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Kathy, Christmas railroad sounds fantastic! Would the railroad be permanent or temporary? You did not say whether you have a one story home or two. Where we live, a one story home from ground to ridge is approx 18 feet. Trying to get a G scale train up to that height would be daunting. You could use a rack locomotive such as produced by LGB. Their rack locos can climb a 25% grade with one or two cars, but the track work and supporting structure would take up a lot of room, plus you would not ordinarily run that loco as a ground level train. Kalmback Publishing-(Host of this site) has a beginers booklet on garden started in garden railroading. They also have other books and tapes about this great hobby. One thing to remember, the higher the grade, the shorter the train one loco can pull. As said above, 1 inch per 10 feet =a 1% grade and normally 2-3% would be max. Some G scale locos have a traction tire that aids in traction and those locos can pull a few more cars than locos without the tire. If I may suggest, look up a garden railroad club in your area. Visit a meeting or two and see what others are doing. You might find that there other options open as to track layout, etc. Depends where you live, whether you would lay track on the ground or raise it up a bit. Weather (Snow) can be a consideration. Garden Railroading is fun at Christmas or year round. The whole family gets involved when the trains are outside. The major cost would be in the track. If I may suggest, start with a Christmas set and get some extra straight pieces, etc. Select an area and try different track configurations and then use the one you like best to start with. Hope this helps, GE
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