Re: 1880's NG cab forward 2-6-0, 4-6-0

For what it's worth, forney-type tank locomotives were sometimes set up to run cab-first. What we'd normally call an 0-4-4 hence became in effect a 4-4-0, with all the consequent smoothness of operation inherent to the type.

Cab-ahead tender locomotives would have been very unusual prior to the advent of oil firing for reasons which should be obvious. Some cab-forward 4-6-0 locomotives were built in Italy just after the turn of the century. I believe they had fuel bunkers placed at the rear of the cab. Unlike the well-known Southern Pacific machines, the Italian locomotives were designed as such from the outset, with the boiler reversed on the frame relative to usual arrangement on a ten-wheeler.