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This locomotive type is a passenger locomotive for sub-trunk line, built as a locomotive to improve and augment the type C55. From 1937 to 1946, 201 were built by Kisha-Seizo, Kawasaki, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi.
From this type, the driving wheels are boxpok driving wheels (wheels with a hollow structure).
During the Pacific War, production was discontinued from 1942 in order to increase the production of locomotives for freight trains. However, on the contrary, after the war, demand for passenger trains increased, so they were manufactured again in 1946.
The fourth batch of this type, the last group manufactured, was very different in appearance and dimensions, looking more like the type C61.
In 1943, Kawasaki and Hitachi built 6 of this type for use on the Railway of the Governor-General of Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period. After the Pacific War renamed Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) CT270 class.
In 1953, 8 of them were manufactured by Hitachi with the assistance of the United States and were used for the Republic of China’s National Railways (TRA) after the war.
This was the last new Japan National Railways (JNR) steam locomotive to be manufactured.
In Japan, it was used primarily for passenger service until 1975, and was the last form of steam locomotive to pull JNR passenger trains.
Currently, JR West and JR East are each dynamically preserving 1 of this type (refers to locomotives that have been preserved in a ready-to-operate state, and/or are still running today), and the Taiwan Railways Administration is dynamically preserving 1 too.
Additionally, there are 27 in Japan and 3 in Taiwan that have been statically preserved (refers to locomotives that are preserved in a way that does not allow them to be immediately operated, and/or that are simply on display).
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