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As a modernized and improved version of the type D50, the type D51 was made, 1115 manufactured, from 1936 to 1944 at Kisha-Seizo, Kawasaki, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Nippon-Sharyo, and Japan National Railways (JNR) factories (Naebo, Tsuchizaki, Koriyama, Omiya, Nagano, Hamamatsu, Takatori, and Kokura), making it JNR's most numerous locomotive.
It was used throughout Japan, and its nickname "Dekoichi" became synonymous with steam locomotives.
The second to fourth forms are called the standard form, and the position of the feedwater warmer was changed to be placed on the side in front of the chimney.
Furthermore, the third and fourth types were manufactured under the shortage of materials during the Pacific War, and were built with simplified workmanship and substitute materials.
It was done with the thinking that it could just be used for a few years until the war was over, so boiler explosions and other serious accidents occurred.
Therefore, after the war, the boilers were replaced and the trains were returned to the standard configuration.
In addition, 76 of these locomotives were manufactured for private railways and for overseas use.
From 1939 to 1944, 32 of them were built by Kisha-Seizo, Kawasaki, and Hitachi for the Railway of the Governor-General of Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period.
In 1944, 5 were built for private railways by Kisha-Seizo and Hitachi, and 1 by Nippon-Sharyo in 1945.
These 6 were later incorporated into Japan National Railways (JNR).
After the Pacific War, 30 of them were manufactured by Kisha-Seizo, Kawasaki, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and Nippon-Sharyo in 1949 for use on Sakhalin and exported.
In 1951, with the aid of the United Nations, 5 of them were built by Kisha-Seizo and Mitsubishi for the postwar Taiwan Railway Administration DT650 class.
In 1950, the United Nations Military Forces ordered 2 others for railroads in Korea during the Korean War, and these were manufactured by Mitsubishi.
After the war ended, they were passed on to the Korean National Railways and used until the 1960s.
JNR offered 5 of these locomotives to the Japanese military on Hainan Island in China, then an occupied territory, for use during the Pacific War.
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China after the war, they became the type JF51 of China National Railways, but their actual status is unknown.
Although these locomotives were converted to the type C61 and D61, about 1,000 locomotives were still in the Japan National Railways (JNR) fleet in 1965, and they were the main locomotives used for freight throughout Japan.
The last ones were used until 1975. Currently JR West and JR East are each dynamically preserving (refers to locomotives that have been preserved in a ready-to-operate state, and/or are still running today) 1 of this type. The Taiwan Railway Administration is also preserving 1, and Moka Railway and Naoetsu Rail Park are each dynamically preserving 1.
Approximately 160 of them are still 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) in various locations in Japan, 3 in Taiwan, and 2 in Sakhalin.
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