The wheel arrangement was widely used on passenger tank locomotives during the last three decades of the nineteenth and the first decade of the twentieth centuries. The vast majority of 2-4-2 locomotives were tank engines, designated 2-4-2T. The symmetrical wheel arrangement was well suited for a tank locomotive that is used to work in either direction. When the leading and trailing wheels are in swivelling trucks, the equivalent UIC classification is 1'B1'. While a number of 2-4-2 tender locomotives were built, larger tender locomotive types soon became dominant.
In 1899, the Walvis Bay Railway in the British territory of Walvis Bay, a Cape of Good Hope exclave in Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika, placed a single tank locomotive in service. The engine, named Hope and built by Kerr, Stuart and Company, remained in service until 1904 when operations on the railway were suspended. The line was abandoned in 1905, partly as a result of being buried by a sandstorm.
In 1877, when the New Zealand Railways needed new motive power, the road turned to the Rogers Locomotive Works who supplied eight 2-4-2 tender locomotives between 1877 and 1879 that were designated the "K" class. These were the first American-built locomotives in New Zealand and proved to be quite successful. Three of these locomotives have been preserved. No. K88 Washington was used on the first through train between Christchurch and Dunedin in 1877. After fifty years of service, Washington was dumped in the Oreti River, Southland, as a flood protection measure. In 1974, the locomotive was exhumed from her watery grave and, over the next eight years, restored to full active service. Sister locomotives numbers K92 and K94 have also been salvaged from the Oreti river. No. K92 has been restored to full active service and has re-established her position on the Kingston Flyer train, which was made famous by the K class at the end of the 19th century.
The tank-type 2-4-2T was not uncommon in the U.S. around the dawn of the twentieth century in both suburban passenger service and on logging railroads. The Baldwin Locomotive Works built a demonstrator tender type engine which was displayed at the Columbian Exposition of 1893. This led to the type's name. This locomotive featured ambitious seven foot tall driving wheels, and was one of the first tender-equipped locomotives with a trailing truck. This freed the firebox from having to sit narrowly between, or above, the drive wheels, and was a very influential design. This inspired three major U.S. railroads to purchase a few of the type. But the two-wheeled lead truck was never well-suited to high speed service on far-flung North American rails. Some were converted to 4-4-2 Atlantic types and others were converted to 4-6-0 Ten Wheelers. The display locomotive was donated to Columbia University. In one respect, however, it was a success. A great many Atlantic types would follow, most based on the design.
The Lionel Corporation used the 2-4-2 configuration in numerous of its O-27 locomotives. In the United States of America, this may be the most famous usage of a 2-4-2 configuration locomotive.
