LNER Class U1
Encyclopedia
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. It was both the longest and the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run in Britain. It was built in 1925 with the motion at each end being based on an existing 2-8-0 design. The original number was 2395, and it was renumbered 9999 in March 1946, and then 69999 after nationalisation in 1948, although it retained its cab-side plate bearing its original 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 These trials were unsuccessful, and so the locomotive was withdrawn in 1955 and scrapped.
(GCR) freight line from Wath to Penistone, climbing for 3 miles (4.8 km) at a gradient of 1 in 40. The main traffic on the line was loaded trains carrying coal from the South Yorkshire coalfields to Lancashire. The GCR had considered several options for banking these heavy trains, including one based on a design by Kitson & Co.
for a locomotive carrying out similar duties in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). This idea had been discarded due to the restricted loading gauge, and thought had turned to an articulated Garratt
locomotive based on 2 GCR 8K
2-8-0s (LNER Class O4) with a specially designed large boiler, but no move had been made to build such a locomotive when, in 1923 grouping
, the GCR was absorbed into the LNER, and responsibility for locomotive design passed to the Chief Mechanical Engineer
of the newly formed railway, Nigel Gresley
.
The design proposed by Nigel Gresley for a locomotive to bank heavy coal trains up the Worsborough bank was for a 2-8-0+0-8-2 Garratt locomotive based on two GNR O2
2-8-0s, but with 3 cylinders and utilising Gresley's unique derived motion for the inside cylinder. Beyer, Peacock of Manchester tendered £21,000 for the construction of two such locomotives, although the order was subsequently amended to just a single loco which was delivered in summer 1925 at a cost of £14,895. The loco, works number 6209, took just three weeks from laying the frames to completion and was hurredly sent, still in workshop grey, to appear in the centenary celebration of the Stockton & Darlington Railway where she was exhibit number 42. It was then finished in LNER black livery and was officially accepted into LNER stock in August 1925.
locomotive with 60+ loaded coal wagons then an assisting engine
at the rear, usually another O4 or an Ex-GCR Class 1B, and finally the U1. The U1 was attached at Wentworth Junction at the bottom of the bank, and pushed for the 3½ miles to West Silkstone Junction at the top where it would be detached, while the assisting engine would normally continue as far as Dunford Bridge. Prior to the introduction of the U1 a further two O4 locos would have been used for this work although the additional effort required to operate such a large locomotive as the U1 was not appreciated by the crew; "Twice the work but the same sodding pay" summing up their opinion.
With its huge size and 79 in 1 in (24.1 m) wheelbase the U1 rode well and a commodious cab was provided. Unfortunately this did not help when negotiating the two Silkstone tunnels just before the top of the Worsborough Bank. Being the last of three steam locos to enter the tunnel the atmosphere on the footplate with heat, steam and smoke was "close to hell". To try to overcome this, gas masks were provided for the crew connected via a pipe to a vent at rail level, but the crews objected to sharing these for reasons of hygiene and continued to use the time-honoured method of covering the nose and mouth with a wet handkerchief.
The locomotive itself was adequate but not successful enough for further development, and drawings for a revolving coal bunker made by Beyer, Peacock in 1930 were not pursued. Indeed the design did have some expensive flaws; soft water resulted in the boiler being retubed in 1926, firebox damage was diagnosed in 1927 and 1928, and the loco was out of service for 9 months during 1930 during which time some modifications were carried out and a new firebox fitted. After this the loco itself settled down to working its regular beat up and down Worsborough Bank, despite continued steaming problems and a definite susceptibility to poor quality coal. It was renumbered 6999 in the LNER renumbering scheme of 1946, and became 69999 on the creation of British Railways in 1948.
Bristol-Birmingham route to supplement to existing 0-10-0 banker nicknamed "Big Bertha"
. Initially she worked chimney-first, but after difficulty in buffering up to passenger trains, she was turned to run cab-first up the bank and an electric headlight was fitted. Despite this the crew had great problems with visibility from the cab, particularly after dark, and the U1 returned to Mexborough in November 1950 and was officially placed in storage there. In February 1951 the U1 was again banking on the Worsborough Bank and continued doing so into 1952 then was briefly placed in store before being sent to Gorton locomotive works
for work in preparation for a return to the Lickey Incline. She stayed at Gorton for 3 years while several different attempts were made to convert her to oil burning and an improved electric headlight was also fitted. In June 1955 she resumed work on the Lickey Incline, but was stored at Bromsgrove on 13 September and returned to Gorton the following month. She was officially withdrawn on 23 December 1955, and was subsequently taken to Doncaster Works and cut up during early 1956 having travelled around 425000 miles (683,969.5 km) during her 30 years.
