If I want to wind through mountains and going up a grade with a Big Boy, can you help with some ideas on grade and distance needed.
More information is needed. What elevation are you trying to achieve, what radius curves, how many cars are being pulled?
As indicated, more info is needed…
That being said, a grade of 1 to 1 1/2 percent would give a realistic visual effect and be a challenge for the loco to pull a long train (i.e. 25 cars or so). A steeper grade would begin to cut down pulling power dramatically.
I use all code 100, but do appreciate the looks of code 83. I do believe that code 100 will give you better reliability, but if you lay good track, that should not make a difference. BTW, I suspect that a good percentage of folks that use code 100 in hidden areas had the trackage left over from a previous layout and wanted to use code 83 on their new one.
We shouldn’t forget that the track could remain perfectly level and the ground fall away from beneath it.[;)]
So, lots of options. Something good to know to start is the area you have for the layout. That helps determine if there’s enough room to turn these big engines around and climb – or not.
Derailments are a function of out of spec or damaged track. Code 100 is harder to damage, but smaller rail won’t cause derailments if you’re careful not to damage it. I use a mix of Code 83 and Code 70 for my standard gauge and have no issues connected to the code of the track.
So it makes sense to use Code 100 in places where it’s going to be hard to reach and clean – but you should limit that sort of design anyway for other reasons.
I would like to go up 12 inches, using minimum radius of 24, I have Peco #6 and #8 turnouts, my back side is 11 feet wide and I have 20 feet on either wall to come out with. I think I could be satisfied with 15 or 20 coal car and 6 or 7 passenger cars…
I don’t believe that the code of properly laid tracks matters in the way of reducing the probability of derailments. Derailments come from shoving long strings of cars up a grade, or stringlining by trailing too many cars on a grade, or having too steep a grade, to tight a curve, badly set points…and those are irrelevant to the code of rails. Code means looks and not clearing pizza-cutter type older flanges.
I used Atlas Code 83 in my twin-tracked helix. The curves are 33 and 36" respectively, with open joints across the ends of arcs of plywood roadbed where those arcs abut… I have zero derailments.
As for the problem with getting up a grade, as most of us have reiterated many times in questions about grades, it depends. It depends on what grade, how carefully the tracks are laid so that the engines don’t wobble and porpoise, how many cars you stick behind the locomotive, the type and condition of locomotive, the numbers of free-rolling cars, what their weight is, and so on.
Expect a Big Boy in good condition weighing close to two pounds to pull as many as 25 properly weighted and free-rolling coal hoppers up a 2.2% grade with decent tracks, give or take four cars and a caboose.
-Crandell
So to add to Crandells grade 2%= 2"rise per 100" of length so a 12" rise is going to need 600" or 50’ not including tapering into or out of the grade.
thanks for the help, so maybe you can help me further before I build and make mistakes, I am doing this in a garage… I have on the back wall, already built an 11.5 foot wide and 5 foot deep bench… and 20 feet on either side…with a turnaround on one side and the other side is for a Roundhouse and Yard… I would like to 2 or 3 main lines with the largest leaving the yard and going all the way around, with the mountain scenes on the back wall…I would like one train running over the top of another train, so I need< What height for that?? is it 4 inches clearance or 5 inches?? thanks again for you time
Have you thought about how your’ll reach…often…into a depth of 5 feet if the back edge of the layout is tight against a wall of the garage? For the majority of us, a reach at mid-chest level, or elbow level, much deeper than about 30" is a recipe for snagging things, knocking them over, breaking things, or causing damage to the layout, itself, by leaning on it and causing it to sag or to shift.
Never make yourself have to reach more than 30" into a layout…anywhere on it. If it is only two and a half feet, and I misunderstand your description, then that’s fine.
When you want a track crossing over another one, you only need a clearance of about 3" for most rolling stock. If you are running double stacks on modern well cars, you will need more like 4", maybe 4.5". Cranes are higher as well, and some caboose chimneys need more than 3". But that’s not the whole picture. The higher rail needs to be supported. It’s a bridge of a type or just roadbed, but you’ll have to consider what you need to keep the higher tracks at their grade and still leave enough clearance for whatever you want to pass under it. The rails below need roadbed, tie thickness, and whatever code rail thickness you are using. So, measure carefully from the top of the lower track rails up at least 3", and from that point on up you can have whatever you want…a log bridge, a trestle, a truss bridge that’s either a deck or through truss, or a through or deck girder. Just make darned sure you know what the figures really are!!
-the height of your tallest rolling stock
-the height of your roadbed
-where your rail tops for the lower tracks will be
-the height of your support over the overpass…bridge, trestle, two logs…
Also, when you run into a fairly stiff grade out of necessity, the easement into and out of that grade, a vertical curve, must be that much longer.
I have used 3+% AVERAGE grade with my Big Boy. The average takes into account the gradual increase at the top and bottom.
Richard
Hi again,
I strongly urge you to develop a scale trackplan on paper BEFORE you even touch a piece of track. You will not be sorry if you do so, but you will likely be sorry if you don’t.