4-8-8-2

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Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 4-8-8-2 is a locomotive with four leading wheels, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a two-wheel trailing truck.

Other equivalent classifications are:
UIC classification: 2DD1 (also known as German classification and Italian classification)
French classification: 240+041
Turkish classification: 46+45
Swiss classification: 4/6+4/5

The equivalent UIC classification is refined to (2'D)D1' for simple articulated locomotives.

A locomotive of that length must be an articulated locomotive; meaning all have a joint between the first and second groups of driving wheels. All examples of this type are cab forwards. Normally, the leading truck sits under the smokebox and the trailing truck under the firebox. On a cab-forward, the leading truck supports the firebox and the trailing truck and smokebox are at the rear next to the tender. A 4-8-8-2 is effectively a 2-8-8-4 that always runs in reverse.