The earliest known example was the South African Class 6Z, designed by Cape Government Railways (CGR) Chief Locomotive Superintendent Hazlitt Beatty in 1901.

[1][2][3] Tank engines with the 2-6-4T wheel arrangement were produced for many different railway systems worldwide and were mainly used for freight and suburban passenger working.

Preserved meter gauge locomotive Dona Joaninha, built to haul sugar cane in Brazil, uses the 2-6-4 wheel arrangement.

SJ type J with driving wheels 1.3 m diameter for mixed traffic use, built Atlas, Motala and Nohab, 1914–1918.

The Ferrymead Railway in Christchurch, New Zealand, has a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge 2-6-4T locomotive that was in regular operation until taken off-line for boiler repairs around 2009.

After the war, they were taken onto the roster of the Central South African Railways (CSAR) and in 1912 they were assimilated into the South African Railways (SAR) as Class D.[3][4][5][7] In 1901, the CGR placed four 6th Class 2-6-2 Prairie tender steam locomotives in service, designed at the Salt River works of the CGR and built by Neilson, Reid & Company.

[1][2][3][5][7] In 1902, the CGR placed two Type A Adriatic narrow gauge locomotive in construction service on the Avontuur branch, which was being built out of Port Elizabeth through the Langkloof.

[5] The first British examples of the 2-6-4T wheel arrangement were two locomotives built for the narrow-gauge Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway in 1904.

Between 1927 and 1947, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) built nearly five hundred 2-6-4Ts for suburban passenger work to four similar designs (see LMS/BR Class 4 2-6-4T locomotives).

Fairburn's LMS design also formed the basis of the very successful BR Standard Class 4, which continued to be produced until 1957.

Between 1946 and 1950, George Ivatt of the LMS also built eighteen 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) examples of a very similar design at Derby Works, for use in Northern Ireland.

The Lionel Corporation used the 2-6-4 wheel arrangement in many of its model steam locomotives, including the 2037 used in the infamous pastel-coloured Girls' Train.