SERVICE SUSPENSION DENIED BRIGG FAMILIES THE CHANCE OF DAY TRIPS TO THE SUNNY SEASIDE

Brigg families who might have used public transport to take advantage of the glorious Easter weather to travel further afield were denied this option because of a local public transport service being suspended.
In normal circumstances they could have boarded a 9.13am train at the town's railway station to spend a day in Cleethorpes, enjoying the east coast resort's sea, sand, amusements, rides and fast food outlets before returning in mid-afternoon or shortly before 8pm.
But trains were unavailable to potential passengers in Brigg as, since January, train operator Northern has suspended the Saturdays-only service along the Brigg line - three units bound for Sheffield via Gainsborough and Retford, and three heading to Grimsby and Cleethorpes.
With the summer approaching, this suspension may continue for weeks or even months.
The train operator is encountering staffing shortages related to Covid and is therefore deploying available staff to operate its most-used routes -  Sheffield-Brigg-Cleethorpes not being one of these.
On Saturday the current suspension also removed an option available to football followers of the aptly-named Harrogate Railway Athletic who may have wished to travel by train to watch their club's promotion play-off game at Brigg Town.
Had the service been running as normal, they could have left their town and changed trains at Sheffield or Retford to join the Brigg line.
Brigg station was on the original Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway mainline when it opened in the 1840s, with a good train service spread over seven days every week. However, gradual reductions down the decades resulted in this becoming Saturdays only in 1993.

With passenger trains suspended last Saturday, Brigg station was deserted when a local man paid a visit at 11.20am to record the only action of the day - a freight train comprising empty coal wagons rumbling through (see picture above).
Northern recently supplied explanatory comments from a director to clarity the current situation.
He said: “The fact remains that whilst the headline grabbing elements of the pandemic may have passed, the implications of nearly two years of disruption have not. Our drivers are required to maintain regular route and train knowledge to be able to operate. We currently have a backlog, and we need to create space to enable drivers to catch up and build on that knowledge.
"We are taking all the necessary steps available to us to rectify these problems. This is in the face of increasing levels of COVID-related sickness absence amongst our operational workforce.”

PICTURED AT THE TOP OF THIS POST: One of the last passenger trains to call at Brigg station (early January) before the service's suspension, together with very recent views of Cleethorpes in the Spring sunshine.