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HO Bachmann GP40 Engines
Ray has a question for readers:
“I have four Bachmann GP40 engines but which brand is better to pull more rolling stock up a small grade on my layout? It is only six inches high and over nine feet of run on either side. All my freight car are near four ounces or 100 grams each engine. One will only pull five cars and a caboose.”
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Ray,
If I’m reading your question correctly, you almost have a 6% grade which is almost double a 3% grade which is generally regarded as the absolute maximum grade in prototype & model railroads. If the track run you describe is also going around a curve, the work the engines have to do is even greater because of the operational friction a curve generates. If you’re pulling a six car train with one engine, you’re doing pretty well all considered. Realize that it IS okay to run a double or triple header engine configuration with the conditions you mention. That’s what actual railroads do to get a load over the ‘hump’.
Hope this helps,
Geof from the US