services along the entire route only run on Saturdays, when Northern operates three services each way between Sheffield and Cleethorpes. At Barnetby, the route is joined by the South Humberside Main Line and the section between there and Cleethorpes is also served by hourly trains from , operated by TransPennine Express. The Brigg Branch line is single from Barnetby to Brigg, and Kirton Tunnel to Thonock (North of Gainsborough Central) with a passing loop at Northorpe. Other sections are double track. Former routes Clarborough Junction-Sykes Junction branch Clarborough Junction is about east of Retford. This Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway branch had originally been proposed in 1844. It opened on 7 August 1850 The line diverged from the MS&LR main line at Clarborough junction ran through Leverton, Cottam and Torksey to Sykes Junction (located about northwest of Saxilby). Services from Sheffield via the branch line to Lincoln, then continuing to Grimsby and Cleethorpes via Market Rasen, used to operate along the line. Opening of the line was delayed for four months by controversy over the safety of Torksey Viaduct. It is now a Grade II listed structure, though the line closed to passengers on 2 November 1959. In 1967 the line was reopened from Clarborough Junction to Cottam to serve Cottam power stations and is now solely used for freight traffic. On reopening, Clarborough Junction signalbox was closed and control passed to Thrumpton, and the two level crossings were converted to automatic half barriers. The Thrumpton box was rebuilt in 2014. Accidents and incidents On 9 December 1983, a freight train collided at low speed with the side of a local passenger train at Wrawby Junction. The first carriage of the passenger train was derailed and turned over onto its side, and one passenger was killed instantly. On 28 February 2007, an EWS freight train derailed at a set of points between Lincoln Central train station and Lincoln High Street level crossing. There were no injuries. On 27 April 2012, a Northern Rail passenger train running the Lincoln-Adwick route derailed as it was leaving Clarborough Tunnel on the Retford side. This was due to a landslip onto the line. The driver and a passenger were taken to hospital with minor injuries. 4 December 2012, a Northern Rail Passenger train running a Scunthorpe-Lincoln route, struck and fatally injured a worker on the tracks near Saxilby. On 30 June 2015, a DB