BRIGG BLOG SPOTS A LOCAL RAILWAY RARITY

Brigg Blog recently encountered a local railway rarity as Barnetby station became the starting point for a revenue-earning passenger train.
When did this last happen?
Having more platforms than any other station in North Lincolnshire, Barnetby sees many diesel-powered passenger units stopping to pick up or drop off passengers in accordance with companies' timetables. But none of these trains are scheduled to begin their journeys in the Wolds village.
Unexpected events last Friday afternoon meant that an eastbound train from Leicester and Nottingham had to terminate at Barnetby as a section of track ahead, in Grimsby, was temporarily out of use.
This train (pictured above, top left) stood in Barnetby for some time near the surviving station buildings before heading off slowly beyond Barnetby East signalbox, then returning to the other side of the station on platform four (also pictured above, top right).
An announcement was made to advise passengers present on the station. And a couple of minutes later, the Class 170 mid-afternoon East Midlands service left (on time) bound for Market Rasen, Lincoln, Newark and Nottingham.
Railway companies these days come in for criticism over cancelled trains, but this was an example of keeping the wheels turning and getting local passengers to their destinations.
We were bound for Newark (via Lincoln) on Friday afternoon.
Ideally, this trip would have been undertaken the following morning but (since January) Northern has suspended all Saturdays-only passenger trains along the Brigg Line, including Brigg to Barnetby to change trains for other places on the network.
Newark, in Nottinghamshire, still has two very well-used stations - Northgate (on the London-Scotland east coast mainline) and Castle (on the route to Nottingham and Leicester).

 

 

Newark Castle station has only two platforms but is staffed...with a functioning ticket office.
Barnetby, in comparison, has four platforms but has now been unstaffed for decades.
Newark Sugar Factory can be seen in the distance from Newark Castle station (see picture above, lower right), just as Brigg Sugar Factory was not far from our town's platforms until the sugar factory's demise in the 1990s. Brigg Sugar Factory had railway connections, exchange and internal sidings and even its own shunting engine. There was also a small Brigg Siding signalbox provided beside what was then the  Manchester-Cleethorpes mainline.
Our journey back to Barnetby yesterday morning (Monday) produced other rare sightings - a few surviving semaphore signals at Swinderby soon after the train had crossed back into Lincs from Notts. 

 

Modern colour light signals have been installed across the vast majority of surviving Lincolnshire lines, with Swinderby being a notable exception.
However, the rural station is still functioning and receives a good passenger train service.
Some of the last traditional indicators in our area, North Lincs, were removed seven years ago in and near Barnetby, resulting in the closure of Wrawby Junction and Barnetby East signalboxes (replaced by a computer-controlled centre in York).
Brick-built Wrawby Junction (once containing 137 levers) is now a grade two listed building and is pictured above on Friday afternoon - a view taken from the Newark-bound train. Barnetby East box (near Kings Road) is of more traditional wooden construction.
Last but by no means least in our latest railway reflections...
Saturday (June 18) saw a member of the Independent Brigg Line Rail Group (IBLRG) support the DMU (diesel multiple-unit) Day held at the Midland Railway heritage line in Derbyshire.
One of the units now preserved is ex-Northern Rail 'railbus' No 142011.
This was a regular on the Brigg Line over the years. With the current service being suspended, the IBLRG member asked the driver to change the destination board to Cleethorpes!
Pictured below (by Corin Paul) is 142011 at Cleethorpes on 30/6/2018 while working the 0754 Sheffield Midland to Cleethorpes via Brigg service.