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. They met the requirement to lift 75 tons up the incline at . The arrival of "Boston" allowed operations over Lickey to commence to Croft Farm on 17 September 1841. 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. Two further Class A extra Norris engines, "Niagara" and "New York" were obtained for a bargain price of £1,100 each in May 1842 and it is suggested these may have been used as auxiliary bankers in busy times; there are also suggestions they were saddle tanked at some point. They were disposed of between 1851 and 1856. The Birmingham and Glocester 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. English manufacturers had. declined to supply.