Building a grade

[skippy_59]

I'm in the mist of adding a staging area to my layout.

My question is, I need to drop my staging 4". How do I figure out the grade of drop for my staging?

[dgwinup]

A 1" drop over a 100" length is a 1% grade.  To drop 4", you'll need a run of 400", or 33 1/3 FEET!

I consider 1% to be a mild grade but it will still reduce the amount of cars a single engine can pull.  Anything over 1 1/2% is a heavy grade and the reduction in cars pulled will be significant.

Hope this helps.

[selector]

Practically, it should be based on what will allow your trains to climb up off the staging and run around your layout.  For some trains, it may be 4%, while for others it may be 1.5%.  What that means for you is that you need to establish your train consis, and then what that consist can manage up out of staging and on to the layout proper.  Once we know how much of a grade your typical train can handle, at that point you will be able to measure the minimum length needed to get you the 4" in height up off the staging.

Realistically, ball parking it, I would want about 8-12 feet if I had a very heavy and strong puller that needed to climb 4" over that distance, or a more typical HO large diesel, say a SD70 or so, would want about 12-16' with 20 cars in tow.

Crandell

[abbieleibowitz]

All the responses about measuring are right. One point to add, consider using Woodland Scenics foam inclines to get a smooth grade. They come in 1-4% grades and they also will show you just how much room you need to get the grade down (or up) 4 inches at various slopes.

Abbie

[CTValleyRR]

You didn't tell us much about your layout.  Addiing a 33' run to a 20x45 layout isn't a big deal, but it's a show stopper on a 4x8.  My experience suggests that anything over a 2% grade (that is, 2" of rise over 100" of travel) will result in unacceptable operational compromises.

So basically, you'd need 200" (16' 8") of horizontal travel to gain your required elevation.  Maybe a mini-helix (think Tehachapi Loop) would help you do this without chewing up too much area.

[galaxy]

I learned the hard way {by tearing apart two layouts and starting over again} that a 3% or 4% grade DOES NOT work!.

I would stick with no more than a 2% grade {2" rise over 100" [ 8' 8"]}.

A 1% as suggested, would be even better, especially if you have to have curves in your incline. The curves effectively increase the grade by about 1% by adding drag to the engine as it navigates the curves.

It also depends on your engine's pulling power {or engines if you consist them}, the length and weight of your train it or they are pulling up that grade. SOme engines pull better than others.

But I would still stick with a 1 or 2% grade ONLY.

 I also second the motion for using Woodland Scenics flexible foam grade packages. They may be a bit more expensive than other methods of achieving grades, but they are worth it and easy to use and guarantee a perfect level incline grade. You buy an "incline{a ramp}" set for the grade you want, then buy the "risers {a constant height equal to the length fo the inclines}". As the inclines increase, you put the risers under the next incline and so on to get a perfect inclined grade.

[gandydancer19]

It all depends on train length (the number of cars and their weight).  I run a five to six car train up a 4% grade with no problems.  More cars than that, I just double head.  My max train length for my layout is nine cars.

Theory is all well and good, but theory does not replace a mock-up test.  So get a board, put some track on it, then put a train on it.  Next, run the train back and forth and raise one end of the board and see what the train does.  Pick the grade that works for you.