Mooka

Departure data for this station is not available on this site.

Mōka Station opened on 1 April 1912 in Daimachi, Mōka City, Tochigi Prefecture, when the government-built Mōka Light Railway Line from Shimodate to Mōka entered service; the line was extended onward to Nanai on 11 July 1913. Originally a general station handling both freight and passengers, it became passenger-only when freight handling ended on 1 November 1982, and parcel handling ended on 1 February 1984. The station was absorbed into JR East at the 1 April 1987 privatisation and transferred to the third-sector Mōka Railway on 11 April 1988, at which point the kana spelling of the station name was changed from "もうか" to "もおか". A turntable was installed on 22 March 1996 and the present steam-locomotive-shaped station building opened on 30 March 1997; that same year the station was named one of the Top 100 Kanto Railway Stations, cited as a station with a huge steam-locomotive complex expected to serve as a hub for the surrounding area. The SL Kyūroku Hall, displaying JNR Class 9600 locomotive No. 49671, opened on 28 April 2013.

Mōka's station building is shaped like a steam locomotive, befitting its role as anchor of the Mōka Railway's SL operations, and is part of an open-air rail complex featuring the Class 9600 #49671 and a Class D51 #146 (both pneumatically operable), a Class DE10 diesel, and assorted freight cars and Type-20 railcars on display.