Building my new railroad I have run into a little snag. I tried for a 2%grade and ordered stuff for that but was just measuring and I think I will end up with not enough room on one track. Was wondering if I should do a partal 3% grade to fix the problem, it would also help the visuals as this track has a turnout on it and I could have a greater visual separation between the two. The one in the back decends into a yard and the one in front (where the problem is) loops back into another switching area.
Why not? The real roads rarely have consistent grades.
Or, would it be possible to make up the difference, if it’s only 0.5", by having the lower track descend to pass under the overpass and then commence to climb?
Building a model RR is often about compromises. In my last RR in a 10x18’ room, there wasn’t room enough for a space-hog helix and I need to get rails from a storage yard up to a yard area using a nolix design. To get the track to clear another track, I had to resort to a 2.9% grade. I found with two six axle SD45’s I could still pull a 25 car train up the grade with no problem.
In HO, a 3% grade is not really a deal breaker.
I have a long 3½% grade as well as a 3½% helix and a single Rivarossi Cab Forward (8oz added weight) pulls 11 8oz heavy weights up the long grade easily and has slight wheel slip on the helix. A pair of E7s handles either grade with ease with 11 cars.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I avoided grades on my home layout because I run a lot of small steam. But I have since learned how easy it is to double-head engines. And, I must admit that two engines running just adds to the action. So if there are no no other options for you, keep the grade and adapt through consists. Of course, if you run diesel then chances are that grade won’t be a major issue.
Simon
Most of my DC-powered layout is on grades and curves, usually at the same places. Like Simon, I run fairly small steam, and doublehead locomotives all the time, and don’t hesitate if I need a pusher - or even two.
I didn’t have a trackplan when I built my around-the-room layout, so the only “planning” required was to sort out where the various grades, up and down, needed to be placed, and how steep they had to be, to accommodate a partial second level.
The maximum grade appears to be about 2.8%, and parts of some long-ish trains (more than 20 cars) could be going uphill and downhill at the same time.
Just think of the grades as your excuse to buy more locomotives.
Wayne
I ran steam up 4% on last layout with no problem but I had about a 7 car max, so not woried about pulling power.
Lots of steam people in this forum. Me, not so much. D&RGW being a mountain RR had a moniker “defy gravity, ship Rio Grande”. Until the You Pee took them over in 1996, they still ran the Tennessee Pass with a max grade of 3%.
Hello All,
Just for clarification, are you putting a turnout on a 2% to 3% grade?
Or am I reading that wrong?
Hope this helps.
Yep, one there and on another part of my railroad.
Well, there’s not really any reason why you can’t put turnouts on grades, as long as you remember to add a vertical easment if the diverging track needs to level-out.
I have at least five turnouts on grades, although they’re in areas where most of the grades are not so severe.
Wayne
Space vs design vs being a model, the lament of model railroad planning.
There’s no probelm with putting a turnout on a grade. But one shouldn’t try to change grades within or too close to a turnout for the most reliable operation.
As Wayne points out, the diverging track will come off at the same grade as the main line, so one needs to allow length to transition to level track afterwards.
Here is Canadian Pacifics mainline in the Rockies. When they decided to double-track the mainline they started the climb a lot earlier on grades where they could, thus lessoning the grade. The lower track is used for Eastbound trains for obvious reasons.
The climb this spline makes is about 45’ long and the grade goes between 1% and 2% changing up and down along the way, just because it is that way in the real world.
