Jomo Electric Railway Ogo Relay Tower

About the Jomo Electric Railway Ogo Relay Tower

The Jomo Electric Railway Ogo Relay Tower (上毛電気鉄道大胡駅中継鉄塔) is the steel relay tower 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 steel, 6.1 metres high; registration number 10-0238, 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 Relay Tower was registered as a structure that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs presents it as one of the towers making up the substation equipment at Ogo, and the Jomo Electric Railway notes that the substation and towers date from the 1928 opening.

What to Look For

A portal tower set at right angles to the lightning-arrester tower, relaying both the busbar and the branch line to the arrester tower (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Its legs are 4.9 metres apart and it is 6.1 metres high, bolted from equal-angle steel in a Warren truss, with long-rod insulators at three points on both the upper and lower beams (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting the Jomo Electric Railway Ogo Relay Tower

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.).