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Pretty Close. MR released a article years ago about HO scale locomotive behavior. I imagine the MDC probably has a train moving onto the hill and when the "DRAG" (think of a force pulling backwards against the engine) over comes the "Force" (think of the pull on the front of the engine) then it will not be able to move forward. I had a very steep hill one winter. My 18 wheeler was fully loaded. There is no question that I have the power and the strength to carry this weight. But... I got on that thin sheet ice halfway up and started slipping. I made it to the top but the weight was more than what was "holding on" (traction) to the road itself. I felt the truck "stagger" and threaten to slip backwards down the street. That was a bit exciting as there were people a few feet behind me praying that I dont stop. Never mind the angles of forces on that 5th wheel acting on the entire rig. So when your engine staggers on the track and slips it's drivers it's telling you the load is too much. You can put a bigger engine or a shorter train. Or 2 or more engines. If none of these work then find more space and ease your grade. A customer at the LHS is doing just that. He tore out his heavy grades and started over with 1% grades. I personally prefer to add engines. If you can share the load and get that train over the top then mission accomplished until the next hill. Sometimes I put a too big train on my BLI Mountain and have to either put the Mikado as a double header or get out the J1 2-10-4 or bigger engine to try to get the train up and over. Doubling the hill or splitting that train up into two seperate trains is another option. You can always add weight up to a point. If you put too much on then your motor will quietly burn up. I had a Tyco GP20 as a child which never had any kind of weight on that power truck. It derails when you try to start 6 cars on level track. I finally taped a brick from the back yard to the top of the engine and it did not derail for 2 laps. At the end of the 2nd lap there was a smell of burned motor. My taste for large and capable motive power in the hobby stems from that day. The ultimate expression is my ABBA desiel unit (All powered) that is capable of any train on any grade at any speed. ( have yet to use it LOL)
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