BRAKIE
Actually the 0-8-0 could be used on locals especially urban type locals.
I don't disagree, and exceptions are to be expected for every generalization.
The SP had few 0-8-0 locos, but lots of 0-6-0 types. Those six-coupled switchers were used for urban locals, but here distances were very short, serving close-by, urban industries. In a sense, they were extended switching moves. While 0-6-0 types did handle locals to industries in nearby Oakland, Berkeley, and Emervyville for instance, locals to the 30-mile-away San Ramon Branch used 2-6-0 and 2-8-0 types, locals to the further-distant Napa/Vallejo branch might have 2-10-2 types, etc. (These are Oakland-based examples.)
For a "rediculous" example of local passenger service, at one time the Western Pacific used a single RDC unit to provide local passenger service halfway across the North American continent, connecting Oakland, CA to Utah.
Mark