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
Class U1 was a solitary 2-8-0+0-8-2
2-8-0+0-8-2
A 2-8-0+0-8-2, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, is a Garratt Articulated locomotive. The wheel arrangement is effectively two 2-8-0 locomotives operating back-to-back...
Beyer-Garratt locomotive designed for banking
Bank engine
A bank engine or helper engine or pusher engine is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grade...
coal trains over the Worsborough Bank, a steeply graded line in South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
and part of the Woodhead Route. It was both the longest and the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run in Britain. It was built in 1925 with the motion at each end being based on an existing 2-8-0 design. The original number was 2395, and it was renumbered 9999 in March 1946, and then 69999 after nationalisation in 1948, although it retained its cab-side plate bearing its original number throughout its life. The locomotive ran for some time as an oil burner
Oil burner (engine)
An oil burner engine is a steam engine that uses oil as its fuel. The term is often used with reference to a locomotive or ship engine that burns oil, to heat water, to produce steam which drives the pistons, or turbines, from which the power is derived. Some engines of this form were originally...
, and was tried out on the Lickey Incline
Lickey Incline
The Lickey Incline is the steepest sustained main-line railway incline in Great Britain and is situated south of Birmingham, in England. The climb is a gradient of 1-in-37.7 for a continuous distance of two miles ....
in 1949–1950 and again, after the electrification
Manchester-Sheffield-Wath electric railway
The Manchester-Sheffield-Wath electric railway was an early electrification scheme on British railways. The route featured long ascents on both sides of the Pennines with the long Woodhead Tunnel at its central summit close to the Woodhead pass...
of its home line, in 1955. These trials were unsuccessful, and so the locomotive was withdrawn in 1955 and scrapped.
Origins
The Worsborough bank, sometimes referred to as the Worsborough Incline, was a steep bank on the Great Central RailwayGreat Central Railway
The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...
(GCR) freight line from Wath to Penistone, climbing for 3 miles (4.8 km) at a gradient of 1 in 40. The main traffic on the line was loaded trains carrying coal from the South Yorkshire coalfields to Lancashire. The GCR had considered several options for banking these heavy trains, including one based on a design by Kitson & Co.
Kitson & Co.
Kitson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-Early history:The company started as James Kitson at the Airedale Foundry, off Pearson Street, Hunslet in 1835 with Charles Todd as a partner...
for a locomotive carrying out similar duties in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). This idea had been discarded due to the restricted loading gauge, and thought had turned to an articulated Garratt
Garratt
A Garratt is a type of steam locomotive that is articulated in three parts. Its boiler is mounted on the centre frame, and two steam engines are mounted on separate frames, one on each end of the boiler. Articulation permits larger locomotives to negotiate curves and lighter rails that might...
locomotive based on 2 GCR 8K
LNER Class O4
The London and North Eastern Railway Class O4 initially consisted of the 131 ex-Great Central Railway Class 8K 2-8-0 steam locomotives acquired on grouping in 1923. The engines were designed by John G...
2-8-0s (LNER Class O4) with a specially designed large boiler, but no move had been made to build such a locomotive when, in 1923 grouping
Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...
, the GCR was absorbed into the LNER, and responsibility for locomotive design passed to the Chief Mechanical Engineer
Chief Mechanical Engineer
Chief Mechanical Engineer and Locomotive Superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotives and rolling stock...
of the newly formed railway, Nigel Gresley
Nigel Gresley
Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley was one of Britain's most famous steam locomotive engineers, who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway . He was the designer of some of the most famous steam locomotives in Britain, including the LNER Class A1 and LNER Class A4...
.
The design proposed by Nigel Gresley for a locomotive to bank heavy coal trains up the Worsborough bank was for a 2-8-0+0-8-2 Garratt locomotive based on two GNR O2
GNR Class O2
The Great Northern Railway Class O2 was a class of three-cylinder 2-8-0 steam locomotive designed by Nigel Gresley for freight work and built by the GNR from 1921. Further examples were built by the London and North Eastern Railway from 1924....
2-8-0s, but with 3 cylinders and utilising Gresley's unique derived motion for the inside cylinder. Beyer, Peacock of Manchester tendered £21,000 for the construction of two such locomotives, although the order was subsequently amended to just a single loco which was delivered in summer 1925 at a cost of £14,895. The loco, works number 6209, took just three weeks from laying the frames to completion and was hurredly sent, still in workshop grey, to appear in the centenary celebration of the Stockton & Darlington Railway where she was exhibit number 42. It was then finished in LNER black livery and was officially accepted into LNER stock in August 1925.
