Tourism is a topic being discussed in Brigg at present for several reasons.
There's the recent transformation of the Brigg Tourist Information Centre on the ground floor of the Buttercross to become a dual role Business Support and Tourism Centre operated by North Lincolnshire Council.
Removal of further Covid-related emergency restrictions later this month by the Government will encourage more people to travel to travel and visit the Brigg area.
And we can now reveal that links been forged in one of the UK's major holiday regions to encourage people visiting and living in East Anglia to travel north, use the iconic Brigg railway line's Saturdays-only train service and hopefully take a look at what our market town and the local area has to offer.
The Independent Brigg Line Rail Group (IBLRG), which campaigns for greater use of the local line, explains that a member recently had the pleasure of travelling on the Wherry Line between Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft which included a guided tour and discussions with the media distribution manager and station adopter.
"Their group was well aware of the Brigg line and its unique passenger service," the IBLRG says, "and we were delighted to hear the group were willing to put some of our A4 posters up on stations on their lines.
"Our group are eternally grateful that another community group have gone out of their way to promote this unique passenger service."
The IBLRG suggests that residents of Kirton in Lindsey and Brigg "have been left behind when it comes to passenger service improvement" - a reference to the reduction to one-day-a-week trains that has operated since 1993.
The group has supplied pictures showing a Brigg line poster on the noticeboard at Beccles station and another in the community office at Lowestoft (seen above).
Brigg Blog was taking a stroll along public footpaths between the town and Wrawby early last Saturday morning (July 3) when the first Sheffield-Cleethorpes train of the day (and the week!) came into view at 9.27am, having just stopped at Brigg station. Keen-eyed passengers aboard the two-car diesel unit were about to enjoy views of preserved Wrawby Mill - something which might well interest future visitors from East Anglia, and elsewhere.
Brigg station formed part of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway mainline (via Retford) when constructed in the 1840s.
In the era of the 'Fab Four' Beatles, Dr Beeching 'Let It Be' for the Brigg line in the 1960s while he was busy swinging his axe elsewhere over dozens of UK routes while in cost-cutting mode as the boss of British Railways.
However, BR opted to reduce the Brigg line to secondary status in the 1970s - favouring the alternative route available between Sheffield, Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Cleethorpes.
From the early 1980s and through the 1990s it was downhill running all the way for the Brigg line, including the removal of some station buildings, the lifting of goods sidings, demolition of the historic 'coal drops' in Brigg which once supplied grates in many local homes, and reducing sections of double track to single.
The lowest ebb was reached 28 years ago when passenger trains were cut back to Saturdays only (just three in each direction).
On the plus side, in recent years the IBLRG has worked hard to promote the surviving service.
Submissions have also been made to the Government in an effort to get more passenger trains running again - on more days of the week. We live in hope!
Online posts these days show that many railway fans living in different areas of the country are keen to come and ride on the now iconic Brigg line.
#visitbrigg is one of the hashtags used with social media posts to promote the town far and wide.
