JNR C62 Class Steam Locomotive

After World War II, freight traffic declined, but on the contrary, passenger demand increased significantly, resulting in a shortage of locomotives for passenger service. Thus, the C62 class, Japan’s largest main line locomotive, was built, combining a surplus D52 freight boiler and a newly built C59 running gear. From 1948 to 1949, Kisha Seizo, Kawasaki, and Hitachi converted and manufactured 49 of them. Equipped with an automatic coal feeder (equipment that automatically feeds coal, the fuel, to the boiler of a steam engine), it had higher performance than the C59 and was used for limited express trains on the Tokaido and Sanyo Main Lines, the most important trunk lines in Japan. After these lines were electrified, they were moved to the Tohoku Main Line and Joban Line, and finally were used on the Hakodate Main Line in Hokkaido until 1973. Currently, one is operationally preserved for on-site operation at the Kyoto Railway Museum, and four others are statically preserved at various locations.