Railway Roundabout 1958 'Trains on the Lickey incline'

We now come to the Lickey incline, for the next 2 clips, on the main line from Bristol to Birmingham, well known for the workplace of the Midland 0-10-0 'Big Bertha' (sadly scrapped by the time of the clip).
All footage copyright by their respective owners

[@HSMiyamoto]

I love these Railroad Roundabouts for including enough information to explain the operation itself.

[@Isochest]

They did. Common sense from ordinary people versus pure bullshit from monopolistic elites

[@mgjohn8534]

Good to see that 1950s footage. Thanks for setting it up. Those schoolboys in the opening sequence are now in their 60-70s.. :).. I too was a schoolboy Railway Enthusiast in the early 1950s and paid my half-a-crown (2/6d = 12.5 pence ... ;-) ) for a cheap day football return ticket up to Birmingham from Gloucester. On three occasions I was on a train "assisted" up that steep by railway standards incline by no less a celebrity locomotive than BIG BERTHA herself. Great days gorn forever but not forgotten. Thanks again.

[@Isochest]

Rail staff nowadays would do their fruit seeing so many young children standing so close to the tracks.

[@royfearn4345]

H&S gone mad!

[@Isochest]

@@royfearn4345 Agreed there. Foot crossings at stations elsewhere are common

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

@@Isochest No, we need more H&S to prevent accidents and cut steam locomotives for scrap to prevent pollution.

[@BevMattocks]

I vaguely remember being in the steam-hauled Devonian, as a small child, from Leeds to Weston Super Mare, being pushed up the Lickey Incline. I love this footage!

[@RapidTransitFan]

Your train was probably pushed up the incline by a locomotive known as BigBertha

[@BevMattocks]

@@RapidTransitFan or pannier tanks?

[@JintySteam1]

I'd love to see railway roundabout as it was broadcast.

[@Isochest]

Wouldn't we all. UK TV needs programmes like this to help the public reconnect and understand the importance of the railways.

[@Stipperstone]

What evocative footage.

[@75jonesy]

Absolutely splendid! Thankyou for this archive!

[@joestrainworldvideos3977]

Thanks for sharing this old train movie. Joe

[@Isochest]

I love the real diversity of locomotives available. It must have been really interesting working on British Railways before steam was withdrawn. It must have been fun as well as a real challenge keeping passengers and goods moving. I hope we can see market share in the future for freight in particular equal that of the late 1950s

[@keithparker5103]

Isochest I worked for Bitish Railways at Derby Loco Works starting in the mid '50s. I travelled many thousands of miles behind steam loco's over much of the system. I wouldn't change a thing except perhaps, I should have travelled the WCML more than I did. I could tell many tales and some possibly might say, "I don't believe that". I can assure you, all true, for example, I lost count of times I logged 73068 at 95 MPH between Church Fenton and York. I once logged 92113 at 80 MPH on that stretch after Jubilee "Shovell" failed at Sheffield Midland. I saw all the Thompson butchered P2s and my last major "cop"was Merlin at Waverly. Regrettably I didn't log all my journeys and gave away my Ian Allen books. I try not to think about the latter.

[@keithparker5103]

Isochest further to my earlier comment. I travelled many lines that bonehead Marples and his poodle Beeching got rid of. The most spectacular being the Scarborough to Whitby behind 80116.

[@Isochest]

@@keithparker5103 Thanks for sharing your comments. I wholeheartedly believe rail freight should be carrying at least 50% possibly more of inland goods traffic if every mode paid its true costs. And it should command a cost that pays a fair return on investment.

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

These polluting steam locos need to be scrapped and the metals recycled.

[@Isochest]

@@PreservationEnthusiast The polluting trucks need to be scrapped and we need to switch to an all electric railway to transport bulk freight

[@JohnPW22]

Fantastic footage - thanks for sharing!

[@Thursdaym2]

Memories here. I was a spotter when the railways were nationalised and recall when we first saw BR displayed rather than LMS.

[@rossbrazier661]

I lived in blackwell and as kids we would be on the platform of the station train spotting.. we sort of took the incline for granted. Its only now looking at this wonderful old footage that you realise how steep it really is...

[@thetransportationguy7930]

I love watching videos from the good old days of Steam

[@Combes_]

This is top gear before top gear existed

[@Isochest]

NR need to electrify from Bromsgrove to Bristol and Cardiff now.

[@johnclayden1670]

Second time round and still splendid.

[@charlie8970]

Great to see how it really was some photage of driver's and fire men would be good

[@michealmatthews9377]

a gas tank for station use never seen one of those before, and never knew they existed.

[@kineticdeath]

even a 4 coach train needed assist up the hill, but theres a video on here of a restored engine pulling at least 6 up it, solo, what an effort that must have been! I'm guessing the restored engine was like a much more powerfull engine than a standard engine in mainline service in 1958. I love steam!

