This is a At 67 first for me and what I want know is How steep a grade can I use to gain about two feet in elegation at the shortest run. All the engines are the Bug Haulers by Bachmann. I only have a spot about 25 feet square. in the side yard.I am creating a mountian gold mine and 1800' town to support it. At 67 I may be a little late to get into all this in two big of a way. Thanks Fat Man
I would not push the Big Hauler ten wheelers much past a 2% grade. That's about 2 inches elevation for every 8 feet (96 or close to 100 inches) of run. To get 2 feet of elevation you'll need a run of around 100 feet.
I have seen Bachmann shays run 8% grades without a problem. Anything steeper and that and you'll need a cog railroad and the old LGB cog locos are tough and expensive to come by.
Your space of 25 square feet is rather small, just enough for a 4' x 6' oval of track. To get the effect you want you could use a mix of a mountain, tunnel and trestle. Something like this -
-Brian
Thanks for the reply. But I think I mis stated. My space is 25 foot on all four sides. It sounds like I still do not have enough space for the lift I want. I guess I will have to lower the hill. Thanks for the help FATS
2% is about the limit of "normal" so that would mean 100' of track to get up to 2'. Of course you can go outside of normal. Some of the loggers went to as much as 6% on short sections to bring logs down. Then there are the specialty tracks such as the cog rails that could go pretty steep. I too have a gold mine that is 2 feet above the town. I used a 16.5' dia 2-turn helix to climb the grade. It's your railroad so you can do just about anything you want. If you do go over 2% just understand that you won't be able to pull long consists up the grade or down the grade for that matter. Remember that our cars don't have brakes so all you have is the loco to control speed coming down a grade. Most of all have fun. FYI - I'm 65 so you're not too late getting into this adventure.
Rex
Thanks Rex: I spent a long cold snowy wenter building the buiildings or at least most of them for the lay out now I have to figure out if it will all work together. For the mine mill I used the real Kentucky mine in Sierra County of California which is just a ffew miles above my house.It probley the only building I made that is some what true to scale. Thanks again Fats
That's a bit better room wise. I have a helical loop at one end of my layout with about a 3% grade which most locos will handle. The area is about 16 feet deep using 10 foot diameter curves and straight. I get a 11 inch rise in that space (just enough for the bridge with 8 inches of clearance underneath).
What you want to do is workable with zig-zags, helixes and stronger locos.
I too build in the winter while we're here in the desert of Phoenix. Our layout is at our summer home in the tall cool pines. Here are some pictures of the helix and the mine area. Do you do your own plans or do you get them from one of the vendors?
Welcome to the forum and as far as age goes, I'll be joining the "65" crowd this Sunday.
Why lower the hill? Why not build up the right of way with a mix of fill and bridging. Keep your main line high and then run a "spur line" for local service down a winding branch line servicing the communities and businesses that thrive under your bridgework. This winding branch-line would be for runs with one or two cars, and possibly an interurban car.
Tom Trigg
Hello Fat Man, Welcome also: My posts have been few and far between but I learned the hard way about trying to gain only 9" height within the small space for my railroad. I found an 8 ft Dia. circle worked for me. It worked out to be about 3.3 percent grade and this is over what is considered normal. I also am using Bachman Haulers that have no problems making this grade. Before using a circle of track for the incline I had tried a grade higher than 3.3%. I don't know what the grade % I used but it was to much for a consist behind the Haulers and didn't look in scale(to much to fast). The circle must decieve the eyes making things look in scale but I wish I had used a 10ftCir. BTW, rex in pinetop your suspensions & trestles look beautiful, and ttrigg you just gave me an idea for an interurban rail for my R.R. TOM
I just want to thank all that replyed to my quest. The pictures that were send were great and I got a lot of ideas from them. I just hope my project come out good enough to photo and send it to any one. Thanks FATS
Welcome aboard Fats, sounds like you may be in Sierra City, if so I live just over the hill from you, also in Sierra County in Loyalton. My railroad is about a 450’ mainline loop with maximum grades of 2.5%. However Big Haulers seem to be slippery and not good pullers. The traction of most locomotives can be increased by adding weight to the loco, just make sure that when the loco stalls the drivers still spin, otherwise the motor can burn up. I’ve been to the Kentucky Mine, it’s a beautiful location, would like to see your model of it. I’m in my sixties also.
Have fun, Rob
Hi Rob; I actualy live in Downieville but we are still close. Perhaps we can get together some time. I would like to see your layout. There may be more peole in the county that is into trains. Have you tried to put two engines in tandem for more pull. I have seen a lot of real trains witth a lot of engines. Janet and I had a farm in Ill. and a track ran along one side for a couple mile and it was a good grade. I saw a train with six engines and one mile of coal carrs.. The track was a mess I would walk along it to get to my bottom fields and there was not a tie that did not have spikes out and laying on the ground. Sure enough one mornig they dumped about twenty cars into my field. Talk about something that can ruin a corn field they did, but they paied me for it in spades. If you want to get gotether sometime let me know. Thanks FATS
My Bug Hauler will run on my 4+% grades, but then its only pulling itself and 1 or 2 cars, anything more and it stalls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6FZKr4Fp-U&feature=channel_page
I agree if you can keep the grades lower, it is better performance wise.
Have fun with your trains
Howdy Fats; I was on the Sierra County grand jury several years ago and drove to Downieville monthly. Wow, when speed limit signs say 15 mph on Highway 49 over Yuba Pass they mean it or it over a 500’ cliff with no guard rails.
Patricia and I are members of the Northern Nevada Garden Railway Society and the Sacramento Valley GRS. We will be hosting the August 09 NNGRS meeting. We’re not sure of the exact date; it will coincide with Portola Railroad Days. We’ll be having open house that weekend. As a side note the Portola Railroad Museum is free except train rides. You can also rent and run a 1:1 size locomotive. We also have a garden railroader friend down the street. I’ll keep you informed. I run track power using an Aristo Train Engineer. In the meantime this video should answer some of your questions. I usually run multi-loco trains of a dozen or so cars.
Hello Rob: I used to run the tow truck for old Frank Tabor rest his soul I hve pulled a lot of cars that could not read a road sign or a speed sign They would have 4-wheel drive and think they could do anything they wanted. All 4 wheel drive did was get them stuck farther into the mud or snow. It is snowing here as we speak now.and I was looking in the back yard to see what I can do for my rail road. I have a couple more building to build yet and some more track and I am ready to start putting it all in. I would like to come over the hill to see your layout some time. and what you were say abut August is just great I would love to come to tha. I took agout three thousand gallons of old diseal oil over to the musium for them to use I had the oil and it was contamited wih motor oil and I think it would run a old oil stoker real good, at leasr it would make a lot of black smoke. They had a old tanker car sertting there and I would just back up to it and pump the oil into it. what they did with it I never knew. Keep me in touch FATS
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