The Lickey Incline, south of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, is the steepest sustained main-line railway incline in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. The climb is a
gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...
of 1 in 37.7 (2.65% or 26.5‰ or 1.52°) for a continuous distance of two miles (3.2 km). Constructed originally for the
Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) and opened in 1840 it is located on the
Cross Country Route
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
between and stations in
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
.
In earlier times many trains required the assistance of
banking locomotives with associated logistical considerations to ensure that the train reached the top; now only the heaviest of freight trains require such assistance.
History and geography
![Lickey 1822768 99cf0436](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Lickey_1822768_99cf0436.jpg)
A survey by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...
in 1832 for a line between Birmingham and Gloucester followed a longer route well to the east with a maximum 1 in 300 gradient avoiding population centres, the plan lapsed with the cost being deemed too high. In 1836
William Moorsom
;
Captain William Scarth Moorsom (1804–1863) was an English soldier and engineer. After assisting Robert Stephenson he created railway lines in England, Belgium, Germany and Ceylon.
Early life and career
Moorsom was born at Whitby into a milit ...
was engaged on a ''no success - no fee'' to survey a suitable route; with his choice being the shortest and least cost path by avoiding high land cost population centres of Worcester, Droitwich, and Tewksbury but with the disadvantage of needing to mount the steep Lickey Incline. As some B&GR the independent engineer
Joseph Locke
Joseph Locke FRSA (9 August 1805 – 18 September 1860) was a notable English civil engineer of the nineteenth century, particularly associated with railway projects. Locke ranked alongside Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel as on ...
was requested to review Moorsom's work; Locke responding that the Lickey Inline would be no more dangerous than a turnpike road on an incline and he saw no reason for an alternative route. Brunel and
George Stephenson
George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...
declared it would be impractical for locomotives to work such a steep incline, however Moorsom was aware of claims of climbing prowess of American Norris engines and ordered such engines against their advice.
The Lickey opened for traffic on 17 September 1840 following the arrival of the second Norris Class A engine ''Boston'' avoiding the first, ''Philadelphia'' being a single point of failure to the operation of the incline.
The climb is just over , at an average gradient of 1 in 37.7 (2.65%), between
Bromsgrove and
Blackwell Blackwell may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Blackwell, Ontario
;United Kingdom
* Blackwell, County Durham, England
* Blackwell, Carlisle, Cumbria, England
* Blackwell (historic house), South Lakeland, Cumbria, England
* Blackwell, Bolsover, Alfre ...
(near
Barnt Green). It is on the
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
line between
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
and
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
(). The Lickey Incline is the steepest sustained
adhesion
Adhesion is the tendency of dissimilar particles or surfaces to cling to one another ( cohesion refers to the tendency of similar or identical particles/surfaces to cling to one another).
The forces that cause adhesion and cohesion can be ...
-worked gradient on a British standard gauge railway. It climbs into Birmingham from the south over the
Bunter geological formation (one or two exposures are visible from the track-side), and passes about away from the
Lickey Hills
The Lickey Hills (known locally as simply ''The Lickeys'') are a range of hills in Worcestershire, England, to the south-west of the centre of Birmingham near the villages of Lickey, Cofton Hackett and Barnt Green. The hills are a popular countr ...
, a well-known local beauty spot.
Working of the Lickey fell to successor companies of the B&GR: the
Bristol and Birmingham then
Midland (MR) from 1845; The
London, Midland and Scottish
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
(LMS) from 1923; and the London Midland Region of
British Railways
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
from 1948. The Lickey was transferred to the Western Region on 1 February 1958.
Privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
in 1993 has seen the infrastructure fall under the remit of
Railtrack
Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...
to 2010 and
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
thereafter while
Freight Operating Companies (FOC) organise banking for the relatively small proportion of heavy freights that now require it.
, the incline was
electrified overhead as part of the scheme to extend electric
Cross-City Line
The Cross-City Line is a commuter rail line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for from Redditch and Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, its two southern termini, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via Birmingham New ...
trains to a resited
Bromsgrove railway station
Bromsgrove railway station serves the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, England. It is located at the foot of the two-mile Lickey Incline which ascends at a gradient of 1-in-37.7 towards Barnt Green on the line between Birmingham and Worceste ...
. The first electric train, composed of two
Class 323
The British Rail Class 323 are electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger trains built by Hunslet Transportation Projects and Holec. All 43 units were built from 1992 through to 1995, although mock-ups and prototypes were built and tested in 1990 ...
electric multiple units, ran on 20 May 2018 . Scheduled electric services started in July 2018.
