[1] DeHa 301 started life as MoHa 105, an electric multiple unit car built in August 1930 by Niigata Tekkō (新潟鐵工所, now Niigata Transys) for the Tsurumi Rinkō Railway (鶴見臨港鉄道, now the JR Tsurumi Line) in Kanagawa Prefecture.

MoHa 105 was renumbered MoHa 115 in May 1941 following the absorption of the Tsurumi Rinkō Railway into the Japanese National Railways (JNR) network, and later worked on the JNR Toyamako Line (now part of the Toyama Light Rail Toyamakō Line) in Toyama Prefecture.

[2] It was removed from service on 10 September 1944 and placed into storage at Ōi Works in Tokyo, and officially withdrawn on 28 March 1949.

[1] The car was subsequently purchased by the Choshi Electric Railway, and rebuilt by Nippon Tetsudō Jidōsha Kōgyō (日本鉄道自動車工業, present-day Toyokouki) before entering service on the line from 10 August 1951.

[1] In later years, it was used as an inspection and works train for overhead wire maintenance, with a platform added to the roof.