Attacking the Lickey

26th August 2019. 50049 and 50007 Stoke Works jcn to Blackwell. 13 on for 454.

[@markhill3695]

What a symphony, the whine of the traction motors, the shrill whistle of the Napiers with a thunderous EE CSVT bass line. Great video.

[@bennickss]

Napiers? This isn’t a deltic?

[@markhill3695]

@@bennickss Napier didn't just make Deltics, they are also world renowned turbocharger manufacturers amongst many other things. The EE 16CSVT is fitted with four of Napier's turbos which you can hear singing away in the video.

[@NDSKOSTHEORY]

@@markhill3695 Napier were marine engine builders originally I believe but the Deltics were an amazing locomotive……I used to bash them from 1978-1981 , those two stroke twin engines made them a monster on acceleration and top end speed….. timed 55003 down Stoke Bank at 117mph in 1979 …… anyway I just wanted to say what a great bit of footage you’ve got here, enjoyed it very much 👍👍👍😎

[@ianjones4116]

@@markhill3695 I'd heard that too, think it was in a class 20 vid, Napier Turbos. 👍😎

[@joohop]

Seek Help Immediately , Those Machines Are Destroying Life Itself

[@mervynsands3501]

Beneath the wires up the lickey bank, so now all traction modes can battle against the grade! Whatever the traction, its always a sight to see locos tackling the grade.

[@hoagy_ytfc]

You won't see any electric locos on it though, only EMUs using the wires.

[@richardgregory8964]

Best cab ride I've seen!! Pure brut power!!!!

[@user-lx3fj6qu5i]

I like the panoramic views from the loco👍

[@TheHood50031]

Excellent video Bob. The girls are working hard. But sounding brilliant. Cheers John.

[@Ancatdubh1010101010]

A lot faster than the bimble I enjoyed with you down the Severn Valley. Fabulous footage of the old girls at real work :-)

[@stewartatkinson4179]

Fantastic footage! Really enjoyed!

[@westerleighwerek1493]

The Cardiff Glasgow with a pair in 86/87 used to flatten the lickey, had many single ones on load 13/14 over there!

[@85dstudios]

How could you have 86 and 87s on a train over lickey, it’s not electrified?

[@westerleighwerek1493]

@@85dstudios 1986/1987! It's electrified now.

[@85dstudios]

@@westerleighwerek1493 oh sorry! Thought you were on about the classes!

[@timwattison4419]

I still attack it regularly with HST's, Voyagers and 170's. I only get pleasure out of HST's now mind 😁. I've done it plenty of times in the past though like Bob, with many a different loco as an ex Saltley man myself 👍

[@adamw2911]

Tim, I remember years ago regularly playing a text based train simulation on the Sinclair Spectrum of which covered the Bristol to Brum route. A HST could reach the summit at about 55mph, a loco hauled with 10 bogies about 35mph. Would you say they had it right?

[@grahamallen1970]

Bromsgrove changed since I was there in 89/90 with you and other saltley drivers...no thrash now...or early starts..late finishes...or dirty hands...lazy days and dogging for me now... But miss the glory days. G

[@exb.r.buckeyeman845]

Greetings Tim, from an old Stoke Gifford Shunter.

[@JulianShagworthy]

What a bastard, not replying to any of you.

[@74HC138]

Sounds just like the Armstrong Powerhouse class 50 for Train Simulator :-) I guess AP got it right.

[@johnclarke2997]

Can hear the traction motors working hard.

[@JohnPW22]

Ahhhh! Bromsgrove station has completely changed!! Really reduced it to a crawl - was that full power?

[@imautuber]

You can clearly hear the moment they hit the incline, and the life being sucked out of the inertia.

[@bjoe385]

3:52 I want to live in one of those flats.

[@markwaldron1679]

That sound is brilliant

[@grahampickering1560]

Sounds fantastic!!!!!!

[@choirboyfromhell1]

This is fabulous! My favorite class of BR loco on a legendary grade! Making transition at 01:40?

[@24nov67]

the turbochargers must have been glowing red hot not to mention the heat in the engine room which must been extreme.

[@fatwalletboy2]

Id love to go up the lickey standing start from Bromsgrove behind a class 87.......the air raid siren noise would be great.

[@AndreiTupolev]

Thanks to the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, whose decision to go straight up and over rather than round things has provided so much excitement over the years 😋

[@merledoughty5787]

Would have they tunneled through that hill at any point in time

[@caboose.20]

@@merledoughty5787 that only works for hills that go up and down, and Birmingham lies on the top of the incline.

[@brushhead]

Fair play that's fierce!

[@johnwaller2886]

If there had been a banker in the siding, might have whistled up- "catch me if you can"!.

[@Broadercasting]

Nice to hear the bell in the cab rather than a different flavour of squeak! #AWS

[@vicsams4431]

I'm no expert, but the track speed was shown as 70 mph to 80 mph. There appears to be no TSR or ESR in place. The video shows the power controller in Notch 7. She ran under clear signals, from the greens and the AWS bells, and there was no brake application. To reduce 2 x 50s (5,400 hp) to a crawl, I was wondering if one or both locos had problems. Normally, they should be able to handle the Lickey even on load 13.

[@formidable38]

This pair are quite tame in performance compared with the same examples back in the 80's. Ive seen similar speeds up Lickey bank with a single 50 and load 12 back in the day. They've probably tapped them back a bit to save main generators etc.

