fuzzybear63
New member
Has anyone ever come across a list of the steepest mainline railroad grades in America? A good list would help me plan a new project.
Thx
Thx
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Actually, The Madison Incline is the steepest 'mainline' grade in the US, at just under 6%, it's steeper than Saluda and Raton
A correction *Saluda is in North Carolina*
What is the Saluda Grade? Saluda Grade is the length of Norfolk & Southern mainline rail between Saluda, North Carolina and Melrose, N.C. The total length of the track between these two points is 3 miles. The vertical distance however, is 600+ feet. The steepest portion of the grade is 5.03% That makes Saluda the steepest grade on a mainline track in the United States. When the grade was in operation, there were between twenty to thirty coal trains using it each month. Each train averaged one hundred cars. Each coal car weighed around 135 tons. So, each train carried about 1,300 tons of coal. That means the grade carried close to 32,500 TONS of coal a month. That is 390,000 tons of coal a year.
Dont forget sherman hill on the UP, 4% if I remember corectly...
UP fan, I couldent stop myself.