Constructed originally for the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) and opened in 1840, it is located on the modern Cross Country Route between Barnt Green and Bromsgrove stations in Worcestershire.

A survey by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1832 for a line between Birmingham and Gloucester followed a longer route well to the east with a maximum 1 in 300 gradient avoiding population centres; the plan lapsed with the cost being deemed too high.

[4] The Lickey opened for traffic on 17 September 1840 following the arrival of the second Norris Class A engine Boston avoiding the first, Philadelphia, being a single point of failure to the operation of the incline.

It climbs into Birmingham from the south over the Bunter geological formation (one or two exposures are visible from the track-side), and passes about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) away from the Lickey Hills, a well-known local beauty spot.

[citation needed] As of 2016[update], the incline was electrified overhead as part of the scheme to extend electric Cross-City Line trains to a resited Bromsgrove railway station.

The first Lickey bankers were the American Norris 4-2-0s Class A Extra locomotives Philadelphia, Boston and William Gwynn delivered in May, June and December 1841 respectively.

[5] James McConnell converted the bank engines to saddle tanks in 1842 and increased the haulage capacity up the incline to between 80 and 90 tons gross, sufficient for any train of the day.

[12] The Birmingham and Gloucester railway had 26 Norris-type engines in total of which nine were built in England, three by Benjamin Hick and Sons and six by Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company, however only the five Class A Extra type could mount the Lickey incline with a non-trivial load.

[citation needed] In June 1845, a large 0-6-0ST designed by James McConnell emerged from Bromsgrove Works and was named Great Britain.

The Hymeks allocated to Lickey banking duties were modified so that the lowest transmission ratio was inoperative, despite the requirement for high tractive effort.

[21] 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.

[22] 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.

He stopped at a marker fifteen yards (14 m) to the rear of Bromsgrove Station up home signal, or further up if necessary to clear the crossover by which the bankers moved on to the back of his train.

At the top the bankers kept pushing through Blackwell station and then shut off in turn, keeping well apart, then crossed over to the down line and closed up ready to return.

To speed things up at busy times, Blackwell down advance starter signal had a 'calling-on' arm, which allowed the bankers to return downhill 'on visual' while the section to Bromsgrove was still occupied by a descending train.