Subway grade question

Nope, It likely will be traction limited. Again, powered unit by itself, maybe,

add 3 cars- probably stalls out. Add a curve into the grade and forgetaboutit.

Just my opinion and experience based on the Christmas LED lighted subway set. On a level grade tubular o-42 curve based elevated tubular track I cannot pull all 5 cars (the set was sold as 3+3 add-on). Again, just the friction of 5 cars on the level and its pushing the limit- let alone the extra drag in the curve.

@Vernon Barry posted:

Nope, It likely will be traction limited. Again, powered unit by itself, maybe,

add 3 cars- probably stalls out. Add a curve into the grade and forgetaboutit.

Just my opinion and experience based on the Christmas LED lighted subway set. On a level grade tubular o-42 curve based elevated tubular track I cannot pull all 5 cars (the set was sold as 3+3 add-on). Again, just the friction of 5 cars on the level and its pushing the limit- let alone the extra drag in the curve.

Thank you. I was looking for an honest answer. Appreciate it.

Those MTH subway cars do pull quite well. Here is a video of one of mine acting as a "mid-train" locomotive. The lead Chicago car (after the Hooker tanker) is the only powered unit in the consist (note that it is operating on O-48 Fastrack):

That is way too steep a grade   You will be changing traction tires every other day   We graded at the club 1/2" for every two feet and some subways have problems doing that

@bluelinec4 posted:

That is way too steep a grade   You will be changing traction tires every other day   We graded at the club 1/2" for every two feet and some subways have problems doing that

Thanks. I’ve scrapped the L idea for now. I figured it was too steep but it never hurts to ask.

I have the MTH BMT World's Fair Q-Car Set and a set of MTH LoVs. Neither will reliably pull a 5% on my layout. 

The MTH subways have plenty of oversite design issues. Grade operation is not recommended.

Might want to buy additional sets, use the 2nd power unit as a helper and sell off the extra dummies'.

My R11 set did ok on the grade but I didn’t want to push it. My other sets didn’t like the grade, so I took it down.

Have you thought of a spiral? If you can hide it in the scenery, a spiral (aka helix) will let you gain the needed height while keeping a gentle grade. But it would require a lot of room.

The subway sets have a couple of things working against them:

1: the power truck block is from the RailKing streetcar, so not really engineered for pulling much.

2: the non-powered cars have trucks that basically make them into dummy diesel locomotives, with all the drag that entails. That's probably the biggest factor affecting their pulling ability.

I've been known to run ten-car subway trains (just like the real ones), but I knew early on that I'd have to add a second powered car to make it work in that configuration , and that's how I run them -- with the second unit midway down the train.

---PCJ

I also found that a bit of oil at the points specified by MTH or Lionel made a signficant reduction in the trailer cars' drag.

Hi Joe

Here is a Your Tube video of someone who did a spiral/helix for his subway layout.  I believe this is what you were referring to.

That's a good example. Cleverly done.

@Steven posted:

Hi Joe

Here is a Your Tube video of someone who did a spiral/helix for his subway layout. 

works nice, what's the spacing in the dowels to get the correct height?

@Brooklyn Corey posted:

My R11 set did ok on the grade but I didn’t want to push it. My other sets didn’t like the grade, so I took it down.

Another thing working against you is the curves on the grade (It's a lot harder to pull up a grade on a curve than it is straight). If you could reconfigure your track so that your curves are on the same elevation as the base and elevated track, and only have straight track on the rise and decent, it might work better...