Parliamentary train to Brigg

Five years after my previous visit (blog January 2018) it is time to take a day return trip to North Lincolnshire and spend a couple of hours in a town which for 29½ years only enjoyed a rail service on Saturdays, but since May 2023 has instead had a single train on weekdays only.

While the three trains each day on Saturdays between Sheffield and Cleethorpes did at least allow Brigg residents a day in the Steel City, the current one-train service on Mondays to Fridays is pretty useless to the folk in Brigg, unless they happen to want to make a quick shopping trip to Grimsby or Cleethorpes.

Indeed, it is easier for the residents of Brigg to have a day in Amsterdam, by taking one of the three daily KLM flights from nearby Humberside Airport, than it is for them to have a day-out by train to anywhere else in the UK, apart from a little less than two hours in Grimsby or Cleethorpes.

 But for those from further afield fancying a lunch-time visit to this sleepy town, the current train, which departs Sheffield at 09.54 and Retford at 10.26, does at least give you a little over two and a half hours to explore Brigg, with the Cleethorpes-bound train arriving at 11.07 and the return service to Retford and Sheffield departing at 13.49. 

It is now 30 years since this direct route from Sheffield to Grimsby lost its regular train service (in October 1993), yet despite the efforts of local campaigners and money spent upgrading the line for greater freight use, including a 2017 replacement of the semaphore signalling at Gainsborough Central (with new semaphores!), the abysmal passenger service remains.

There were hopes that Gainsborough Central, at least, would see the return of regular services to Sheffield, but these proved short-lived and the well-located station at the heart of this bustling town now has the same useless Parliamentary service as the one offered by Northern to the residents of Brigg.

Looking back to my Saturday trip on 20 January 2018, I had been one of six passengers to join the first service of the day from Brigg to Cleethorpes, bringing its total headcount to 13, while on the first up train of that day (11.26 ex-Cleethorpes) there had been no less than 21 of us aboard when we left Barnetby, so what I wondered would be the loadings on the new weekday train?

In particular, a recent online “Flash Sale” promotion by Northern Trains meant I had been able to secure advance singles from Retford to Brigg and back for the princely sum of £0.50 each way (£1.00 return), so surely there must be other canny travellers able to sniff out a remarkable bargain and be travelling, like me, on this quirky service? 

Joining the train at Retford on Friday, 22 September 2023, I counted a total of 19 passengers aboard the 10.26 to Cleethorpes, with no one joining or alighting at Gainsborough Central, or at the next intermediate station (Kirton Lindsey), but there were two joiners at Brigg, where I and one other person alighted

Numerous nocturnal freight trains are timetabled to use the Gainsborough-Barnetby route, though few actually run. Realtimetrains showed no freights in the week beginning Monday, 11 September, but two ran on the night of Monday (18^th), three the following night, then five in the early hours of Wednesday (20^th) as well as on Thursday (when the passenger train was cancelled) and also on the day of my trip (22^nd).

That means this 21-mile, partly double-tracked, route must be one of the least-used in Britain and, with just two passenger trains a day to handle, the signallers at Gainsborough Central and Brigg, as well as the two other boxes (Northorpe and Kirton Lime Sidings) must enjoy a very quiet working life.

So what does the market town of Brigg (population 5,000+) have to offer the visitor with two and a half hours to kill (and it not being a market day)? After walking through the large wasteland outside the station, a short walk down the station approach brings a great discovery when you reach pedestrianised Wrawby Street, with the picturesque White Horse Inn opposite.

There is a pleasant walk down Wrawby Street, which even boasts a bank (Lloyds), before you reach the Market Square and can then walk over a branch of the River Ancholme and into Bridge Street where you will find the truly delightful Yarborough Hunt pub and its fine selection of cask ales.

On a fine and sunny autumn day I can highly recommend the stroll around this charming town which its token train service allows a visitor from the Sheffield/Retford direction. For those in need of refreshment, I can recommend Ilkley Brewery’s Mary Jane (3.5%) in the Yarborough Hunt (£3.75) and Oakham Ales’ JHB (3.8%) in the Wetherspoon-owned White Horse (£2.55).

Returning from Brigg after my pleasant lunchtime interlude there were no less than four of us boarding the train – me and my fellow day tripper, who I had drunk with in the Yarborough Hunt, along with two bona fide travellers heading for London and commendably keen to support the train service.

That brought the total passenger count to 19 once again, before two more joined the train at Kirton Lindsey. Aiming to get shots of the train passing its semaphores, I alighted at Gainsborough Central, along with two fellow passengers, with no joiners here, leaving a total of 18 passengers for the trip onwards to Retford and Sheffield.

Based on my travel experience, it is clear the the majority of people using this Cinderella route are longer distance travellers from Sheffield and elsewhere wanting the most direct way of getting to Grimsby or Cleethorpes, and it is reasonable to assume that there would be a good deal more of them, if only they were to be given a half decent train service.