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4%? whoo. The best you can hope for is a few cars up with many trips and slippery slide and a prayer on the way down. I used to watch some really serious battles along the Raton Pass, Big Sandy, Donner Cajon etc The steeper the grade the more horsepower (Torque) and multiple engines needed. Given all things equal eventually a point is reached where the sheer mass of the loaded train will defeat the availiable traction. Even with sand and more engines. With that said speeds are very slow. "fast freight" grinding upgrade at 20 miles an hour with sanders and safety valves howling is not any faster than the massive Cab Forward grinding uphill with a bigger but slower train. In mountain areas speed is a killer. Traction and Power reigns. I have experienced several 20+% grades as a trucker years ago. On those grades with a 350 cat and a total of 39 tons and change the best I could do was slower than a walking man. That one grade was about 2 miles straight up and it took me about an hour to run it. There was damage to several pistons and loss of fluids (oil, water etc) that day. I made it up that hill. Sometimes even the best engineering and technology as well as the best built (Not Ford -dont get me started on Ford) products will fail if stressed enough. Your light engines will do well in the flatlands, leave the hill climbing to the articuleds and mallets. That is what they are made for.
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