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All
locomotives have a specific number of wheels. These could be intermediate
wheels, bogies, driving wheels etc. This page will show you how to read
wheel arrangements if you are new to this hobby.
Some examples of wheel arrangements are:
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ooOOO
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4-6-0
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The wheel arrangement of a locomotive is given by three figures
in the case of a normal non-articulated engine. The first figure
denotes the number of carrying wheels at the leading end, the
second the number of coupled wheels, and the third the number
of carrying wheels at the trailing end.
As indicated in the example diagram (Fig 1.), Garratt and Mallet
articulated locomotives are described in a similar manner, except
that each unit is dealt with separately, and a plus sign (+)
is used between the two units.
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ooOOOo
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4-6-2
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ooOOOO
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4-8-0
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ooOOOOo
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4-8-2
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oOOOOo
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2-8-2
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OOOO
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0-8-0
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oOOOo--oOOOo
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2-6-2+2-6-2
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ooOOOo--oOOOOoo
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4-6-2+2-6-4
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Fig 1: Examples of
Wheel Arrangements
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 As
you can see on the right (Fig 2), this SAR Class 19D has a wheel arrangement
of 4-8-2. The locomotive consists of 4 front bogie wheels, 8 intermediate
coupled wheels and 2 trailing bogie wheels.
Obviously, when looking at the locomotive from a side on position, you
just need to multiply the different wheel groups by two, to give you
the wheel arrangement. This should give you a better understanding of
locomotive wheel arrangement.
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