# Grade or percent??



## G1-L Tech (Dec 7, 2016)

I have just recently started my layout in N scale, now, I have a rise, grade or percent or what have you, it rises 1.75" in 24". My question is this, is that too steep? And will my loco be able to climb it? I know it depends on what I'm pulling behind it, I would say no more than 16-18 cars. Maybe I would need a helper loco?
Thanks.:cAnada:


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

That works out to about 7 1/2 % grade or worse after you work in the transition. Heck, a lot of cog railroads are about that steep.
I have no idea what loco you plan to run on this or the type of cars. What I do think though is that the short incline will only put a shorter part of the train on the incline, so that may be to your advantage.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

For operational efficiency,grades should ideally be kept under 2% so yes,this is way too steep.A 3%-4% may be manageable but are highly limiting if you want to pull somewhat prototypical looking trains.

Though you may get over it for a while,I strongly recommend you re-draw your plan for long term enjoyment.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I think Jake has the right numbers, those kinds of grades are reserved to very short trains.


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## Overkast (Jan 16, 2015)

Just did a quick mock-up in SCARM and D&J is correct - it's a 7.3% grade to be exact. Definitely not good!


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Figuring Grades*



G1-L Tech said:


> I have just recently started my layout in N scale, now, I have a rise, grade or percent or what have you, it rises 1.75" in 24". My question is this, is that too steep? And will my loco be able to climb it? I know it depends on what I'm pulling behind it, I would say no more than 16-18 cars. Maybe I would need a helper loco?
> Thanks.:cAnada:


 G1_L Tech;

As others have pointed out; your present grade is way too steep for practical operation. It will help you in designing your railroad to figure out grades mathematically before building them. It's quite simple really. First use the same unit of measure for all the dimensions. The track rises x# of inches in y# of inches, not feet. It is also helpful to use Metric measuring since both metrics and percentages are easily divisible by ten. 
The actual formula is, X over 100 (the percentage you are calculating) equals 5cm.(of vertical rise) over 200cm. (of horizontal travel by the train) This works out to a 2.5% grade. That's about as steep as you should go, and a lower, "percent-of-grade" would be better. 
There is also the matter of something called, "Vertical easements." They are stretches of milder, lower percentage, grade that should be included at the bottom and top of every grade. The purpose is to ease the locomotive's job of pulling the train up a hill. These easements also prevent such things as the front coupler on a loco from digging into the track when sharply going from level track, straight into the full steepness of the main grade. At the top, a coupler may point up enough to unhook from the next car causing a runaway train. The top easement prevents this.
Vertical easements, and keeping grades within reasonable percentages, both add lots of length to grades. They really gobble up a lot of space, especially on a small layout. Real railroads hate grades and avoid them whenever possible. Where they can't be avoided, a lot of effort goes into finding the route with the easiest (lower percentage) grade.

Regards;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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## rrjim1 (Mar 12, 2015)

I learned from my first layout that over 2% grades weren't want I wanted. I stated over and went with a 1% grade. Couldn't be happier!


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## G1-L Tech (Dec 7, 2016)

Thank you everyone for your responses. I have since changed my grade to a lot lower, it now only rises about 9/16 to 3/4 of an inch in 24 inches, which I think works out to be about 1.8%.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Actually, 3/4" in 24" is a 3% grade. Not too bad, and should be doable for a many locomotives and consists.

1" in 100" is a 1% grade, 1" in 50" is a 2% grade, 1" in 25" is a 4% grade, etc.


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