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Steep grades

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  • Member since
    June 2007
  • 8,892 posts
Posted by riogrande5761 on Saturday, December 16, 2017 5:40 PM

railandsail

 

 
riogrande5761

The grades on the two stretches of track here are 2.9% each, one going up and one going down.  I would have preferred gentler but I was able to pull 22 car trains ok with two six axle diesels.

 

 

What sort of clearance did you achive in that overpass area? And what sort of horizontal distance,...approx??

Brian,

Where the top track passed over the bottom in the distance was just enough to clear my talled autorack and double stack cars.  However, to achieve the clearance, I bought a metal strap piece at home depot that would support the track above with plenty of weight carrying capacity.  I think the tallest piece of rolling stock would clear the bottom of the overpass with about 1/4-inch extra space.

I think the bridge over had a horizontal distance of about 9 or 10 inches from memory.  That piece of metal I bought was enough to span that space with about an inch on each side for support.

I designed the no-lix so I could have a mild a grade as possible yet still get trains from the staging yard below up and over to the top level.  There wasa bout 7 1/2 inches head room over the staging yard.  Not a lot, but enough to reach over rolling stock on front to access trains to the back.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Saturday, December 16, 2017 5:47 PM

Yes I would use a piece of thin metal myself, but I believe there is only 4 inches of clearance required to clear autoracks and dbl stacks,...4 inches from top of rail on the bottom level, to the bottom of roadbed overhead??

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