Does anyone know of a good gradient calculator for trainz?
I believe that one baseboard is 750 meters. So what would be a recommended change in height from one baseboard to the next for a particular gradient? I can't seem to get a smooth gradient over a distance of several baseboards.
I have tried using the gradient tools in Surveyor but end up with irregular changes in grade or the ground sinks rather than rising.
Thanks in advance.
Fred Bray
A good start point would be the following website, which allows you to convert different gradient parameters:
http://www.trainman.id.au/grade.htm
I would suggest that to get suitable gradients, what you'll want to do is decide the maximum (aka ruling) gradient you want for your route. Then you can use this as a 'maximum', and adjust the gradient to suit.
Generally railroads keep gradients to a minimum, and most max out between 1in60 (1.67%) and 1in30 ( 3.33% ), depending on the what the terrain is like, and what kinds of trains are being used.
Remember that gradients can, and do, vary a lot. If you want to see a bit of an outline on how gradients can look, diagramatically, take a look at the pages here:
http://www.victorianrailways.net/grades/gradehome.html
Although Australian, you can still get a feel for different types of lines by looking through these.
As an example, the following is a guide for one of our more steeply graded mainlines:
http://www.victorianrailways.net/grades/melball.html
OTOH, this is an example of one of our more steeply graded branchlines:
http://www.victorianrailways.net/grades/cudgewa1.html
If you are hand building a route, you could easily take any one of these track diagrams to give you some level of guidance for gradients, or even mix and match them
The gradient angle is shown as a '1inXX' value, so you can convert these using the website above to the % values that Trainz uses.
You may, even if building a freelance route, find it a little easier to obtain a pre-made DEM route (ie the fishlipsatwork DEM maps, or use TransDEM to make a DEM route using terrain you like), and built what you want, where you want, onto this.
Regards
