After 1875, it became "the most popular type of freight locomotive in the United States and was built in greater quantities than any other single wheel arrangement.

According to this viewpoint, the first 2-8-0 order by Lehigh dates to 1866 and antedates the adoption of the type by other railways and coal and mountain freight haulers.

The 2-8-0's forte was starting and moving "impressive loads at unimpressive speeds" and its versatility gave the type its longevity.

[4] In 1924, a private coal company, J & A Brown in NSW, obtained three ex-British military Railway Operating Division ROD 2-8-0 locomotives.

Under the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) classification system, all 2-8-0 locomotives were assigned to class 56 (Baureihe or BR 56), with different types receiving subclassifications.

In response to the increasing need for freight and passenger transports on the Buitenzorg–Bandung–Banjar line, the Java Staatsspoorwegen at the time ordered 42 Consolidation locomotives from 4 different engine manufacturers, including Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM), Hanomag, Hartmann and Werkspoor, came in 1914, 1915 and 1921, classified as SS Class 900 (901–942).

In order to be able to negotiate 150 meters curve radius, the leading wheels adopted Adam axle system which could enable to turn radially by 70 mm.

To make the SS 900s have the characteristics of express locomotive, each unit received the modification of two pair of smoke deflectors.

Not quite a long, the South Sumatra division of SS or so called Zuid-Sumatra Staatsspoorwegen (ZSS) were also ordered 11 of these from two German engine manufacturers, 5 were imported from Hartmann in 1925 and the rest of 6 from Hanomag in 1926.

[14][15] During Japanese occupation in 1942, all Dutch East Indies railway locomotives were renumbered based on Japanese numberings, this including the SS Class 900s were renumbered to D50s and this numbering system still used after the Independence of Indonesia by Djawatan Kereta Api (DKA) or Department of Railways of the Republic of Indonesia up to now.

During Indonesian National Revolution some of SS Class 900/DKA D50 were used among the others to haul trains belonging to Republican fighters and the Dutch military.

While the SS911 or DKA D50 11 was captured by 2nd Company of 1e Bataljon, 15 Regiment Infanterie of Dutch Marines during Operation Kraai in Yogyakarta.

Out of 61 units, only DKA D50 11 (ex-SS911) survived and now preserved as static display in Transportation Museum of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah.

[16][17][18] In Italy, the state-controlled railways company Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), after comparing two models of 2-8-0 engine in 1906 (a simple-expansion [simplex] locomotive purchased from Baldwin and a compound type assembled by German and Italian builders) opted for a simplex 2-8-0 as basic power for its freight and mixed trains.

Thereafter, Italian industry was devoted to producing military equipment, so FS bought locomotives from North American firms.

Some independent shortlines had equivalent locomotives to 9600 both factory-new and secondhand from JNR, the last example was Yubari Colliery and Railway No.

The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, which operated the Wellington-Manawatu line, had four similar locomotives built by Baldwin, two in 1888, one in 1894 and one in 1896.

[21] While subjecting the Consolidations to exhaustive testing on all types of traffic and under varying conditions, some trouble was experienced with the leading pony truck and it was dropped in favour of a four-wheeled bogie in later orders for more eighth class locomotives.

Two of these 8F class locomotives were brought back from Turkey early in 2011 and one of them is on display at the National Railway Museum in Shildon, England.

In 1904, George Whale of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) began to rebuild some of his predecessor's Class B 0-8-0 compound locomotives to 2-8-0, classes E and F. With coal trains increasing in size and scale, the GWR needed to develop a more powerful locomotive to meet these requirements, on what were relatively short haul routes.

During the First World War, the design was adopted by the Ministry of Munitions and it became the standard locomotive of the Railway Operating Division of the Royal Engineers as the ROD 2-8-0.

After the war, large numbers of these were purchased by the LNWR and GWR, while some were also sold to a private Australian coal company, J&A Brown in New South Wales.

In the United States, only a few railroads purchased Consolidation types when Baldwin Locomotive Works first introduced its version.

The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway, which eventually became part of B&O, purchased 15 of this type from Brooks Locomotive Works in 1883.

[28] The S160 Class of the United States Army Transportation Corps was built by American manufacturers and was designed for use in Europe for heavy freight work during the Second World War.

895 was retired after 44 years of service and donated by Southern Pacific Railroad to the Robert E. Lee High School Key Club, then towed on temporary tracks to its current location at Roseland Park in April, 1957.

769 is currently on static display in Madrid, New Mexico, but is awaiting a future restoration to run on the Santa Fe Southern Railway.

33 has been restored by the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway, before being purchased by the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio, where it operates today.

60, built in August 1937 by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York, is currently operated on the Black River and Western Railroad in Ringoes, New Jersey.

1702, built in 1942 for the United States Army, was purchased by the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (GSMR) of Bryson City, North Carolina, in the mid-1990s for use on its scenic railway excursions.