Word.ws English Dictionary

Whyte notation

Whyte notation noun: a notation for classifying steam locomotives by their wheel arrangement. For example, a locomotive with two leading axles (four wheels) in front, then three driving axles (six wheels) and then one trailing axle (two wheels) is denoted 4-6-2.

Noun

Whyte notation (uncountable)

  1. A notation for classifying steam locomotives by their wheel arrangement. For example, a locomotive with two leading axles (four wheels) in front, then three driving axles (six wheels) and then one trailing axle (two wheels) is denoted 4-6-2.

Origin of Whyte notation

Devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte; came into use at the start of the 20th century.

Questions about Whyte notation

What does Whyte notation mean?
Whyte notation means a notation for classifying steam locomotives by their wheel arrangement. For example, a locomotive with two leading axles (four wheels) in front, then three driving axles (six wheels) and then one trailing axle (two wheels) is denoted 4-6-2.
What part of speech is Whyte notation?
Whyte notation is a noun.

Words near Whyte notation in the dictionary

  1. whys and wherefores
  2. Whysall
  3. Whysalls
  4. whysoever
  5. whyte
  6. Whyte notation
  7. Whyteleafe
  8. Whytock
  9. Whyvillian
  10. Whyvillians
  11. whyyy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Whyte notation (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Whyte notation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whyte_notation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.