Old Photograph Steam Train Beattock Bank Scotland

Old photograph of a steam train at Beattock Bank near Beattock Summit, a high point of the West Coast Main Line in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Beattock Summit is located 52 miles south of Glasgow Central and 349 miles north of London Euston stations in England. Steam locomotives frequently required banking assistance in getting their heavy trains up the incline, particularly in the northbound direction, which had steeper gradients. The severity of the climb to the summit is referenced in W. H. Auden's poem Night Mail, written in 1936 for the G.P.O. Film Unit's celebrated production of the same name.





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