History
Bungo-Mori Station, the principal stop for the town of Kusu in Ōita Prefecture, opened on 15 December 1929 as the western terminus of the Daito Line's extension from Bungo-Nakamura. It became a through-station on 16 September 1932 when the line reached Kita-Yamada, and was redesignated part of the Kyūdai Main Line on 15 November 1934 once the Kurume-Ōita route was completed. The adjoining Bungo-Mori engine depot, opened the same day in 1934, was a major roundhouse and operated until dieselisation closed it in 1970. JR Kyushu took over the station at the 1987 privatisation. In 2013 the station building was renovated in deep brown timber to a design by Eiji Mitooka, in time for the Seven Stars in Kyushu cruise train, and the work won a Japan Association of Railway Architects award in 2014.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Notes
The roundhouse next to the station has outlived its trains: closed in 1970, it was declared a Modern Industrial Heritage site in 2009, registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2012, and now houses the Bungōmori Roundhouse Museum opened in 2015.