Jomo Electric Railway Ogo Station Building

About the Jomo Electric Railway Ogo Station Building

The Jomo Electric Railway Ogo Station Building (上毛電気鉄道大胡駅駅舎) is the single-storey timber station building of 1928 at Ogo Station on the Jomo Electric Railway in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on July 31, 2007.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a single-storey timber building with a slate roof and a building area of 53 square metres; registration number 10-0233, owned by the Jomo Electric Railway Co., Ltd. Eight structures at Ogo, the station building, depot, substation, four towers and the Aratogawa Bridge, were all registered on the same day (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Jomo Electric Railway Ogo Station Building was registered as a structure that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs places it among the facilities of a railway linking Maebashi and Kiryu that supported sericulture and silk reeling, the core industries of modern Gunma.

What to Look For

The Ogo Station Building is a single-storey timber building 12 metres by 4.5 metres, gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) with its entrance on the long side, with canopies on the east and south. It is clad in clapboard and plaster (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

According to the Jomo Electric Railway, it originally held a waiting room, parcels office, ticket office, ticket barriers, a tea room and night-duty room. As traffic fell the parcels office became a station office, and ticket sales moved to machines.

Visiting the Jomo Electric Railway Ogo Station Building

Ogo is a working station on the Jomo Electric Railway, so the station building can be seen when using the line. Tours of the Ogo train depot are by advance reservation only, lasting about 30 minutes between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. The fee is 500 yen for adults, 400 yen for junior and senior high school students and 300 yen for primary pupils, paid by buying an old-style card platform ticket. Book by telephone or email by 3:00 p.m. on a weekday three days before (Jomo Electric Railway).

The substation and towers are operational equipment, so view them from outside. Enquiries go to the Jomo Electric Railway general affairs department (027-231-3597, weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).