Nudge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Margaret,
>
> The old heads told me that the 2-6-0s were given
> that moniker because they put everything behind
> the draw bar and it would still move the train
> just as a Malley would but not as fast.
>

What Nudge says pretty much matches what I quoted in my original post. Which was:

"On the San Joaquin Division, they earned the nicknames of “Fresno Malley” or “Valley Malley” as they could pull as much freight in the California valleys as a true Mallet could pull in the California hills."

Source: Accucraft