page_title: Lickey Incline
section_title: Diesel locomotives
hierarchical_section_title: Lickey Incline / Bankers / Diesel locomotives
caption_attribution_description: English: DBS loco 66213 works a heavy train of oil tankers with the banking assistance of 66059 at the rear of the train
context_page_description: The Lickey Incline, south of Birmingham, is the steepest sustained main-line railway incline in Great Britain. The climb is a gradient of 1 in 37.7 for a continuous distance of two miles. Constructed originally for the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and opened in 1840 it is located on the Cross Country Route between Barnt Green and Bromsgrove stations in Worcestershire.
  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.
context_section_description: 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 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 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 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.
caption: A DB Schenker Class 66 tackling the Lickey with banker further down at the rear
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