax)	45 products