Railroad & Heritage Museum

• Letters refer to powered axles.
• Numbers refer to unpowered (idler) axles.
• A dash “-“ separates trucks or wheel assemblies.

     Thus "C" refers to three powered axles in a row on one truck.

     Here are some of those named steam locomotives:

American	American type (4-4-0) was the first distinctly built American locomotive. It was used in both passenger and freight service and lasted until the end of the steam era because of its great versatility.  In the early part of this century the American Type was used on most passenger trains in Texas, even on the Limiteds.
Ten Wheeler	The Ten Wheeler (4-6-0) replaced the American Type for passenger trains in the early 1900s. It could adequately handle short and long trains alike and thus became the standard locomotive for passenger trains on the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico as well as the International Great Northern.
Mogul	The Mogul type (2-6-2) was named for an oriental ruler and was the first powerful freight hauler.  In its early days, the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway used the Mogul type as its freight prime mover.
Consolidation	The Consolidation type got its name because it was introduced just after the railroads began to consolidate in large numbers. It met the need for heavier, more powerful freight locomotives.  The St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railroad used this locomotive in the 1920s almost exclusively for freight.
Decapod	The Decapod type (2-10-0) was an especially capable locomotive since most of its weight was carried by its ten drivers (thus the name Decapod) which gave it excellent adhesion. Russian Decapods, ordered by the Czarist government but never shipped because of the political unrest during the Bolshevik Revolution, were used on the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient as well as the San Antonio & Aransas Pass lines.
Prairie	The Prairie type (2-6-0) was never popular in Texas except on certain Santa Fe lines.   During the 1930s there was a coal burner of this type in the area of Pecos, New Mexico.
Mikado	The Mikado type (2-8-2) was a superb freight handler and was named for the Emperor of Japan.  In the 1930s it became the number one freight hauler for the larger Texas lines.
Atlantic	Very few Atlantic types (4-4-2) were used by the Texas railroads.
Pacific	During the 1930s the standard passenger locomotive for passenger trains was the Pacific type (4-6-2) and was first ordered by a New Zealand railroad, hence the name Pacific. The Southern Pacific used a powerful and larger version of the Pacific for its heavy freight.
Mountain	The Mountain type (4-8-2) was seldom seen in Texas except by Frisco to haul the one of its important trains northward out of Ft. Worth and Dallas.
Santa Fe	The Santa Fe type (2-10-2) was often referred to as a “drag” locomotive because of the variety and number of cars placed in these trains making them long and slow, thus the term “drag.”  They were used effectively by the Southern Pacific because of the extreme terrain between Del Rio and El Paso.
Texas	The Texas type (2-10-4) was a super-power locomotive. It became Texas & Pacific’s primary freight power in the 1920s resulting in T&P becoming the most efficient freight hauler in the state. These locomotives possessed a beauty and grace unknown to most steam locomotives.  It was designed by the master mechanic of the T&P in conjunction with the engineering staff of the Lima Locomotive Works.  The T&P gave one of its Texas locomotives to the City of Dallas only to have it seriously vandalized.

(Some material for this presentation comes from the internet Wikipedia. More information on this topic is available at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whyte_notation)