Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Up Platform

The Kiryu-Bound Platform at Godo

The Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Up Platform (わたらせ渓谷鐵道神戸駅上り線プラットホーム) is a stone up platform of Godo Station opened in 1912 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 stone platform 107 metres long, registration number 10-0285.

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 Up Platform lies south of the down platform (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Value as a Registered Cultural Property

The Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Up Platform was registered as a structure contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records that the platform has been raised where carriages stop, but its retaining walls keep their original form.

What to Look For

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes a 107-metre platform that curves gently like the down platform, faced on the main-line side in squared split stone laid in mortar and on the siding side in dry-laid cobbles.

Watarase Keikoku Railway's pamphlet notes that the Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Up Platform serves Kiryu-bound trains, with cobble walls on the siding side where the Seiryu restaurant stands. Godo is the station for the Tomihiro Art Museum and is busy with its peach blossom festival in April.

Visiting

The Watarase Keikoku Railway Godo Station Up Platform 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 878-2 Godo, Azuma-cho, Midori City, Gunma Prefecture, and other lots. 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).