Working out grades

Grade percentages are the percentage of rise over distance.  For example a 1.5 inch rise over 100 inches would be a 1.5 percent grade. 100 inches is roughly 8 feet so if you want to visualize it lay an 8 foot board on the ground and raise it an inch, an inch and half etc. to get a sense for it.

Model railroaders tend to underestimate how little grade it takes to 'make things interesting'  For a train of any length 1.5 per cent starts making the locos work.  Also to be factored in are curves which add drag.  In other words an engine will have a harder time pulling up a grade on a curve than one on a tangent.

Lance

Visit Miami's Downtown Spur at http://www.lancemindheim.com

Grades are easily measured for you!

Get yourself one of those "handy dandy" electronic levels which show levels/grades in percentages, angle of degrees, and so forth.  Something like a 12-inch level cost me about $20 (14 Euro?) from Sears and undoubtedly a similar product is available at your local hardware stores.  It is a great tool for assuring an intended and consistent (if desired) grade on a layout.

A converter For getting Grades and 20 other uses

One thing when you measure Grades The first thing you need to find is flat dead zero Level then you can start to get your grade correct from there.

I use Stans Handy converter for Model Railroads you can get one at the following link for under $20.00 I got one for free two years ago when I bought and paid over $400.00 on one order to Micro-Mark it came in one of the boxes and said here is a gift for you to thank you for your order. It is great Tool on a CD disk

http//:www.stanstrains.com         

       direct link to Converter

http://www.stanstrains.com/Software.htm

on the software page click on the converter and it shows you all 20 different functions from Grade calculation, to scale lumber in metric and standard, Ohms law and circuit math  Scale to scale conversion for building structuers or converting full scale plans to any scale from G to Z check it out.

My version is #12 with 16 function converters and now the latest version has added 4 new functions for 20 functions on version #15.

Normally I never promote anything for anybody but this tool is a must have for all model railroaders and until I went to his web site for the first time today I had no idea if they were free to dowload or how much it cost if not.

Dan

Thanks Guys

EastRail/Lance - thank you, I assume that the 1.5" raise in 100" would be true even for N Scale or is that an HO measurement?

I understand the drag principal on curves as well, thanks.

Mark Pierce - I'll have to keep an eye out for one.

Rio Grande Dan - that software looks really useful, $11.95 is a steal for something like that, i am downloading it as i type this :D

Well on the subject of my proposed plan, i have worked out that i would have a westward run of around 28' or 336" to the upper level, this could be extended around the back of the town by moving the town forwards from the rear baseboard edge by maybe 6", this would give an extended run of around another 11' or 132" in length, however a way to disguise the rear lines would be needed as well as i am not fond of trains appearing in the same scene twice.

A running length of 22.5' or 270" to the lower level staging could also be extended in the same way, a different solution would be needed to make this track more visable then hidden.

Hmmm...descisions, descisions, its a hard life being a model railraoder isn't it?

A grade in "N" scale of 1.5

A grade in "N" scale of 1.5 inches running 100 inches is the same 1.5% no mater what scale is being used and even if your using scale inches a 1.5% grade never changes as long as your using the same formula of 1.5 scale inches rise in 100 scale inches it will never change it is the same angle and same 1.5% grade.

now in a distance of 132 inches with a 1.5% grade starting at "0" the rise would only be 1.98 inches.

with a distance of 336 inches with a 1.5% grade starting at "0" the rise would be 5.04 inches at the end of the 336 inches but still only a 1.5% grade.

Lewis Make sure you burn a copy of the software after you finish down loading so you will have a copy in case your Hard drive ever fails.

Dan

See you are getting lots of

See you are getting lots of response about grades. Just a thought. If you need a clearance of say 3 inches you dont have to climb 3 inches. You can cut this in half by having one line going up and the other line going down. I know it seems obvious but a lot of people do forget about this.In England they used to state the grade as "1 in 50" or so whcih would be a 2% grade.

Dear Lewis, Just for the sake

Dear Lewis,

Just for the sake of completeness in answering your question...

US grade in % VS UK grade in "1/X" ratio

0.5% = 1/200
1% = 1/100
2% = 1/50
3% = 1/33
4% = 1/25
5% = 1/20

Exceed this, and you're talking geared-loco territory...

Hope this Helps,

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Link...

Hi All,

I have been using this webpage for working out all of my angles, grades and ratios.  It allows you to convert grades in a percentage to a ratio and vice versa.

http://www.1728.com/gradient.htm

Cheers,

Jason...

just remember...

Only a handful of lines in the States have a grade of 3% or steeper. Raton Pass and Saluda are the only standard guage mainline ones that I can think of. Even narrow gauge is not that steep, the D&RGW's Cumbres pass and the Colorado and Southern's Georgetown loop is 4%.  The Tehachapi Pass averages 2.2% and isconsidered steep. I have watched many a train crawl up the hill with 3 locos on the front, 2 or 3 mid-train helpers and another 2 or 3 locos tacked on the end...or more.

Actually The Saluda is the steepest in the U.S.

Saluda Grade is the steepest standard-gauge mainline railway grade in the United States. Owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway as part of its W Line, the Saluda Grade in Polk County, North Carolina consists of a three-mile section of track that rises over 600 feet (180 m) in elevation with a highest official grade of 4.7% but reaching 5.1% at one point between the towns of Melrose and Saluda. they even have a web site about it

http://www.polkcounty.org/saludagrade/TheSaludaGrade.html

The Rio Grande Southern narrow Gauge when still running (Pre 1952)had two sections on the northern 20 miles of track that exceeded 4.6% and two spots on the Montezuma lumber company exceeded 8% using Shay engines and cable assist but again these were all narrow gauge that branched off the RGS.

Dan

One of the two tracks on the BNSF on Cajon Pass is 3%.

I was at a prototype modeler's meet a few years ago and one of the "workshops" was a slide presentation by a U.P. engineer of a run down Cajon Pass.  He had slides of the pass all the way down until he got to the 3% part if the grade.  At that point he said, "There are no pictures of this part of the pass, the grade is too steep, and I was too busy running the train to take pictures!"

One trick to hide the ascending grade from the rest of the layout is to put a back drop directly behind the modeled scene and leave the "nolix" as hidden track.  If you don't want it completely hidden from view when your train is in the nolix, you can either mount a mirror above the nolix to allow you to look down on the train, or install a small video camera above the nolix.  Tie the video feed from the camera into a small tv at the control stand for the nolix.

Don't forget the transitions

Many folks end up with grades that are steeper than they intended because they don't allow for the necessary transitions from level to grade and back to level during track planning. Once these transitions are figured in, the actual grades can become shorter and thus steeper.

Vertical Easements

Essential to successful grades.  Ensures that trains stay together as they ascend or descend the hill.