Disused Stations: Ranges Platform

[Source: Nick Catford]

Date opened:	1941 or 1942
Location:	South side of a long warehouse in Avenue E East, immediately east of its junction with Street 5.
Company on opening:	Thorp Arch Military Railway
Date closed to passengers:	1957
Date closed completely:	c July 1958
Company on closing:	Thorp Arch Military Railway
Present state:	Demolished - no trace remains
County:	Yorkshire
OS Grid Ref:	SE452461
Date of visit:	12.4.2013

Notes: Ranges Platform was one of four stops on the Thorp Arch circular railway. It was opened in 1941/2 during the construction of the Royal Ordnance Factory. The platform was initially used by construction workers and then by the regular workforce which, at its peak, reached 18,000. During WW2 the factory operated 24 hours a day with three shifts. Ranges, and the three other platforms, allowed workers to disembark close to their actual place of work.

Ranges consisted of a single platform constructed of earth and cinders and faced with old sleepers. It had electric lighting, a nameboard and two lines of brick waiting shelters. It was sited at the south-east side of the factory site between the perimeter road and the ranges.

Two of the platforms on the Thorp Arch circular railway were brought into use in November 1941, whilst the other two were used from 19 April 1942. The regular passenger service ceased in 1957. The ‘Roses railtour’ called at Ranges Platform on 8 June 1958; this was probably the last passenger train to use the platform. The track was lifted c1959 although the trackbed is still walkable through the site of the platform.

Source: ROF Thorp Arch by Mike Christensen - two articles in Archive (magazine) Nos. 22 and 23 June/September 1999.

To see other stations on the Thorp Arch Military Railway
click on the station name:
River Platform, Roman Road Platform & Walton Platform

See also Thorp Arch station

Military sites are not generally shown on Ordnance Survey maps so all maps published during the 1940s and 1950s show the land as it was before ROF Thorp Arch was built. This 1962 1:2,500 OS map shows the platform after the factory closed and the track was lifted, but before surrounding buildings were demolished. The platform and two lines of brick waiting shelters are clearly seen.

The site of Ranges platform looking north-east in April 2013. The warehouses on the left are new
Photo by Nick Catford

The site of Ranges platform looking north-east in April 2013. The trackbed is still clear and walkable at this point but there is no trace of the platform, which was probably cleared during the construction of the new warehouses.
Photo by Nick Catford

Station Name: RANGES PLATFORM