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Japan National Railways C11 These 2-6-4T engines were first built in 1935, succeeding the design of the first Japanese built tank engine C10 class. These were developed partly because the imported engines during the Meiji era (1868 - 1912) from Great Britain, Germany, and USA., became old and partly because suburban traffic in big cities became heavier by that time. 381 in total were built during the period from 1935 to 1947, and worked until 1975 all over Japan. The unique wheel arrangement of 2-6-4 was to store more coal and water. They operated heavy suburban traffic, worked as both passenger and freight tank engines on the local traffic and served as switchers too. The C11s were so successful that they became the base of the C12 class (2-6-2T), the improved and slightly smaller version of the C11 which were built in 1937 and became known as "Tiny Stars".
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