Overview
The first use of the name American to describe locomotives of this wheel arrangement was made by Railroad Gazette in April 1872. Prior to that, this wheel arrangement was known as a Standard or Eight-Wheeler. This locomotive type was so successful on railroads in the United States of America (USA) that many earlier 4-2-0 and 2-4-0 locomotives were rebuilt as 4-4-0s by the middle of the 19th century.
Several 4-4-0T tank locomotives were built, but the vast majority of locomotives of this wheel arrangement were tender locomotives.
Read more about this topic: 4-4-0