Unbelievable Grade

More akin to a roller coaster! I kept waiting for it to break loose and disappear real fast after the last car cleared the crest.

Charlotte NC's Light rail system has a number of grades like that....pretty common for this type RR.

Ditto. Here in Washington, we have many grades like that - I ride them up and down everyday during the week. Even very steep in the tunnels. Sitting in front of the "Railfan Window", not only do you get a clear view of the track ahead outside, but you can see the lights and "NO CLEARANCE" signs on the opposite side and watch the grade change. 

Charlotte NC's Light rail system has a number of grades like that....pretty common for this type RR.

I don't think many in the states can beat Pittsburg's Light rail "subway" 9% grades in certain instances!

I estimate the grade in the video to have an elevation of about 5 times the height of a car (40 ft) in 1.25 train lengths (1000 ft), so that's a 4% grade.

Show me pictures of the grades you say are more severe than the one in the video.

I don't know a lot about the PGH system....but when  I was there in 1990 for the NMRA convention I took the kids and we rode the line that went south from the downtown hub and into a log tunnel shared with a road. Some of the street trackage was steep and curved at the same time.....but the PCC we were riding in had no trouble at all!

I think Baltimore's Light rail had to use a Grade at one point to clear a over head by one or two inches.

Rode the London Underground one day... there are grades going into and leaving a station. They were there to accelerate heavy cars leaving and to slow loaded ones to stop.

Also I suspect to stop flooding from coming up through the stations as well.

18 to 22% grades was about as much as I can stand outside of a roller coaster...

I still recall Cass. Some of those grades have to be in the 12% range... whew...

There are traction motors on almost every one of the axles on the cars in that "train".  They can get away with much steeper grades than a traditional "railroad" because every car is literally pulling it's own weight.  MU'ing was developed by Frank Sprague and first tested on what is now part of the Chicago "L".  It was rapidly accepted for mass transit use and eventually by "real" railroads with the advent of deiselization.  Early issues with the main line railroads were that not everyone's control's were compatible (sound familiar?) 

I know the camera makes it look steeper than it real is, but the engineer really had to "get up a head of steam" to get up it.

Jan

Charlotte, N.C.'s light rail system