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Grade Elevation
Floyd has a question on track gradients and asks:
“Would one of the readers of this blog please tell me the maximum grade elevation in inches and feet. I would like to know how many inches rise per lineal foot foreward, say for 1%, 2%, 3%
etc, and what is the maximum practical grade.”
2 Responses to Grade Elevation
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Hi Floyd, If you do the math it is approximately 1/4″ per linear foot on a 2% rise. 2% probably being your best maximun rise. I have seen as much as 4% but that is a push…or pull as it were. If you are looking to go up a complete level in as little a space as possible, you may want to consider a “helix”. They are for the most part 2% rise or grade and they look pretty good, and they make them for as high or low as you want to go. Tony P
Percent of grade is figured by dividing the rise by the run, just be sure to use the same units on both (IE, divide feet by feet, inches by inches, etc).
A rise of 1 inch in a 100 inch run (8 feet 4 inches) is a 1% grade, a rise of 2 inches is 2%, and so on. 1% per foot would be about 3/32 inches, 2% a bit less than a quarter, 3% about 5/16 inches, 4% would be a bit over 3/8, and 5% would be a half an inch.
Maximum grade depends on what you are hauling and what you are hauling it with. If you are running short trains over a local line 3% grades would probably be OK, but if you are running long trains over transcontinental mainlines you would want to stick with 2% or so. Most railroads tried to avoid grades above 2.2%.