A Castle and Duchess on 'The Lickey Incline' - 20/11/21

Steam returns to the famous 1 in 37 Lickey Incline. And this time, there would be 2 locomotives tackling it unassisted in a single day!

I made the trip to see GWR 7029 'Clun Castle' on the morning trip, taken from a point about half way up the incline. Plenty of others also turned up for the occasion. The engine put on a terrific performance, having only 6 coaches to pull. Mere seconds after the train passed, a class 323 EMU came down on the near track. We were extremely lucky it wasn't any earlier!

Next I made my way to Five Ways station, from which I walked along the canal for a view of the afternoon trip. This time it would be headed by LMS 6233 'Duchess of Sutherland'. I caught it on the way out of Birmingham, again putting on a great show.

As it approached me, a sudden burst of flames appeared above the engine, which also made a sizable popping noise. I haven't seen anything like this before, however I imagine it was a combination of coal dust or flammable gases from the chimney, and an arc caused by the overhead wires.

All in all, a great day of main line steam was had!

Видео A Castle and Duchess on 'The Lickey Incline' - 20/11/21 канала technoandrew