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Now you know how the railroads feel about grades Chip. For an old time 2-6-0 pulling only a few cars at a time on a grade was prototypical. Double hilling was common. <br /> Of course going down hill was dangerous (and still is today to a degree). Air brakes (if they were around the time you're modeling) in that era were only good for trains a few cars long. <br /> Imagine what it was like for train crews before air brakes was invented. The engineer would whistle for the brakemen to climb up on top of the rail cars and turn the brake wheels. Going down hill in a snow or rain storm and especially at night was the most dangerous job. That's why railroaders were regarded as heroes of the day. Many were killed just doing there job!
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