# Old HO stuff



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

So, I have all my old HO stuff left over, now, I'm going to build a new railroad, but in N scale, but I have my old HO foam risers, can I use them for my N scale track?


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Grade percentage*



G1-L Tech said:


> So, I have all my old HO stuff left over, now, I'm going to build a new railroad, but in N scale, but I have my old HO foam risers, can I use them for my N scale track?


G1-L Tech;

You can probably use the old foam risers. They will be wider for N-scale, but that shouldn't matter. What will matter is the steepness of the grade. Grades are measured the same mathematical way in any scale from Z to prototype(real, full size, railroads.) Gradient is expressed as a percentage. Prototype railroads try to keep their grades at one to two percent. For them, two percent is a steep grade. On model railroads, we tend to have steeper grades because of our limited space. Model grades (in any scale) usually run from two to four percent. So what does the "percent of grade" mean? It is the amount of vertical height climbed relative to the length of track used to make that height. For example, If the track rises one inch in one hundred inches of track length, that's a one percent grade. If the track rises four inches in the same one hundred inch stretch of track, that is a four percent grade. Grades should be similar regardless of which of the common modeling scales you use. A three percent grade in N-scale will rise three units for a track length of one hundred of the same units. This would be the same for HO, or any other scale.
I've found it easier to use metric measurements when calculating grades. Both meters and percentages are divisible by ten, which makes the math a bit simpler. 

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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## PRR1950 (Oct 26, 2013)

While calculation of grade percentage is identical across scales, as Traction Fan mentioned, it does not answer the original poster's real question. Usability of pre-built grade supports depends on several factors beside the grade percent. Summing them up, the answer depends on whether or not the engines he chooses to use will pull the number/weight of cars he wants them to pull up the grade.

For example, a single motored HO scale engine might be able to pull 10 average freight cars up a 4% grade, but a single motored N scale engine might only pull 5 of the same type average freight cars up a 4% grade. Friction, weight and pulling power are not scale proportionate, so whether or not he will be satisfied with the HO scaled risers on an N scale layout may only be determinable by trial and error testing with his equipment.

Also, please remember to adjust the height you are climbing if your main interest is to cross over some track below. You don't have to rise to HO scale clearances.

Chuck


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