[@vicsams4431]

@@formidable38 Thanks for your kind advice. I can understand that. Preserved locos are expensive to maintain, and parts are not always easy to find, and some have to be fabricated. It makes sense. It is just sad they no longer perform like the old days. Enjoyed them out of Paddington and Waterloo, to Penzance, Paignton, Hereford, Cheltenham, and the summer sats only to Newquay. Railtours included to Birmingham New Street and South Wales. Obviously, with a name like mine, my favourite was 50 036 Victorious. I missed three for haulage, but got two 1800s in Portugal, including a cabride on 1805.

[@ianjones4116]

​@@vicsams4431 my favourite cab ride was in a 37, loaded steel Shrewsbury to Shotton and back empty, via Warrington and Crewe underground. Engine room doors and cab doors and windows open most of the way . Deafening but brilliant . 👍👍😎😎

[@vicsams4431]

@@ianjones4116 I have had two Class 37 cabrides. 1) Staines to London Bridge on an Officer's Special. 2) Edinburgh to Fort William via Cumbernauld, on the Caledonian Sleeper, at the personal request of the Head of Operations, ScotRail. Sadly my job came with an all stations cabpass ! It was a dreadful job, and you would have hated it. I have done Class 08, 24, 31, 37, 45, 47, 56, 66, 67, 73, 86, 87, 90, 91, 105, 116, 142, 144, 150, 153, 156, 158, 165, 168, 170, 175, 180, 221, 305, 308, 310, 312, 313, 315, 317, 319, 321, 322, 357, 360, 377, 390, 421, 442, 444, 450, 458, GER N7, DBSO, GLV, HST power car, Canadian GE 25 tonner, GE 50 tonner, F40PH-2 across Labrador, Portuguese 1800, 1931, 1961, Spanish 1900 on the FEVE, French CC72000, X4500, Italian FdS 500, Ade, Austrian 2143, Hungarian M61, M62, Danish MY, German 232, 233. And driven a Hungarian V63 at speed along the mainline. The driver insisted ! Around 350 in total.

[@NoBody-ht1oh]

All you train cock watcher experts make me laugh

[@30041946]

Excellent.

[@Ancatdubh1010101010]

Awesome

[@davehodges6258]

How long has it been Electrified then along that route,??

[@formidable38]

Not that long, 18 months-ish give or take.

[@shidzngigglez]

What sort of weight was the rake then? I always thought 50's were express passenger locos, were they regeared then?

[@ronholfly]

Remember collecting numbers with my Ian Allen book on the Lickey incline, it's a shame Big Bertha has gone now, all that puffing as it pushed passengers and freight trains up that famous incline.

[@camptoursandthat4439]

I love the class 50 and I driven one but I would be bored out of my head doing that job full time. Truck driving is boring enough and one actually has to do stuff. Lol

[@bigcasey4143]

I did 40 years of "boredom" driving trains before retirement... including class 50's for 2-3 years. The job of train driver is one of the most sought after & well paid jobs in the country, so the job can't be that bad & infinitely better than driving HGV's...The class 50's weren't the most reliable beasts & they were also very cramped in the driver's seat if you were tall. They also had the most polluting diesel engines ever made... just see the videos of them on you tube starting up from cold... absolutely mortifying... you definitely wouldn't want to be living anywhere near where these damned locomotives were berthed... The class 37 is positively clean compared to a class 50 starting from cold...

[@camptoursandthat4439]

@@bigcasey4143 much respect to you, as amazing as it would be to become a train driver, I think it would bore me once the novelty wore off. I drove trucks for over 20years and on the open road it did bore me. Horses for courses I guess. I used to see the 50s at Laira depot starting in the morning and they filled the whole valley with blue smoke on a still day. Can't see that happening these days. Yes wonderful to hear start up. Also used to hear them at night pulling East out of Plymouth and if the wind was in our direction they could be heard for ages it seemed. Good memories for me as I'm sure they are for you too. Yes truck drivers'wages are shit especially compared to train drivers', one reason why I left the industry.

[@sdg1970]

Clearly, some here have not tackled Sutton Bank with a Cummins 290 and Eaton Twin Splitter. Horses for courses indeed...

[@batman51]

What was the point of the 90 board at 2:59 and and an 80 6 secs later?

[@NoBody-ht1oh]

Whats the point of your comment?

[@terrier_productions]

@@NoBody-ht1oh whats the point to your reply?

[@Mr.insect47555]

049 proper machine

[@petersmith4455]

hi. is there an amps gauge in the cab to make sure the traction motors are ok ?

[@bjoe385]

Yes, and the generator.

[@rearspeaker6364]

@@bjoe385 smarty....

[@NoBody-ht1oh]

Is there an AMP gauge on your head?

[@SuperMikado282]

​@@NoBody-ht1ohThere's nothing to register there.

[@chrisgreen8803]

Is that a class 50?

[@terrier_productions]

Yes

[@joohop]

Attacking The Oxygen Breathing Lifeforms

[@soundseeker63]

What is the gradient on this section?

[@dct1]

1:47 I believe.

[@UKBamber]

@@dct1 1:37.7 actually

[@markcf83]

Wouldn't they have gone over the top,metaphorically speaking, on this line?

[@exb.r.buckeyeman845]

Class 50 ?

[@terrier_productions]

Yes

[@johnhawkins6506]

Saw to much of inside the train instead of outside of it!!

[@alcatel4539]

Awful camerawork. A constant view point would have been far better.

[@mikebutler3263]

Spoilt by constant showing of " dashboard". I like to look out at track and surroundings. Shame.

[@groggers]

I do have to agree, it was interesting at the start when he was changing controls, but when it's at full power and there's nothing to be done, show us the view!

[@MM0IMC]

Some of us 'nerdy' types like to see what's going on with various readings, etc. YMMV...

[@Grid56]

​@@MM0IMCagree! Amps up speed down😂

[@donald9413]

Complete RUBBISH 🗑