page_title: LNER Class U1
section_title: Later life
hierarchical_section_title: LNER Class U1 / Later life
caption_attribution_description: English: LNER Garratt running back down to Bromsgrove. View southward, towards Bromsgrove; ex-Midland Birmingham - Bristol main line. No. 69999 is returning to take up its next banking job. (See SO9971&#160;: The LNER Garratt on the Lickey Incline below Blackwell for details).
context_page_description: 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 These trials were unsuccessful, and so the locomotive was withdrawn in 1955 and scrapped.
context_section_description: 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-LMS Bristol-Birmingham route to supplement the 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 three 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 425,000 miles (684,000 km) during her 30 years.
caption: No. 69999 on the Lickey Incline 1949
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