20 Percent grade

[Ruges]

Well have I not played with trainz for a while now. But the other day I had a craving for it, and I wanted it tobe hilly. So I created a 15 tile board going from neg 500 to pos 100. checked with mainline with a 20 car coal train with 2 engines and it ran ok. well it toped out at about 30mph going up hill and if I stoped I would never get going again. But the grade never looked like it was too much. So all appeard well and I continued to add in industry and such.

So far I have spent about 20 hours on the track. But the grade got me worried again. So to ease my mind I figured I would come here and check out what the norm is for grades. 2.5 max!!!?

Am I just looking at the number of 20 and should be reading as a 2 percent grade or is it truly 20 percent? And if it is truly 20 percent do I need to scrap my current track and start over?

 

[Alex23]

Hi Ruges,

Up to a 2.5% gradient is fine.

Some real railways had greater gradients, notably the Southern Pacific in North America seemed dogged with stiff grades and sharp bends. As I understand on their Shasta Route, it could be around 3 to 3.5%, an "engine breaking" gradient.

Anything much greater than 3%, you are looking at "Rack Railways".

It also depends where you are modelling. If the UK, its very rare to be close to 2%.

Hope this helps.

Alex

 

[Harry_James_Potter]

Hi Ruges,

Up to a 2.5% gradient is fine.

Some real railways had greater gradients, notably the Southern Pacific in North America seemed dogged with stiff grades and sharp bends. As I understand on their Shasta Route, it could be around 3 to 3.5%, an "engine breaking" gradient.

Anything much greater than 3%, you are looking at "Rack Railways".

It also depends where you are modelling. If the UK, its very rare to be close to 2%.

Hope this helps.

Alex

The steepest grades in the Uk are the Folkestone harbour branch and the lickey incline at over 1 in 35 for the pair. the ruling grades tend to be less than 1% and there are a couple of 1 in 75s thrown into the mix as well (1.33%)

and yes... TRS does do grades in % terms.

regards

Harry

 

[harvan75]

Larger Grades

When I was researching my own mountain railway model (on Wikipedia) it seemed that one of the Himilayan railways was operating at up to 6%. In my first model I got it up to 5 but its now a more comfortable 4-4.5% max.

 

[HiBaller]

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is a normal (?) steam railway and has grades that approach 18% in some spots! As soon as we finish it and Mr. Prestage pronounces it fit to ride we will be releasing it (free) to the community.

Bill

 

[Tokkyu40]

I've heard of 8% grades for regular lines, and a few that run short humps of up to 12%, although the train needs room to make a run at those.

Claude

 

[HiBaller]

The DHR has a couple of stations on grades of around 4% to 6%. The train stops, and then gets started again on those grades. Quite an accomplishment. My avatar shows a typical consist. Sanding consists of two guys sitting out over the front coupler with a tub of sand between them; they sprinkle it on the rails.

Bill

 

[bendorsey]

The Uintah (narrow gauge in western Colorado and eastern Utah) had 7.5% grades and 66 degree curves. Thats sharper then an 18 inch radius curve in HOn3.

Ben

 

[Moojgoo]

Ahh, speaking of the Darjeeling, is anyone making/made one for Trainz? I been intrested since I watched it on the Science Channel. I never thought 2 ft could look so small.

 

[HiBaller]

Boy! Have you come to the right place Moojgoo! Check http://darjeelingtrainz.com out. We have been working on it for over a year. There are several other threads with screen shots in them too. Search for "Franklin_Prestage".

If you are interested, we sure could use some help with scenery dressing. Email me.

EDIT: Didn't realize you worked in TRS2006. Do you have TRS2004 installed too?

Bill

 

[Moojgoo]

EDIT: Didn't realize you worked in TRS2006. Do you have TRS2004 installed too?

Bill

Nope. Never had a full version of other Trainz builds. Just 2791 (or was it 2971?), and 3092.

(Just updated my sig so you'd just know).

 

[Moojgoo]

EDIT: Please delete this post.