Steepest Grade

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Jabez		#1 Posted : 08 September 2016 01:13:09(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 30/08/2016(UTC) Posts: 636 Location: Brussels		What is the steepest grade that is practical with C-track and normal locos and trains? Marklin says the standard is 5% but I imagine you can go a bit steeper than that, averaging in gradual transitions of course.
		I heard that lonesome whistle blow. Hank Williams

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dominator		#2 Posted : 08 September 2016 04:06:08(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 20/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 1,195 Location: Kerikeri		this topic was discussed a few days ago. Cant find it but you might if you persist. an answer. It depends on what locos you want to run, and whether you want them to pull carriages. I heard the the latest P8 digital " wont pull the skin of a rice pudding" whereas my older 3098 models will. All the older heavy locos will pull like hell, but newer lighter ones wont. anything over 4% and you might be asking for trouble with newer lighter locos. You will have to set up tests to determine what you can get away with. Dereck.
		Northland. NZ REMEMBER 0228 for ä

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analogmike		#3 Posted : 08 September 2016 04:18:41(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 02/08/2014(UTC) Posts: 739 Location: NEW JERSEY, USA		Marklin says 5% because they want you to wear-out your loks so you'll buy more. I never exceed 2%. This way a lok with 6 tinplate passenger cars goes up the hill without slowing down or me having to touch the traffo. Mikey
		I love the smell of smoke fluid in the morning .

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Alsterstreek		#4 Posted : 08 September 2016 11:51:40(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 16/11/2011(UTC) Posts: 5,669 Location: Hybrid Home		Links to various previous discussions: https://www.marklin-user.../t33469-Acceptable-Grade https://www.marklin-user...t-and-for-real-in-Europe
		Greetz - Ak My current "layout": https://www.marklin-user...aigne-Project#post592818

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RayF		#5 Posted : 08 September 2016 17:08:13(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC) Posts: 15,839 Location: Gibraltar, Europe		Set the gradients to the minimum you can manage. There is a reason why real railways avoid gradients as much as possible! When I was planning my current layout I had initially planned a "figure of eight" with the track looping over itself. I set up a test layout on the living room floor using Lego bricks as pillars and tested various gradients with all the locos I had at the time. I was aiming at 10cm clearance between the lower and upper tracks. My findings were that I needed about 2 meters of track for the 10cm rise, which I believe works out at 5%. Anything steeper than that was hard for some of the smaller locos to achieve with a load of 5 wagons if I recall correctly. My recommendation is to try it for yourself. Apart from getting results that are more relevant to yourself you will spend a pleasant evening trundling different trains around!
		Ray Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.

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Minok		#6 Posted : 09 September 2016 01:09:36(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,311 Location: Washington, Pacific Northwest		I can only agree with the various views. There is no one answer. It depends on the locomotive, its traction and motor, and the amount of cars it is pulling. To find out what grade a loco+specific cars can climb reliably, you have to set up an experiment and keep increasing the grade until the train begins to not make the climb cleanly. HO modeling is a compromise. We compromise lengths of trains for the space we have, or the complexity of the layout for the space we have, etc. We can certainly trade realistic grades for the grades needed to get the train to make the climb necessary to transition for realizing our layout design. I'm doing this now. I'm building a helix with threaded posts and will run experiments. I envision my layout running loco + 4 passenger car trains, and will test that combo on the helix, increasing the distance climbed over the 5 revolutions until I get the train to stall or run out of threads on the adjusting rods. That will then inform me on what sort of layout design I can make. Ideally I can climb enough to get my 2 level layout transition done easily within the helix and have the upper level to be high enough over the lower level to not impede visually like a roof. But I won't know till I try it with the locomotives and cars I will be running.
		Toys of tin and wood rule! --- My Layout Thread on marklin-users.net: InterCity 1-3-4 My YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@intercity134

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dominator		#7 Posted : 10 September 2016 02:23:17(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 20/01/2015(UTC) Posts: 1,195 Location: Kerikeri		Hi Minok, let us know how you get on. My layout is going to be expanded much like what you are planning, with my original layout underneath so the me and the grand children can play, with the new mountain railway above [ maybe 400 mm above ]. My existing play layout has two slopes which are 3% [ 11 x 5016 rising 53mm ], and the locos do slow down on it when pulling loads. [ hence my 2 class 23 Loco consist with the 9 metal coaches. ] Mikey, you are probably correct. Dereck
		Northland. NZ REMEMBER 0228 for ä


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utkan		#8 Posted : 10 September 2016 16:58:24(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 14/07/2009(UTC) Posts: 19,116 Location: Istanbul,		It is not C, but M-Track... 25 cm height / 400cm = 0,0625 so the value in Marklinistanbul is 6,25 %* All my locos can climb this without any difficulty....the remarkable one I remember DB 44 690 climbed with more than 50 wagons... *If the calculation is wrong please correct me...
		Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you...

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Steepest grade on a layout and for real in Europe? (H0-scale)
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