A total of 282 Class C12 locomotives were built and designed by Hideo Shima.

From 1938 to 1939, 60 C12s were converted to metre gauge and shipped to the North China Transportation Company, where they operated primarily between Zhengding and Taiyuan.

[1] In 1956 the Datong–Puzhou Railway north section was reconverted to standard gauge, they were transferred to Vietnam, and they were classified 131.

After World War II, they were taken over by Taiwan Railways Administration, and they were classified CK120.

In 1943, the Imperial Japanese Army sent two locomotives, C12 94 and C12 168, to Surabaya, Java for a military transport with a 1067 mm gauge.