The Class C62 (C62形) is a type of 4-6-4 steam locomotive designed by Hideo Shima and built by the Japanese National Railways (JNR). The "C" classification indicates three sets of driving wheels. The C62 was rebuilt with the boilers of older Class D522-8-2 locomotives.
These were the largest and fastest steam passenger locomotives to run in Japan, and hauled the Tsubame (swallow) express on the Tōkaidō Main Line between Tokyo and Osaka. Only South Africa operated more powerful Cape gauge locomotives.[1] Forty-nine C62s were built from 1948 to 1949.[2] Five C62s hauled the Teine express in Hokkaido between Otaru and Hakodate after they were displaced by electrification of the Tōkaidō Main Line. Two locomotives were used to double-head trains on the 2.5% (1:40) grades between Otaru and Oshamambe, where they were a popular tourist and railfan attraction until 1971.[1] The last examples in regular service were withdrawn in 1973.[citation needed]
C62 2, one of the five remaining C62s until the withdrawal from the mainline Niseko Express in 1972, has been preserved in working order at the Kyoto Railway Museum. However, it now only hauls two carriages on an 800-metre track within the museum premises. C62 2 has been the most popular among all the 49 C62s, likely due to the stainless steel swallow emblems attached to its deflectors when it was part of the special locomotives for the Tokaido MainlineTsubame (swallow) service in the 1950s. The locomotive has been given the nickname 'swallow angel' because of these emblems.[5]
C62 3 returned to mainline service to commemorate the privatisation of the Japanese National Railways in the 1980s. However, the high cost of keeping one of the largest locomotives ever to exist on Japanese rail mainlines operational eventually left the operator no option but to withdraw it in 1995, when its boiler certificate expired.[6] Its withdrawal left C62 2 the only operational C62.
C62 2 (formerly D52 455): Preserved in working order by JR West at the Kyoto Railway Museum.[7] This locomotive wears a stainless steel swallow on its smoke deflector as a reminder of the era when it hauled the famous Tsubame express.[1]
C62 2 hauling the Niseko serivice in Hokkaido, 1971
C62 17 preserved with a Class 955 '300X' Shinkansen and a MLX01 SCMaglevC62 17 (formerly D52 69): On display at the SCMaglev and Railway Park in Nagoya[4]
The C62 has achieved a level of fame due in part to the manga/anime series Galaxy Express 999, in which the express is pulled by an advanced space locomotive that is built to replicate a C62.
The founders of Hudson Soft, rail fan brothers Yuji and Hiroshi Kudo, were fond of the C62 and other 4-6-4 locomotives,[8] so they named their company after the wheel arrangement's Hudson nickname. Japan picked up the term from the USA (where the first 4-6-4 built was named after the Hudson River), the C60, C61, and C62 used many American design elements and conventions in their designs, apparently including class names. Hudson Soft also named a number of products after the C62, including the development kit for the PC Engine,[9][10] and a chip (Hu62) that was used in a later version of the hardware.[11] It was also the code name for their console before they settled on PC Engine.[12]
C62 2 hauling the Niseko serivice in Hokkaido, 1971
C62 2 at Kyoto station, 1997
C62 2 hauling two carriages at the Kyoto Railway Museum, 2007
C62 2 in 2022
C62 3 hauling five carriages after its return to mainline services in 1988
C62 3 preserved at Naebo works, Sapporo, 2019
Close-up of C62 3
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Japanese Government Railway Steam Locomotives
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Locomotives of West Japan Railway Company