It was manufactured by Nippon Sharyo in 1936 and was operated on the Nanao Line in Ishikawa Prefecture before the war.

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 was due to be retired in 1977, when plans were made to return it to Japan by an association of Southern Army Field Railway Corps officials.

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.