Broadly the same hillside is climbed by the
Tardebigge lock flight on the
Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
Bankers
Steam locomotives
To assist trains up the incline and in some cases to provide additional braking, particularly to unfitted freights, specialised
banking engine
A bank engine (United Kingdom/Australia) (colloquially a banker), banking engine, helper engine or pusher engine (North America) is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a gradi ...
s were kept at Bromsgrove shed at the foot of the incline.
The first Lickey bankers were the American
Norris 4-2-0s Class A Extra locomotives ''Philadelphia'', ''Boston'' and ''William Gwynn'' delivered in May, June and December 1841 respectively. They met the requirement to lift 75 tons up the incline at . The arrival of ''Boston'' allowed operations over Lickey to commence to Croft Farm on 17 September 1841.
James McConnell
James Edward McConnell (1815–1883) was one of the first locomotive engineers of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). He was Locomotive Superintendent of the LNWR's Southern Division at Wolverton railway works from 1847 to 1862 and o ...
converted the bank engines to saddle tanks in 1842 and increased the haulage capacity up the incline to between 80 and 90 tons gross, sufficient for any train of the day. Two further Class A extra Norris engines, ''Niagara'' and ''New York'' were obtained for a bargain price of £1,100 each in May 1842 and it is suggested these may have been used as auxiliary bankers in busy times; there are also suggestions they were saddle tanked at some point. They were disposed of between 1851 and 1856. The Birmingham and Gloucester railway had 26 Norris-type engines in total of which nine were built in England, three by
Benjamin Hick and Sons
B. Hick and Sons, subsequently Hick, Hargreaves & Co, was a British engineering company based at the Soho Ironworks in Bolton, England. Benjamin Hick, a partner in Rothwell, Hick and Rothwell, later Rothwell, Hick & Co., set up the company in pa ...
and six by
Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company
Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company, originally called The Bridgewater Foundry, specialised in the production of heavy machine tools and locomotives. It was located in Patricroft, in Salford England, close to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, th ...
, however only the five Class A Extra type could mount the Lickey incline with a non-trivial load. English manufacturers had declined to supply.
In June 1845, a large designed by James McConnell emerged from
Bromsgrove Works and was named ''Great Britain''. Designed specifically for the Lickey it was the most powerful locomotive of its day and could haul a train of 135 tons at between and up the incline.
In 1855–6,
Matthew Kirtley
Matthew Kirtley (6 February 181324 May 1873) was born at Tanfield, Durham. He was an important early locomotive engineer.
Career
Early years
At the age of thirteen he began work on the Stockton and Darlington Railway; he was fireman on the Liv ...
rebuilt the 1844
Jones and Potts ''long-boiler'' freight engines ''Bristol'' and ''Hercules'' with wheels and cylinders for use as Lickey bankers. Mostly under MR Nos. 222 and 223, they continued on banking duties until disposed of in 1860 and 1862 respectively.
The 1860s saw the Midland Railway at Derby build or rebuild four locomotives for the Lickey replacing the existing bankers. December 1860 saw the introduction of two locomotives, Nos. 222 and 320 (later 220), which were to last until the 1890s. An No. 223 was constructed in 1862 and ''Great Britain'' was rebuilt to match that locomotive in 1863 and withdrawn in 1928 (as LMS 1607) and 1901 respectively.
1377 Class 1Fs, and later
2441 Class 0-6-0Ts were used on the route.
In 1919, the specialised
0-10-0 No. 2290, known as the "Lickey Banker" and nicknamed "Big Bertha", was introduced to complement the existing 0-6-0Ts. This locomotive was withdrawn in 1956 and replaced by
BR standard class 9F
The British Railways Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for British Railways by Robert Riddles. The Class 9F was the last in a series of standardised locomotive classes designed for British Railways during the 1950 ...
No. 92079, which acquired the 0-10-0's headlight. Other 9Fs (including 92129, 92135, 92205, 92223, 92230, 92231 and 92234) would deputise for 92079 whenever it needed repairs.
The
LNER Class U1 Garratt was also tried out unsuccessfully in 1949–1950 and again in 1955. On one occasion it was banking a train hauled by
LMS Garratt
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Garratt was a class of Garratt 2-6-0+0-6-2 steam locomotive designed for heavy freight. A total of 33 were built from 1927, making them the most numerous class of Garratt in Britain.
Overview
After ...
No. 47972 which stalled on the bank and was rescued by "Big Bertha", resulting in the formation of a train with nineteen driving axles.
The Lickey was transferred to the
Western Region in 1958 and the 3F tanks were replaced by
GWR 9400 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 9400 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, used for shunting and banking duties.
The first ten 9400s were the last steam engines built by the GWR. After nationalisation in 1948, another 200 we ...
pannier tanks.
