incline

I believe after all the calculations it's about 1/4" per foot

so thats 1 inch =4feet so 3 inches =12 feet well this layout isnt gonna work

You gutta’ let someone else reply. The grade is usually 2% but different inclines still work. 

Maximum grade is usually 4%. That is a rise of 4 inches in 100 inches. That is considered steep. 3% would be better. For a 4% grade, a rise of 3 inches would take 75”.  

How is it that small layouts can get high enough for a train to go under the incline....For an O/O27 train that's 4 3/4".  Almost 5" in an 8' layout.

the other way is to make the incline in steps. meaning have the incline rise to a flat horizontal or much less incline  portion then rise again to another flat section.  the inclines can then be steeper than 2% because the engine has greater traction on the flat sections to pull up the rest of the cars,

this may take some trials to get it to work. the curved track should be part of the flatter sections.

3" is not a lot.  So I'm guessing you do not want a train to cross over another set of tracks.  YOu would need in excess of 5", maybe 6". You just want to get some terrain elevation?  Why not consider keeping the track level and dropping the terrain on the benchwork?

Ron

thank you all for the information im trying different layout designs using trial and error the only thing set so far is frame plywood top and homasote 

Whew - I flunked trigonometry in school so am very thankful for Lionel's Odyssey system. (lol)

John Ochab posted:

I used trigonometry for my 2 degree grade elevations. From trigonometry the tangent of a right triangle is the rise divided by the run. If a 3 inch rise is wanted at a 2 degree elevation, the equation is the tangent of 2 degrees is equal to the 3 inch rise divided by the run. Solve this equation for the run or run is equal to the rise of 3 inches divided by the tangent of a 2 degree angle. Solving this equation the base is 85.91 inches, this can be checked by dividing the 3 inches by 85.91 inches and calculate the arctangent which will give the angle of 2 degrees. If you are going to mount the track on a length of plywood, square the 3 inch leg and square the 85.91 inch leg,add them together, and take the square root of this number, this will be the hypotenuse of this right triangle and the length of the plywood.Solving this right triangle 3 inches squared is 9 inches squared , 85.91 inch squared is 7380.5 inch squared, sum both numbers or 7389.5 inches squared take the square root of 7389.5 inches squared which equalss 85.96 inch. Note I would cut the plywood length at 86.25 inches and trim for fit. 

I would recommend a 2 degree maximum rise, using an MTH Railking berkshire steam engine, it will pull 25 cars up the 2 degree grade at appriximately 2 to 3 max amps, I also tried a Williams GP-9  and a trainmaster seperately same numer of cars, each engine had two can motors, amp range 2 to 3 max amps. Track Gargraves tinplate keep clean to minimize or prevent wheel slippage. Also note, the 25 cars were all tank cars, Kline or MTh, the number of cars that can be pulled up a grade is based on the car weight and the influence of this weight on the drawbar pull and lubrication of the wheelsets in the car trucks, the weight of the engine on the driving wheels (tractive effect) is another consideration. 

Oh MY GOD!!!  I just barely made it through Plane Geometry my sophomore year in High School and stopped right there.  After reading the above post I'm glad I did.  Solid G and Trigonometry would have laid waste to me.  

Everything stated in above posts is correct, but  degrees and percentages are different. A  2 percent grade is not a 2 degree grade.   

Small layouts means short trains.  That's how traditional toy train layouts get away with extreme grades.

My older layout years ago had an incline that was 12’ long to have a 6” clearance underneath. All my engines pulled 7 or 8 18” aluminum cars with no problem. Then I bought the 1st Big Boy that MTH produced. No problem on the incline up but when reaching the bottom coming down the front of the steamer hit the rails and stopped. I was able to extend the incline and solved the problem. 

A 45 degree grade is a 100 percent grade. 

The incline sets that Lionel sells are around an 8% grade.  In other words, you can get plenty of rise in a short distance.  Is it prototypical? No.  But it will work if you have limited space.

This picture is about 15 years old of my old layout under construction.  It is 12' long and that incline rises 7" in about 10'.    Hope this helps as a visual reference. 

-Greg

posted:  The incline sets that Lionel sells are around an 8% grade.

That's what I don't get. Everyone says 2 to 3% incline...4% is very steep....then how does Lionel sell and people make 8% inclines AND the rains run on them.  Am I missing the terminology somehow? 

Mike - you can get away with if for short trains.

Grade is rise divided by run.  Multiple by 100 to get it in percent.  At 8% the difference between the horizontal run vs. the track length is negligible.  Even more so for lesser grades.

Example: 8 inch rise in 100 inches run is 8%.  The distance up the grade is 100.32 inches.  For 2% with a run of 100 inches the distance up the grade is 100.02 inches.

(updated after proofreading!)

Vertical curvature where the track makes the transition onto and off of the grade can enable coupler vertical bypass.  Postwar cars tolerate it better than scale size cars.  It takes some track space.

Woodland Scenics sells transition SubTerrain, as well as the same product in several gradients.