Help with grade.

[Anonymous]

I am designing a small two level N scale layout. I want to beable to stage trains on the lower level and bring them up. I am thinking that the lower leverl will be eight inches below the top. I can get 8 feet of track to go from top to bottom without using a helix. Is that too much of a grade. What is the formula for figuring out a grade?

Thanks

Bob

[rrinker]

The formula is rise/run, and the units have to match.

8 inches in 8 feet is 8/96, whch would be 8.3% - WAY too much, unless you are building a logging line with switchbacks.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

Thanks

Bob

[Jetrock]

Hmmm...I'm planning on building in an essentially non-functional industrial spur on my layout, which will feature an 8% grade. Does such a thing strain credibility, or would short industrial spurs (holding no more than 1 or 2 cars) have had such steep angles?

[Anonymous]

better not forget to set the car brakes jet!! I was at a fellow's layout the other day pulling a train up a 2.5% grade. Anyway, the engines broke free from the train and the cars went screaming down the hill! Luckily somebody was there to catch them before they hit the curve. But, I digress. 8% grade is WAY too steep. Although one of the guys in my club has a layout with a 25% grade spur and the cars get winched up the hill. Pretty neat, but not all that practical or realistic.

[Anonymous]

Jetrock,

Aside from the operational issues, you are going to have a hard time putting anything next to track at 8% and have it look right. I had a 5% grade on my old layout and I couldn't put buildings next to it because either they are on the same plane as the track and look obviously out of plumb or the building is level and the track slopes away at an unrealistic angle...

[twhite]

Jetrock--I take it that you're thinking of a VERY short section of 8%, right? And levelling off of course, for the industry? Reason I asked, is because of a space limitation, I had to use a VERY short section (3") of 6% grade to lay track into the coal dump section of my Walthers coaling tower. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the remainder of the spur was on a slight grade, and my coal cars started whizzing into the main yard. Had to re-design the coal dumper to level. Oh well--
Tom

[Jetrock]

That's pretty much the setup...the track itself is strictly decorative (I won't be using it as functional track.) The spur itself is off of a 3" high berm that runs from the front of my layout to the back, a total of three feet. At 1' from the wall there is a bridge, and the actual working layout's main line runs underneath that bridge.

Because of the placement of the bridge, and the necessity that trains fit under the bridge, I have 2' of layout space for switch and track to drop to somewhere around 2" off the ground. I assume I can eke about 12-15" of total distance, then level out the track to something resembling level in front of the loading dock.
Here's a photo:


I plan on having a switch running from the elevated roadway to a cannery--it will run parallel to the spur with two boxcars on it (so there will be one spur on either side of the building.) The doors on the "elevated" side will be much higher than ground level.

The prototype building had this arrangement--one spur dropping from the elevated SP line, with the doors on that side much higher than the "street" side, and another spur at street level served by the SN. Obviously they had a lot more space to drop the spur (500 feet, instead of my 170 scale feet) so the angle of the "drop siding" will be that much sharper. I'll have a fairly sturdy track bumper and a fence blocking the path off the end of that spur, just in case...

To reiterate, this "high-line" track is NOT functional--at most it will be used to display various SP engines and rolling stock, but mostly serves as a view block and scenery element rather than functioning trackage.