"So post 1975, the 45/1s only had a skeleton presence on the Lickey, while the 45/0s and 46s took care of nearly all ‘Peak’-hauled cross-country runs."
They might seem like a primitive form of power today, but the ‘Peaks’ once represented the cutting edge of rail traction on the Cheltenham to Birmingham New Street line. Indeed, it was a ‘Peak’ whose awesome tractive effort first proved it possible to eliminate banking for northbound passenger trains on the Lickey Incline. Class 45 No. D40’s experimental, heavily-loaded assaults on the 1 in 37 back in 1961, were what persuaded BR that bankers (at the time still steam) could actually be used selectively, rather than religiously.
And the ‘Peaks’ never looked back. Twenty-odd years later they were still single-handedly wrenching rakes of twelve or more up the gruelling gradient without complaint. In this info-pictorial I’m recalling the irrepressible 16-wheeled monsters in the latter phase of their heyday between Birmingham New Street, Cheltenham Spa and Gloucester.