Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven.

The notation 0-4-0T indicates a tank locomotive of this wheel arrangement on which its water and fuel is carried on board the engine itself, rather than in an attached tender.

The UIC's Bo classification for electric and diesel-electric locomotives indicates that the axles are independently motored, which would be 0-2-2-0 under the Whyte notation.

The former were more common in Europe and the latter in the United States, except in the tightest of situations such as that of a shop switcher locomotive, where overall length was a concern.

The type was found to be so useful in many locations that they continued to be built for more than a century and existed until the end of the steam era.

[6][10] The first railway locomotive to run in revenue earning service in South Africa was a small broad gauge 0-4-0WT well tank engine named Natal, manufactured by Carrett, Marshall and Company of Leeds.

It made its inaugural run from Market Square to Point station in Durban during the official opening of the first operating railway in South Africa on Tuesday, 26 June 1860.

[6][15] In 1878, while construction work by the Kowie Harbour Improvement Company was underway at Port Alfred, the Cape Government Railways acquired one broad gauge 0-4-0ST (Saddle Tank) locomotive named Aid from Fox, Walker and Company of Bristol for use as construction locomotive on the east bank of the Kowie river.

[6] During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of 0-4-0 tank- and saddle-tank locomotives were imported into South Africa, many of them for use in harbours.

[8][26] In 1902, the CGR placed a single narrow gauge tank steam locomotive in service on the Avontuur branch, built by Manning Wardle, classified Type C and named Midget.

[8][25] A single small five-ton locomotive, built by Krauss & Company, was purchased by the CGR c. 1903 and placed in service as construction engine on the narrow gauge Avontuur branch out of Port Elizabeth.

By 1860 the type was very popular and it continued to be built in significant numbers for both mainline and industrial railways, almost to the end of steam traction.

[29] An interesting variation on this theme were the traction engine-based railway locomotives built by Aveling and Porter.

During the 1840s, the wheel arrangement was widely used by Edward Bury on the bar-framed locomotives built for the London and Birmingham Railway.

A locomotive based on these also appears in Mario Kart 8's N64 Rainbow Road and Merry Mountain tracks.

It was built in 1830 for the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company by the West Point Foundry of New York.

The John Bull was built by Robert Stephenson and Company for the Camden and Amboy Railroad in New Jersey in 1831, but was later rebuilt as a 2-4-0.

The A5s was a monster among 0-4-0s, larger than many 0-6-0 designs, with modern features found on few others of its type, such as superheating, power reverse, and piston valves.

The Pennsy continued to build the type because it had a large amount of confined and tight industrial track, more than most other railroads had.

The wheel arrangement was also used on a number of small 0-4-0DM diesel-mechanical shunters produced by John Fowler & Co. and other builders in the 1930s and earlier.