What is your steepest grade?

2.9 % is my max grade. Note that if the grade is going around a radius, the minimum radius comes into play as well.

About 2 to 2.2% here.  No limits on train length. I just add power.

Clem 

I have just one that is less then 2%.............Paul

3.8%

I have a short section, about 12 feet, on the mainline that is probably in the 5% range. It is intended to be used only as a descending grade, but dual motor engines can drag 10 - 12 cars up it. You do have to watch your speed on it, because as you come upgrade around the curve, you suddenly crest the hill. When the first few cars start down, you have to be on your toes, because it will start running away on you, and there's a curve at the bottom. I don't even think cruise can protect you from this effect.

The rest of the layout, grades range between 2% and 3.5%, mostly in the two helixes.

3.5%

Heres a few pics for you. I have this grade that goes from 0 to 8" in 8' and back to 0 in another 8'. (16' long total). I built this to see how good "legacy speed control" really is. I built this using MTH realtrax. I actually found a good use for the hollow rail stuff other than the trash. Using the hollow rail allows you to bend the track over your knee. I was able to shape it perfectly to lay flat on the pink Styrofoam. Not meant as a bash on MTH track, but I just don't like the hollow rail track. I still buy the solid rail whenever I find it. The hollow just seems "cheap" to me.

That VL big boy you see will pull 30 cars up and down that hill at speed step 1. What a sight!!!! However, while only pulling a few cars, it will still walk up the hill at a slow steady speed, but "legacy" seems to let go on the way down. It will increase speed slightly till it gets to the bottom and then go back to the preset speed. With a lot of cars being pulled, it will stay at a slow consistant speed up and down

Sorry to get off topic.....I sent lionel a video of the big boy increasing speed slightly going downhill. Since my coal depleting feature stopped working and Lionel had the loco returned to them anyway, I asked them to look into the speed control issue. I spoke to the tech over the phone. He was polite, professional and a very nice person. He explained that He realized I had an issue after watching my video but to be honest with me theres nothing Lionel could do because they cant simulate my grade. Lionel ran my Big boy for a long time on their grade and it ran perfect. Their grade isn't close to mine. I will mention all my other Legacy engines do fine on this grade.  This really isn't an issue since I always run long consists with the Big boy, and when I get around to building a permanent layout, I will no longer have such a steep grade.

I violated just about every rule with my grade.  It ascends about 9 inches in 12 feet, about 6%.  It begins on a switch, ends on a switch and is completely a curve.  I eased the grade (i.e. 2,4,6,8,6,4,2 %) and eased the track radius.  Used wider radius track in and out of the curve, tighter radius in the middle.  Works great but manual speed control is required up and down the grade.  I use the grade to transition track levels.

Roughly 3%.  Most of the layout is grades of varying degrees.  Gives the cruise devices on command engines a good workout.  More challenging when operating in conventional......you learn to play the throttle to maintain a constant speed.

Bruce

2%, and it's steep enough to require consideration when building a train.

I have about 1 1/2 % on my mainline.   A large steamer or a 2 unit diesel can easily pull 25-30 cars on that grade.   And absolutely NO traction ties. 

I have about 4 % on a branch to a mine, and that requires 2 I1 2-10-0s to get an 18 car train up to the mine with Atlas H21 4 bay hoppers.

PS  By large steamer, I mean 2-10-0, 2-10-2, 4-8-2 and most 2-8-2s.     I don't have any articulateds.

My worst grade is 3.5% with an 042 curve of 180 degrees halfway up. This limits train length to about 10-12 cars on this grade, but the other grades are no problem.

Rod

This is my one and only grade. Drops 6 inches in 33 1/2 feet through a sweeping S curve. These are earlier pics. I couldn't find the last I took with all the scenery in place.................Paul

This is my one and only grade. Drops 6 inches in 33 1/2 feet. It's a sweeping S curve. I have pulled 30 car freights up and down it with no problems. Some pics. These are earlier pics I couldn't find the last ones I just did with all the scenery in place............Paul

3.8% starting on an O72 curve. No problem with train length, but I only run command with cruise control these days.

clem k posted:

About 2 to 2.2% here.  No limits on train length. I just add power.

Clem 

That is my grade as well.

