Thank you all for responding so quickly. Wow I didn’t forget my elementary school math. One question - my incline is on a curve so I placed a string in the center of the track from its lowest ponit to its highest point and came up with 47 inches. My highest point is 21/2 inches. My grade is 5.5%?
You can do 5.5%, but your trains will have to be rather short going up.
5.3% is what I figure. And it won’t be pretty.
One way to get around this problem is to split the difference if you have a track running under the highest point. If it is a simple ramp up to a mine or logging outfit, then you are stuck with that grade, but if you are just passing over another track, you can actually make the nether track dip…splitting the difference, but making two much easier grades rather than one difficult one.
That said, many industrial engines, such as tank engines, Shays, Climaxes, and Heislers were designed for rougher and steeper tracks, including those that wound right and left around rocks and stands of trees that were not to be cut. Some of these engines could work quite well on grades as steep as 10%. Your models probably won’t though.
-Crandell
Hi!
I guess I missed your previous post so I don’t have a lot of info on your layout. As previously said, if you have a logging or mine layout, 5.5 percent is ok. But with anything else, it is way too steep. Even if your locos can ascend the grade, they sure won’t have many cars behind them.
Typically, an HO incline tends to max out at 2 or 2.5 percent. Even they will shorten your trains, but anything over that will require a drastic cut. And, the grade could well end up looking “toylike”.
Sorry for the bad news, but…
Mobilman44
Question-- do you grade on a curve???
[:D]