GWR 5205 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 5205 Class is a class of 2-8-0T steam locomotives.
History 5205 Class
They were designed for short-haul coal trips from coal mines to ports in South Wales. They were based on the 4200 Class which had been int ...
-No. 5226 was used from May 1958 for two years while a trial with
GWR 7200 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 7200 Class is a class of 2-8-2T steam locomotive. They were the only 2-8-2Ts built and used by a British railway, and the largest tank engines to run on the Great Western Railway.
Rebuild and operation
Origi ...
No. 7235 on 18 April 1958 was abandoned after its cylinders failed to clear platform edges.
On 7 October 1965
Great Western Hall number
6947 Helmingham Hall was sent to Bromsgrove to replace a derailed
English Electric Type 3 (D6939), becoming the last steam locomotive to bank on the Lickey Incline under BR.
Diesel locomotives
![66213 Lickey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/66213_Lickey.jpg)
Steam was replaced by
Class 37s, working in pairs. Other classes that appeared include
Hymeks. The Hymeks allocated to Lickey banking duties were modified so that the lowest transmission ratio was inoperative, despite the requirement for high tractive effort. The reason for this modification was that the typical speed of a train ascending the bank was approximately that at which the transmission would change between first and second gear, and so it tended to "hunt" between the two. The repeated gear changes under full power caused excessive wear and damage, and the simplest way to avoid the problem was to lock first gear out of action, so the locomotives used only second gear and upwards.
First-generation
diesel multiple units
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
were somewhat underpowered and climbed the bank often at little above walking pace, especially as they aged; it was not unknown for them to need to be rescued by a banker. The more powerful modern DMUs negotiate the line with little speed reduction, though there remain rules that at least half of the engines of a
Class 220 or
221
__NOTOC__
Year 221 (Roman numerals, CCXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gratus and Vitellius (or, less frequently, ...
must be working in order to ascend. Regular banking of passenger trains ceased in the summer of 1988 when the Bristol to Scotland sleeper was modified to have two portions from Poole and Plymouth joining at Birmingham. Many current freight trains still need to be banked however and since 2003
DB Cargo UK
DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS)), is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England.
The company was established in early 1995 as ''North & South Railways'', successful ...
use dedicated
Class 66 locomotives, nos. 66055-057 and 66059,(and formerly 66058). These are modified with air-released swing-away buckeye couplers and a downward facing light to assist nighttime buffering up.
Operation in steam days
In the early days banking was performed by a pilot engine attaching to the front of the train, with rear banking only in emergency. Reason included the use of dummy rather sprung buffers, the Norris Class A Extras have adaptations to increase the adhesive weight under load. At the top the banking pilot would slip away from the train engine which would slack off power and allow the pilot to draw ahead by 30 yards and be directed into a siding with the ''policeman'' then resetting the points for the train to continue on the main line. From May 1842 after the Norris engines were saddletanked they operated all trains up and down the Lickey themselves with train engines being detached and remaining either at the North or South end of the incline. Rear banking was adopted later.
The bankers would stand in a siding on the up side to the south. The load of each train would be telegraphed from Cheltenham.
If the driver decided he needed more bankers than the table provided for him, he would whistle approaching Stoke Works signal box: a short whistle, pause, and a number of shorts indicating the number of bankers he wanted. (The 0-10-0 banker "Big Bertha" and the 9F 2-10-0's all counted as two.)
He stopped at a marker to the rear of
Bromsgrove Station up home signal, or further up if necessary to clear the crossover by which the bankers moved on to the back of his train. They were not coupled to his train or to each other. When he was in position each banker gave two crow whistles,
[A "crow whistle" was one long and one short. With modern diesels it is high then low.] and the train driver gave two crows in reply. Then he gave one long whistle and all of them opened their regulators.
At the top the bankers kept pushing through
Blackwell station and then shut off in turn, keeping well apart, then crossed over to the down line and closed up ready to return.
To speed things up at busy times, Blackwell down advance starter signal had a 'calling-on' arm, which allowed the bankers to return downhill 'on visual' while the section to Bromsgrove was still occupied by a descending train.
Descending trains were never accepted unless the line was clear as far as Bromsgrove South, and were strictly required to slow to at the top and not exceed on the way down. Loose-coupled freight trains had to stop at the top to apply wagon brakes and not exceed .
References
Notes
Footnotes
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
www.lickeyincline.co.uk– Lickey Incline Preserved Rail Resources
- Lickey Archive Photobook– Sister site to lickeyincline.co.uk exclusively for photographs from all eras
{{coord, 52.33708, N, 2.02344, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SO985710), display=title
Rail transport in Worcestershire
Railway inclines in the United Kingdom