Elevation

A lot of folks prefer 2% or less while some are okay with up to 3%. I get 200” for a 3% grade and 300” for 2%. I should also mention that the Lionel and MTH trestle sets go to somewhere near 5” with I believe around a 5% grade in 120”.

Jim Van Every posted:

How long should the track be to lift it 6 inches, what angle do you recommend?

The correct answer is..................... As long as you can possibly make it!  The lesser the angle, the better off you'll be! 

Good answers. Usually, this question is because you are trying to climb to a specific height and are space constrained. How steep you can make your climb depends on your equipment and how long and heavy of a train you plan to pull. Modern, shorter command control engines with traction tires and light consists can climb pretty steep grades. Postwar magna-traction engines climb pretty well too. Curved climbs will have more drag and will make it harder on the train. 

George

I like to figure on a 2.5 percent grade.  Easy to calculate distance of ramp.  For our purposes, a 2.5 percent grade rises 1/4 inch in 10 inches.

For a 6 inch rise, there are 24 quarter inches (6 times 4 quarters per inch).

That gives a distance of 240 inches (10 inches times 24) which is 20 feet.

You may want to add a little at the bottom and top of the rise for a smooth transition.

Plus measuring/installing supports is a bit easier too since support spacing is based on 10 inch increments.  You can always adjust if ramp seems too steep and you have space to move supports farther apart.

Wow! 20 feet up and 20 feet down? You guys must have barns to put your layouts in! I am sure I did it in a smaller space with a Lionel graduated trestle set.

George

The Lionel graduated trestle only climbs to 4.5” apparently. It’s set for a 4% grade. It can climb in 6’. It’s a little hairy at that grade.

George

Easing the grade will help climb where space is a constraint.  I made custom graduated "T" supports out of a dowel with a piece of wood on top.  I angled the top of the "T" to match the grade.  I also have only one way up and down with reversing loops.

Eric Siegel of ericstrains mentioned in one of his videos that the grade to his high line was 6 percent.

Jan

I use a 6% grade, which works OK for shorter trains (say 10-12 freight cars). 

As stated, the lower the % grade the better, however I had to use a 6% grade to climb 16" in about 26ft. There is only one corner on this grade and all works fine with most of my engines.

I did notice that the diesel engines can pull over 10 cars up this grade, while the steam engines cannot pull as many cars, say 4 passenger cars.

I used 24 feet to get to a 6"  clearance, but then I also use 120" Dia. curves.  O scale size trains just look better on bigger right of way. I was thinking of going S scale at one time, I was just going to keep the road bed in place and put S down where the O was. 

Thats the problem with O it takes up a lot of room.

Modern engines with traction tires will not have a problem pulling trains up the grades that have been discussed.  Remember, that short steep grades are not that big of a problem as it is only that cars that are on the grade that contribute to the additional load on the engine.

Jan

More power on the grades. 

Jim Van Every posted:

How long should the track be to lift it 6 inches, what angle do you recommend?

Got my elevation done. Saw an engine run on it. Thanks for all the help

You can lessen the space required for a low grade percentage by making one track go up at the same time making the other track go down.  

Here, the two tracks on the bottom go down towards the right and the outside track is doing up to the right.

Here you can see the grade of each.

Plenty of clearance for a double stack train or a GG1 with pantographs up.

Jim Van Every posted:

Jim Van Every posted:

How long should the track be to lift it 6 inches, what angle do you recommend?

Got my elevation done. Saw an engine run on it. Thanks for all the help

But was it pulling a load? Was it your worst engine? You can't "know" without a full load!

15'-18' to 7"h gave me about 5% which is boarderline acceptable for half a dozen. For 10-12 cars I had to use 2 sided tape on one rail as a traction booster.  My magnetraction 2045 Hudson climbs best, Then a Berk Jr (tire) then TMCC era E-33 (1 pulmore magnetraction).  The GG-1 doesn't like the transition into/out of the grade nor the graded 0-27 curves (needs 0-31 normally but some can manage flat 0-27)