JNR Class D52

The Class D52 is a Japanese 2-8-2 steam locomotive built from 1943 to 1946 for the Japanese Government Railways, later the Japanese National Railways, by several manufacturers: Kisha Seizo, Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Its name follows the Japanese classification rule of 1928: the letter D marks four sets of driving wheels, and 52 is the class number for tender locomotives, since the numbers 50 to 99 were assigned to them. Most D52s have been scrapped, but six are preserved, including D52 468 at the Kyoto Railway Museum, D52 136 in Numazu, and D52 70, which runs on compressed air on a short line at a park in Yamakita, Kanagawa.