Locomotive number 2290, 1920

Front light of a banking engine number 2290, shining on a brake van and engine shed, Bromsgrove, 13 December 1920. This Midland Railway locomotive was used to assist trains on the Lickey Incline. This incline, from Bromsgrove to Blackwell, is the steepest mainline incline in Britain at a grading of 1/37. Banking engines were coupled to the rear of trains on steep gradients, to provide extra power. Bromsgrove was the shed where banking engines that worked on the 'Lickey Incline' were housed.