3.8% grade,  requires a little more power.  Surprisingly down a little more intense than up.  Mouse over image the and click on the triangle for a Photobucket video.   Pittsburg and Shawmut Railroad used this consist daily.    GP7, an older Pennsy  rebuild, could only be used as the lead unit.    Two units get the job done.  (5) units is impressive, IMO.  All pictured units are powered, Atlas GP7, EOB speed control, custom paint, and Atlas SW 9's TMCC.  

The MTH Rail King pier sets on my railroad have 4.6% to 5.5% grades on the El lines. The BMT Q, LoV, trolley cars and occasional passenger trains with traction tires I run on the El have no issues climbing these grades. However, I did roughen the surface of the track rails with a stone.

MTH Pier Sets On Left of Picture Have 4.6% Grades

Passenger Train Ascending 4.6% Grade

Roughing The Rails With A Stone

Never measured it but I have a 12 foot section that mimics the HO layout Gum Stump & Snowshoe from Model Railroad magazine in the 60's.  That grade has to be in the 8-9% range.  A single plymouth switcher and an empty weaver hopper work that line using a Pocono Mountain lines reverse board.  That switcher works hard getting up that grade.

Nobody has mentioned this.

Be aware that grades can be strictly limited if you run scale length passenger cars with K-D couplers. It isn't the grade . . . it's the transition that can cause K-Ds to decouple on 21 inch cars. My grade is a mere 2%, but I still had fits in the transition with 21" GGD cars with KD couplers.

When I was building my layout many years ago Steve Brenissen from Ross Custom Switches told me that a maximum of 2% would insure that you you could run any and all trains. 29 years later I have to agree. The maximum 2% rule has worked flawlessly. No derailing nor uncoupling. No nothing. And, you can continue a grade of 2% or less on curved sections of track without any banking necessary. And, It' so easy to do using L Girder construction as described in Linn Wescott's book on Model Railroading Benchwork. 

O%.

I have switching moves taking place on the mainline as my layout is a branchline in a small room, and any grade would make it impossible to leave cars in place during switching moves.

Micro-Mark Grade Indicator WARNING!  Didn't know that the darn thing reset itself to degrees from percent each time it was powered on, so built the grade at a max of 2 ... which was degrees, and ended up with 3.8+% grade once I figured it out.  3rd Rail Challenger will make it up, pulling one heavyweight car.  Two cars it stalls out. 

So today we begin ripping it all out, and relaying it while paying close attention to the big sign on the wall "RESET THE **** GRADE DEVICE TO PERCENT BEFORE USING!!"

We'll keep it under 2% max now.

Gurrrrr ... one step forward, two steps backward.

Oh well, we are already 4 years behind schedule due to you-name-its.

5.2% & 4.8%. I messed up measuring off a ceiling one spot, floor the other. With 36" straights, its a steady grade once the transition is done.  A further graduation of grade as noted would perform better.

  I tend to run counterclockwise, and use a Z for throttle blocks. #B is normally the climb (the 5.2 because downhill on the 5.2, the curve at the very bottom is a challenge) , #A is the Top Level, #C The down grade, only needs 4- 7v, and #D is ground level.

 The grade is pretty much dedicated to a Virginian E-33 electric and a 6-9 car coal drag depending on if they are new or PW. The grades actually make the tmcc sounds of the normally steady and quiet electric, moan and sing.

I also cheat and use clear two sided tape on one rail for better traction

% grade =  Rise/Run X 100  

     3.8% = 7" / 184",(15', 4"), X 100

Took it all down and began the "re-alignment" to keep it all between 2% and less.   Can't live with the big engines only pulling a couple of cars up it.  Lesson learned: always read the instructions again for something you have not used in a while.  The memory of such things is fleeting over months of inactivity.

I believe we get up to or above 7% on the Christmas layout. This year we had the Polar Express pulling 12 coaches without issues, until Christmas day when we bent the drive rods on the transition to the uphill grade. So 30 days of fun before we switched over to the LionChief Plus engines. This is last years video...

The San Diego 3-Railers only have a 2% But a AGTTA Member has a 3 Level layout and it has a few 2 grades and a few 3 to 4 percents

pennsynut posted:

clem k posted:

About 2 to 2.2% here.  No limits on train length. I just add power.

Clem 

That is my grade as well.

Same here.

p51 posted:

O%.

I have switching moves taking place on the mainline as my layout is a branchline in a small room, and any grade would make it impossible to leave cars in place during switching moves.

I think the solution is quite obvious, scale chocks and skates!

I'm 0% as well, mostly as a matter of space.

You do know there is an APP for your smart phone that measures % of grade.

Clem