Kelly Anderson Wrote:
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> I hate to say it because Mastodon is such a cool
> name, but according to the wheel arrangement table
> in the
Locomotive Cyclopedia, a 4-8-0 is
> known as a Twelve Wheeler. A Mastodon is a
> 4-10-0, of which I believe only one was ever
> built.
I've most frequently seen the "Mastodon" name applied to the 4-8-0, particularly being associated with the S.P. machines. The only 4-10-0, which led a short and useless life as little more than a point of trivia, had its own name. I regard the "Cyclopedia" as clearly in error in this case.
At times american standard types were called eight-wheelers, and we all know what the ten-wheeler refers to. Twelve-wheeler was an obvious extension of the convention, although with the development of the two-wheel lead truck and (later) trailing truck that sort of nomenclature rapidly became obsolete. After all, the mogul type is also an eight-wheeled locomotive! As I understand, ten-wheeler stuck as a name for that class mostly because nobody could agree on anything better to call it, the name being fairly entrenched (it was an 1840's-era design) by the time other ten-wheeled locomotives (ie, the consolidation) became numerous.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2019 07:15AM by James.