C56 31

C56 31 was the 31st of the Class C56 steam locomotives produced by Japanese Government Railways (JGR). It was manufactured by Nippon Sharyo in 1936 and was operated on the Nanao Line in Ishikawa Prefecture before the war.^[1] C56 31 was the first locomotive to run on the Thai-Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway. It operated there during the war, after which it was used in Thailand. After the war it was brought back to Japan and restored, and is now displayed in the Yūshūkan, the museum attached to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. It is displayed without reference to the deaths during the construction of the railway, which are estimated at around 100,000.^[2][3][4][5]

C56 31
C56 31 at the Yushukan in June 2011
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Nippon Sharyo Build date 1936
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 2-6-0 Gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) (JGR) 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) (IJA, SRT) Driver dia. 1,400 mm Length 14,325 mm Total weight 65.53 t
Performance figures Tractive effort 8,290 kg
Career Operators Japanese Government Railways Imperial Japanese Army State Railway of Thailand Retired 1977 Current owner Yūshūkan Museum, Tokyo Disposition Static display

Wartime use

In 1942, C56 31 was shipped to Thailand.^[6] It was one of 90 Japanese steam locomotives sent south to regions occupied by Japan. It was used in the opening ceremony for the Thai-Burma railway and was the first locomotive to officially run on the railway.^[1]

Postwar use and return to Japan

After the war it was used by the State Railway of Thailand who renumbered it from its original Japanese number of C5631 to 725. It was allocated to Thungsong Depot in Nakhon Si Thammarat alongside classmates 702, 705 and 718 (C564, 7 and 21 respectively) for a time until it was withdrawn from service in 1977, when plans were made to return it to Japan by an association of Southern Army Field Railway Corps officials. In 1979, it was returned to Japan alongside classmate number 735 (Ex- C5644) which is now preserved in running order on the Oigawa Railway in Shizuoka, Japan.

Display at Yūshūkan museum

It has been displayed at the Yūshūkan museum at Yasukuni Shrine since 1979, where there is a volunteer group dedicated to preserving it.^[7] The fact that it is displayed without references to the atrocities carried out on the Thai-Burma railway has attracted criticism, particularly from people from Australia and the US.^{[8][9][10][11]}