In World War II, Japan did not only have growing freight volumes, but also had to move lots of freight traffic from the sea onto the land as protection against attacks. So they designed the D52 that was a Mikado with a more powerful boiler and higher adhesive weight than the D51. The requirements included the use of a combustion chamber to increase power and measures to reduce the use of strategic materials. Train weights had to be 1,100 tonnes for regular freight trains and 1,200 tonnes for slower coal trains.

Five commercial builders completed 285 locomotives between 1943 and 1946. After freight traffic declined again after the war, 49 were rebuilt into 4-6-4 express locomotives in 1948 and 1949. These were designated C62 and used larger drivers with a diameter of 1,750 instead of 1,400 mm. They became the biggest and fastest passenger steam locomotives in Japan. In 1954, C62 17 set a speed record for narrow gauge steam locomotives in 129 km/h.

Both the original freight locomotives and the rebuilt express locomotives were used until the early seventies. The C62 even had to haul trains double-headed over a 2.5 percent incline on the Tōkaidō Main Line. After the D52 had been withdrawn between 1965 and 1973, six have been preserved. Of these, D52 70 is the only one that can move under its own power, although only on compressed air. After the last C62 had also been withdrawn in 1973, five had been preserved. C62 2 is the only one of these that is in working condition.