John Swatsley (American, B. 1937) "C62 Class Japanese Locomotivet" Signed lower center. Original Oil on Illustration Board painting. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This artwork was published on the Fleetwood Mint Stamps of the World Collectors Panel for the Japanese Steam Locomotives stamp issue. A late starter where railroading is concerned, Japan only recently celebrated its first century of rail travel. From a sluggish and haphazard beginning, the country's national railway has come a long way in its first hundred years -- and this is due in no small part to the evolution of the Japanese steam locomotive. Already during the first half of the 1900s, fine locomotives were being designed and built in Japan, sound enough to serve as long as sixty years. The development of these locomotives helped propel Japan to the forefront position it occupies today in modern railroad technology with such ingenious marvels as its swift Bullet Trains. The Locomotive featured in this artwork is the immense and powerful C62 Class Locomotive, the largest of all Japanese passenger locomotives of the era. Image Size: 20.5 x 16.25 in. Overall Size: 27 x 22 in. Unframed. (B12009)