LNER Class U1.html



LNER Class U1

An official photograph of No. 2395 from 1925 in photographic grey livery.
Power type	Steam
Builder	Beyer, Peacock & Co. Ltd.
Serial number	6209
Build date	1924
Total production	1
Configuration	2-8-0+0-8-2
UIC classification	1'D(D1')h
Gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
Fuel type	Coal
Cylinders	6
Career	London and North Eastern Railway British Railways
Class	LNER: U1
Retired	1955

The London and North Eastern Railway Class U1 was a solitary 2-8-0+0-8-2 Beyer-Garratt locomotive designed for banking coal trains over the Worsborough Bank, a steeply graded line in South Yorkshire and part of the Woodhead Route. The locomotive was fitted with crew respirators due to the poor ventilation in the two tunnels on the bank. It spent a large part of its life allocated to Mexborough shed.

Built in 1925 with three cylinders per engine. The power units were based on the existing LNER O2 design of locomotive frames.

Originally numbered 2395, it was renumbered 9999 in March 1946, and then became British Railways No. 69999 after nationalisation in 1948, though it retained its cab-side builder's plate bearing its Beyer, Peacock serial number throughout its life.

The locomotive ran for some time as an oil burner, and was tried out on the Lickey Incline in 1949–1950 and again, after the electrification of its home line, in 1955. These trials were unsuccessful, and so the locomotive was withdrawn in 1955 and scrapped.

External links

• LNER encyclopedia
• Railuk database
• The Woodhead Site

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