Operation
The U1, numbered 2395, was initially allocated to Barnsley shed but due to the restricted layout there was transferred to Mexborough on 17 October 1925. The locomotive was used to bank heavy trains up the Worsborough Bank, making up to 18 return trips each day; a typical train consisted of an LNER Class O4LNER Class O4
The London and North Eastern Railway Class O4 initially consisted of the 131 ex-Great Central Railway Class 8K 2-8-0 steam locomotives acquired on grouping in 1923. The engines were designed by John G...
locomotive with 60+ loaded coal wagons then an assisting engine
Assisting engine
An assisting engine is an additional locomotive attached to a train to assist the train engine – the locomotive assigned to haul the train...
at the rear, usually another O4 or an Ex-GCR Class 1B, and finally the U1. The U1 was attached at Wentworth Junction at the bottom of the bank, and pushed for the 3½ miles to West Silkstone Junction at the top where it would be detached, while the assisting engine would normally continue as far as Dunford Bridge. Prior to the introduction of the U1 a further two O4 locos would have been used for this work although the additional effort required to operate such a large locomotive as the U1 was not appreciated by the crew; "Twice the work but the same sodding pay" summing up their opinion.
With its huge size and 79 in 1 in (24.1 m) wheelbase the U1 rode well and a commodious cab was provided. Unfortunately this did not help when negotiating the two Silkstone tunnels just before the top of the Worsborough Bank. Being the last of three steam locos to enter the tunnel the atmosphere on the footplate with heat, steam and smoke was "close to hell". To try to overcome this, gas masks were provided for the crew connected via a pipe to a vent at rail level, but the crews objected to sharing these for reasons of hygiene and continued to use the time-honoured method of covering the nose and mouth with a wet handkerchief.
The locomotive itself was adequate but not successful enough for further development, and drawings for a revolving coal bunker made by Beyer, Peacock in 1930 were not pursued. Indeed the design did have some expensive flaws; soft water resulted in the boiler being retubed in 1926, firebox damage was diagnosed in 1927 and 1928, and the loco was out of service for 9 months during 1930 during which time some modifications were carried out and a new firebox fitted. After this the loco itself settled down to working its regular beat up and down Worsborough Bank, despite continued steaming problems and a definite susceptibility to poor quality coal. It was renumbered 6999 in the LNER renumbering scheme of 1946, and became 69999 on the creation of British Railways in 1948.
Later life
With the electrification of the Woodhead route and the Worsborough Bank using 1500 V dc overhead catenary, and the boiler considered to be nearing the end of its useful life, the continued operation of the U1 was in some doubt in the late 1940s, but in 1949 it was decided to try the U1 on the Lickey Incline on the Ex-LMSLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
Bristol-Birmingham route to supplement to existing 0-10-0 banker nicknamed "Big Bertha"
MR 0-10-0 Lickey Banker
In 1919, the Midland Railway built a single 0-10-0 steam locomotive, No 2290 . It was designed by James Clayton for banking duties on the Lickey Incline in Worcestershire , England...
. Initially she worked chimney-first, but after difficulty in buffering up to passenger trains, she was turned to run cab-first up the bank and an electric headlight was fitted. Despite this the crew had great problems with visibility from the cab, particularly after dark, and the U1 returned to Mexborough in November 1950 and was officially placed in storage there. In February 1951 the U1 was again banking on the Worsborough Bank and continued doing so into 1952 then was briefly placed in store before being sent to Gorton locomotive works
Gorton locomotive works
Gorton Locomotive Works, known locally as Gorton Tank was located in Openshaw near Manchester, England and was completed in 1848 by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway.- History :...
for work in preparation for a return to the Lickey Incline. She stayed at Gorton for 3 years while several different attempts were made to convert her to oil burning and an improved electric headlight was also fitted. In June 1955 she resumed work on the Lickey Incline, but was stored at Bromsgrove on 13 September and returned to Gorton the following month. She was officially withdrawn on 23 December 1955, and was subsequently taken to Doncaster Works and cut up during early 1956 having travelled around 425000 miles (683,969.5 km) during her 30 years.
Further reading
- Willie YeadonWillie YeadonWillie Brayshaw Yeadon was a British railway historian known for his magnum opus, Yeadon's Register of LNER Locomotives which covers every class of locomotive inherited and built by the London and North Eastern Railway, including those engines built to LNER designs by British Railways...
, Yeadon's Register of LNER Locomotives Vol.9: Gresley 8-Coupled Engines, classes O1, O2, P1, P2 and U1. Challenger Publications, 1995. ISBN - Bob EsseryBob EsseryRobert J. "Bob" Essery is a British railway modeller and historian with a particular interest in the London Midland and Scottish Railway and one of its principal constituents, the Midland Railway ....
and George Toms LMS and LNER Garratts Wild Swan, ISBN 0-906867-93-2