ROF Melmerby

ROF Melmerby is located just north of Ripon, Yorkshire. It was built under a Ministry of Supply contract in 1941 and remained in operation until 1961, when it became an Army Ordnance Depot until full closure in 1969. The site had a sub depot located at West Tanfield, a few miles west, and connected to Melmerby by road and rail.

Little is recorded on the operation of this ROF, but it was used for the inspection and refurbishment of munitions, receiving a train load at least once per week. LNER/BR delivered trains to the goods yard at Melmerby Station and took away outgoing trains from there. The depot had two John Fowler diesel shunters used to move wagons in and out of the factory. Movement of munitions from the factory to the remote storage sheds was done by road vehicles, unlike most munitions depots which used narrow gauge railways for this task.

The factory site, with most of the original buildings, is currently in use as an industrial estate accessed from Melmerby Green Lane. The railway tracks from Harrogate through Ripon were closed in 1969 under the Beeching cuts and the track lifted shortly after; passenger traffic had ceased a decade earlier.

References

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