How to determine appropriate speed limits

[gasolene]

I'm building a proto-typical layout (North America), I'm just wondering if there are any guides on setting track speed limits?

e.g. In a car, most highways are 60mph/100kph - Is there an industry standard yard limit or main line limit?

Also what would a typical maximum incline or downhill grade be?

Much thnx,

TS2010 SP3

 

[dricketts]

I'm no expert but I think there are a lot of variables. Length and weight of train. Passenger or freight, city or rural, and a lot more.

 

[FrankZ]

Most Important thing is curve radius and wyes

 

[Ricke82]

Your best source for speed information would be an employee timetable for the railroad, region and era you are modeling. It should contain general instructions governing maximum speed for various train classifications and conditions and also any special instructions regarding speed restrictions in effect at the time the timetable was published. The former are probably what you're interested in. The latter can be quite detailed and probably aren't appropriate unless you're trying to model a specific section of track.

I'm not aware of any general rule governing the ruling grade either - except of course "the flatter, the better". I personally use 1.5%. I arrived at that by looking at track plans for the railroad and region I'm attempting to model. I model the transition era and the plans are from 1952. Modern plans would probably show more like 1% for the track that's still in service, but that's just a guess.

 

[ShortFuse]

I am currently making a prototypical route and what I did was obtain a copy of the railroads timetable to get the actual speed limits. I contacted an employee with the railroad, explained what I was doing and he gladly gave me a copy. Not only did it help me with speed limits but it also helped me with switch naming, siding lengths and other information I would not have known otherwise. It is a valuble piece of information to have if you can obtain it. Although, if you are making a fictional, prototypical route the speed restricions would be totally up to you. You would just have to keep the speeds within reason depending on the factors already said above.