page_title: 2-8-4
section_title: Japan
hierarchical_section_title: 2-8-4 / Usage / Japan
caption_attribution_description: English: JNR D60 steam locomotive (D60 61) 日本語: 国鉄D60形蒸気機関車(D60 61)
context_page_description: Under the Whyte notation, a 2-8-4 is a steam locomotive that has one unpowered leading axle, usually in a leading truck, followed by four powered and coupled driving axles, and two unpowered trailing axles, usually mounted in a bogie. This locomotive type is most often referred to as a Berkshire, though the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway used the name Kanawha for their 2-8-4s. In Europe, this wheel arrangement was mostly seen in mainline passenger express locomotives and, in certain countries, in tank locomotives.
context_section_description: The Japanese National Railways (JNR) closely followed American practice after the Second World War, with Berkshire locomotives used mainly on heavy freight service, such as heavy coal trains. They were the heaviest steam locomotives used on the JNR's 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge lines.
  The JNR rebuilt a total of 104 locomotives to the 2-8-4 wheel arrangement from its older 2-8-2 Mikado classes, the Class D50, Class D51 and Class D52.
  In 1950 and 1951, twenty Class D62 2-8-4 locomotives were rebuilt from Class D52 at the JNR's Hamamatsu Works.
  Between 1951 and 1956, 78 Class D60 2-8-4 locomotives were rebuilt from Class D50 at the JNR's Hamamatsu, Nagano and Tsuchizaki Works.
  In 1959 and 1960, six Class D61 2-8-4 locomotives were rebuilt from Class D51 at the JNR's Hamamatsu and Kōriyama Works.
  Some of these locomotives survived in service up to the end of steam traction on the JNR in 1974.
caption: A JNR Class D60 2-8-4 preserved in Ashiya Town, Fukuoka, Japan.
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