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3 Responses to Calculating Track Rise Based on Length
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Basic thing to remember, is railroads don’t like gradients (prototype or model). Include gradients on your layout for realism and interest, but test the slope with the loco and the heaviest train it will pull.
Or if you want to get technical, weigh the cars, and check the locomotive’s traction with a small force gauge or by hanging small weights over the end of a track and see what it will lift. Then use the formulas in your school physics textbook for inclined planes. Adding weight to a locomotive will increase its traction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_geometry#Longitudinal_elevation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(slope)#Railways
Also the calculator page mentioned above has some useful additional information.
Well… the formula I need is this: I want to make a HO scale test track, mounted on a flat piece of wood that I can add a loose block of styrene under one end of the track’s wood base so that I can test a rail car’s rollability on a 1% or 2% grade.
That is, I have a 30 inch piece of thin straight wood. I mount HO scale track on top of the wood and that track is exactly 30 inches in length as well.
Now, I want to find the height of a small piece of wood or styrene that I will need that I add under the very end of the track’s wood base, that will give me a 1% grade. If I double that height of the small piece of wood, I would assume it would now give me a 2% grade. This way, I can check the rollability of a rail car on a 1% or 2% grade of track.
Can anyone provide me the formula for doing this type of calculation? Please?
I think I figured out the formula. Grade % * Length of track/100 = Height needed at the end of the track.
I need a 1% grade on a piece of track that is 30 inches in length. How high should the one end of the track be? That is, if I have a small piece of wood at the very end of the track, how high should this wood be?
Formula: 1% grade * 30 inches of track/100 = .3 inches (.3 inches is the height needed at the end of the track, to make the track a 1% grade). If I want a 2% grade with 30 inches of track, I need the end of the track to rise .6 inches. I think this is the correct formula.