[@epj900]

I think the requirement for a banker was in case of a broken coupling so that the coaches could not run away down the bank

[@kineticdeath]

I hadnt thought of that, makes sense for a good backup measure too, and they can use thier extra push to assist the main train in its goal of climbing the hill

[@dubsy1026]

epj900 the vacuum brakes on carridges would eliminate that possibility.

[@dubsy1026]

kineticdeath the 2P (2p being the power class) with 4 coaches is from the early 1900s, this is why it needed assistance. The Black 5s, (some of them might by 6XP Jubilees) which still only had a power class of 5mt, and seem to mostly 8 carridges upwards. Most railtour locos were built for expresses, power classes 6p-8p usually. They were designed to pull 15 coaches and known to pull upwards of 20, so that is why they could do 6 up such a steep gradient. I'd also like to point out that the 2p was abnormally small for its time, due to the Midland railway's small engine policy. There were 4p Midland compounds, as well as many passenger locos of 4-4-2 or 4-6-0 probably around power rating 5p.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

As of today Blackwell station is no longer here and so is the signal box

[@Isochest]

This is the railway as it should be now. And 25kv ac overhead is a given!

[@mechamax7919]

BRING BACK BIG BERTHA! RESTORE HER! SHE'S ONE OF A KIND!

[@davidwhiting1761]

Kinda hard to restore what doesn't exist anymore...plus the ride quality would be horrendous as she had neither leading nor trailing wheels and in service would have been limited to low-speed operations. Bertha was not built to pull, after all; she was built with one purpose in mind: banking trains up the lickey. Now if she were an exhibit at Bromsgrove or Blackwell that would be different.

[@pmonkeygeezer6212]

Jackierascal44 That was ripped apart with cutting torches and melted down as scrap in the late 1950s, so how can you restore a pile of scrap which has been made into tin cans and copper saucepans?

[@williampeyton9855]

david whiting unfortunately Blackwell station is no more

[@crocowithaglocko5876]

I LOVE BIG BERTHA

[@bussesandtrains1218]

The only thing left or her is probably something like a rivit

[@Stubwood_on_YT]

Really should have been called the tricky incline

[@mecrr]

Inspiring

[@railyatri8891]

Wow old videos sir

[@Isochest]

This line has alpine gradients. Where is the overhead catenary? Still that explains the extreme banking operations:-)

[@JB-ie3es]

Please could you let me know which DVD this clip is from - Trains on the Lickey Incline - thanks

[@philtaylor6081]

re epj 900, the requirement for a banker was simply to give the train a 'shove up'. If the train were ever to come apart, the whole train would immediately come to a stand because the brakes would automatically come on - train brakes are held off by air pressure (used to be vacuum) which is dissipated if the brake pipe is severed or uncoupled.

[@faheemwaqar1472]

We Have not been on round about

[@andrewsewell9179]

Lovely jubly

[@sovietskye7473]

TIL that the lms Jinty is stronger than I thought

[@Isochest]

Steam should have carried on at least ten years longer than it did. A lot of the diesels made were poor designs and got scrapped early. That money should have been spent on electrification instead.

[@RedArrow73]

This geezer sounds like the one who introduced the pop groups on BBC in the 60s.

[@dubsy1026]

RedArrow73 it's Peter Woods iirc.

[@MarkAtkin]

He is not a "geezer". Yer cockney lad was a geezer. This is the voice of a gentleman. Such differences mattered in those days, Guv.

[@Isochest]

Think about it. Full dieselisation was achieved in 10 years not 20. Someone was directing the politicians and I bet they were not UK Citizens

[@benjomenjo4090]

i canot beleve they use 9F class for banking. Asowme video.

[@GrrMeister]

*Next best thing as Big Bertha 0-10-0- was retired 2-10-0 (92 Series was used.)*

[@Isochest]

I can see those locos not being equipped with vhf radio though it was possible then there would have been a lack of cash then due to the war debt imposed on us by USA Skull and Bones:-(((.

[@royfearn4345]

No vhf then. Whistle codes used, e.g. "cock-a-doodle-dooo" from banker to train engine and reply ditto to crack right away for Blackwell!

[@Isochest]

@@royfearn4345 I forgot this railway was in situ in 1840 about when Telecommunications was born out of the needs of the railways

[@G0IMB]

I would love road haulage subsidies to end . The private motorist subsidises trucks and pays for the endless resurfacing of the M6!! This needs to stop. Let the train take the strain!

[@JimWhitaker]

Subsidy? - there's no subsidy. Road traffic pays way more in tax than any cost of road maintenance. It is the railways that are heavily subsidised by the general taxpayer.

[@Isochest]

@@JimWhitakerNice trolling. HGVs don't pay their way. The car driver subs the HGVs though. You know this already.