 Despite its diminutive size, the Bo-Bo wheel arrangement ED60 design offered performance comparable with the much larger Class EF15 1Co+Co1 design weighing almost twice as much.Eight locomotives were built between 1958 and 1960 by Kawasaki, Kisha Seizō with Tōyō electrical components, and Mitsubishi.They were introduced on local freight services on the Ōito, Senzan, and Hanwa Lines, replacing earlier ED21, ED22, and ED38 class locomotives acquired when private railways had been absorbed into JNR.