"One of the reasons the bankers were more intensively used before 1980 was the existence of unfitted freight, which was an untold problem on the Lickey due to the danger of runaways."
It’s one of the most famous railway locations in the UK, but most of the history that built and perpetuated the Lickey Incline’s reputation for train-related excitement, is now trapped in the past. In this article I’m going to recapture some of that past. This is a picture-rich journey through a 37-year period that would culminate in the ultimate destruction of the great location’s aesthetics: electrification. Get a drink, take a seat, and let’s head back to our starting point in the early 1980s…