Birmingham and Gloucester Railway

Birmingham and Gloucester Railway

Sketchmap of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and its relationship to other lines
American-built, "ENGLAND" locomotive, ca 1840
Dates of operation	1841–1845
Successor	Birmingham and Bristol Railway
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway is a railway route linking Birmingham to Gloucester in England.

It is one of the world's oldest main line railways and includes the famous Lickey Incline, a 2-mile (3.2 km) dead-straight stretch of track running up the 1-in-37 (2.7%) gradient of the Lickey Ridge. The line was built to link the factories of Birmingham to Bristol and its docks, as well as to operate passenger services.

The idea for a line had been mooted during the construction of the . There was already a horse-drawn coal railway between Bristol and Gloucestershire, however a line running the whole distance to Birmingham was suggested. At that time, the canal journey from Birmingham to Bristol took almost a week, and the road journey, which due to expense and road quality was only really suitable for passengers, took the best part of four days.

Several surveys were completed in the ten years after 1824. Brunel in 1832 surveyed a line well to the east of its present track, but due to lack of finance the scheme was suspended and he withdrew. The line, as it is now, was surveyed by Captain W S Moorsom. All observers recognised the challenge that the Lickey Ridge posed to the construction of the railway. Other lines, such as the C&HPR had previously been built up steeper inclines, worked by stationary steam engines or by gravity, however the Birmingham and Gloucester was a mechanised commercial railway, and was intended to be worked by steam locomotives. Both Stephenson and Brunel said that a general purpose steam locomotive could not work such a gradient.

Due to the Lickey problem, many investors remained sceptical and withheld funds; certain landowners asked excessive prices for land needed to construct the railway. In addition, the people of Bromsgrove protested about the proximity of the 'iron beast' to the town. Eventually it was decided that the incline could be worked by a system of ' banking engines'. Deals were struck with recalcitrant landlords and Bromsgrove station was built almost two miles outside the town, in Aston Fields. The line was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1836, just eleven years after the opening of the .