Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Staff Rest House

Where the Station Staff Rested

The Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Staff Rest House (わたらせ渓谷鐵道神戸駅休憩所) is a single-storey timber rest house for station staff built in 1928 at Godo, Azuma-cho, Midori City, Gunma Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on November 2, 2009 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a single-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 17 square metres, registration number 10-0283.

The Ashio Copper Railway

According to Watarase Keikoku Railway, the Ashio copper mine, bought by Furukawa Ichibei in 1877, grew to produce half of Japan's copper, more than horses and a horse tramway could carry, so a railway was built from Kiryu to Ashio. The Ashio Railway opened to Omama in 1911, reached Ashio in December 1912 and was completed to Ashio Honzan in 1914. Nationalised in 1918 as the Ashio Line, it has been run by Watarase Keikoku Railway since 1989.

According to Watarase Keikoku Railway, Godo Station was named Godo with different characters in the Ashio Railway and national railway eras, to avoid confusion with Kobe Station in Hyogo, which is written the same way; it took the local place name when Watarase Keikoku Railway began operating in 1989. The Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Staff Rest House adjoins the station building to the west, north of the lever house (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Value as a Registered Cultural Property

The Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Staff Rest House was registered as a structure contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a facility used together with the station building for staff breaks.

What to Look For

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes an east-west gabled building 4.6 by 3.6 metres roofed in cement tiles, with vertical boarding, a door on the station side and sliding windows on the west and north; inside is a six-mat rest room.

Watarase Keikoku Railway's pamphlet notes that the station building, the Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Staff Rest House and the points lever house form one group, making Godo, with Ashio, one of the stations that best keep their old railway buildings.

Visiting

The exterior of the Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Staff Rest House can be seen when using Godo Station. Watarase Keikoku Railway notes that all of its registered structures can be seen from the train.

Do not enter the tracks; view it from the train, the station or nearby roads. It is located at 886-1 Godo, Azuma-cho, Midori City, Gunma Prefecture. Of the line's 38 registered structures, the 26 in Gunma and 11 in Tochigi are gathered on the group pages Watarase Keikoku Railway (Gunma Section) and Watarase Keikoku Railway (Tochigi Section).