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After the Pacific War, freight traffic declined, but on the contrary, passenger demand increased significantly, resulting in a shortage of locomotives for passenger service.
So the type C62,/a>, 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, 1 is dynamically preserved (refers to locomotives that have been preserved in a ready-to-operate state, and/or are still running today) for in-premises operation at the Kyoto Railway Museum, and 4 others are preserved in various locations.
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