NEW BRIGG PASSENGER TRAIN TIMETABLE COMES INTO FORCE ON MAY 20 - VIEW FULL DETAILS HERE

Railway travel campaigner Paul Johnson has contacted Brigg Blog with several items of interest to local passengers.
They range from new times about to be introduced for Northern company trains calling at Brigg station to examples of  what he sees as an 'unfair fare system.'
The new timetable for the Brigg Line service between Sheffield and Cleethorpes comes into force from May 20.
The first train of the day for Barnetby and Cleethorpes will depart Brigg at 9.19am, followed by others at 1.21pm and 5.19pm.
Departure times from Brigg to Sheffield - via Kirton Lindsey, Gainsborough and Retford - will be 11.48am, 3.43pm and 7.48pm.
Under the new timetable, will it still be possible for Brigg passengers boarding the first train of the day to make the tight connection at Barnetby to board another train to Lincoln?
This is a journey that Brigg Blog, and others, like to make.
Paul points out that the last Saturday train from Cleethorpes to Sheffield will have a later departure time from Brigg (7.48pm), starting on May 20.
The difference is about three-quarters of an hour.
In respect of ticket prices, Paul has drawn our attention to an informative article from the BBC. View it through this link...
He says: "If an adult wishes to travel from Gainsborough Central to Brigg, it will cost them £9.40 return for a 16-mile each way journey.
"Yet a 16-mile each way journey, Gainsborough Lea Road to Lincoln Central, will cost £7.30 return for an adult.".
"Customers in Penistone/Barnsley/Doncaster can get an adult return to Brigg for £12, yet nearer to home a return to Brigg from Scunthorpe is an eye-watering £22.70p.
"This is set by Virgin Trains East Coast who actually don't run any of the trains needed to complete the latter journey."
"The new community rail partnership have no powers to challenge fares set by train operating companies."
Things were obviously a lot simpler when British Rail operated all the trains before things were privatised. However, competition among companies is no bad thing for the consumer - at least in theory - and paying about a tenner to go from Brigg to Lincoln and back by train via Barnetby is good value, in our view.
Lastly, Paul wonders whether Brigg station - with only six passenger trains a week - might have been included in a shortlist of the 'worst in Britain'. View details through this link...
Brigg Blog always receives the announcement of a new timetable with a sense of relief.
For it means that our station will continue to be a stopping point for passenger trains - at least for the next six months.
Whatever we might think about the paucity of service, and the rolling stock employed, we are still connected to the national network. So thanks to Northern for that.
However, neighbouring Gainsborough Central - further along the iconic Brigg Line - is set to get an hourly service later this year, which leaves some of us who use local trains with a sense of envy! View details here....

PICTURED ABOVE: An afternoon Cleethorpes to Sheffield train at Brigg station in November 2017. Brigg Blog used it to return to town after a day trip to Lincoln, which had started by boarding the first service of the day to catch a connection at Barnetby for the county capital.

A conductor/guard chatting to a cycle-riding passenger at Brigg railway station. Picture by KEN HARRISON, Brigg Matters Magazine.