Tanfield railway station was a railway station serving the community of

West Tanfield West Tanfield is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated approximately six miles north of Ripon on the A6108, which goes from Ripon to Masham and Wensleydale. The parish inclu ...

on the Masham Line in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. The station was opened with the line in June 1875 and was closed to passengers in January 1931. Full closure of the line was effected in 1963.

History

The station opened in June 1875 as the only intermediate one between the town of

Masham Masham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 1,205 at the 2011 census. Etymology In Wensleydale, on the western bank of the River Ure, the name derives from the An ...

and the junction of the line with the Leeds Northern Railway at . Passenger trains continued on southwards from Melmerby to terminate at railway station. In May 1891, six trains a day were scheduled to call at Tanfield, which had been reduced to four each way by 1902. The journey to Masham took six minutes, with that to Ripon taking seventeen. By the time of the line's closure to passengers by the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

(LNER) in 1931, just four trains a day were calling at Tanfield. The station was furnished with a passing loop, but only the south side of the station had a platform. The station had low passenger numbers and only issued 7,500 tickets in 1911. Goods mostly consisted of the outward flows of livestock and manure, for which a crane was provided in the goods yard. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, ammunition storage in the area increased the number of trains through the station for offloading and forwarding too. The

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

supplied the LNER with extra staff to supplement the two railway workers. Over of munitions were stored near the station which were forwarded out on 42 armament trains in the weeks leading up to

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

. The line closed to traffic on 11 November 1963. After closure, the station building became derelict but was renovated in 1973 and is now a private dwelling. The station footprint and goods yard was the location of some light industrial units until 2017 when they were converted into a small housing estate.

References

External links

Tanfield and Melmerby stations on a navigable 1947 map
{{s-end Disused railway stations in North Yorkshire Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1875 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1963 Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations