A fairly rare JNR C12 sighting. These locomotives are rather rare in that almost every one I've seen in Japan has been "bashed" into something else, and I've yet to see one outside Japan. Great little side tank steamer, it borrowed heavily on the original Aster 8550 design, but with a bigger boiler, two cylinders, and backhead features like a sight glass and pressure gauge. Here seen pulling a short rake of modern-era Japanese passenger cars.

Apple QuickTake digital photograph by Richard Finlayson