Would an Atlas GP40-2 or an Atlas B23-7 be able to pull six cars up to a 4% grade on a 18" radius curve ? Thanks, Paul
Hey, Completely Nuts - are you completely nuts?? A 4% grade?? Sorry, couldn't resist... Let's see, my Atlas SD-35 can easily handle 10 cars up a 2% grade on an 18" curve. So if you do the math, wouldn't that be 5 cars? I suppose six would not be out of the question. But I'd think twice about a 4% grade (if you have not already built it).
I would believe your scenario will work. Most N locos certainly have enough spunk. The problem tends to be wheel slip. Do you have some spare lumber and track? Am thinking that perhaps you could set up a temporary test track. 4% is 4" rise in 100" run. Or 2" rise in a 50" run. Just a thought- If by chance it doesn't work. You then have a reason to establish a helper district..... Boxcab E50
Thanks for help, I was planning to build John Armstrongs "Granite,Gorge and Northern" and it needs really a steep radius to pass over itselves. Maybe I should test this out on spare lumber. Paul
Is this the one Atlas has a trackplan for? You know, if you take the HO layout and instead of reducing it to N-scale (thus reducing the overall layout size), keep the 5x9 HO layout size which will make the layout much larger in N-scale. Then I bet you can ease off the grades quite a bit.
Paul - that's still a larger area than if you were to fully reduce it to N-scale. Prehaps it will give you enough to bring the grade down at least a little (you would have to do some math on that one )? Anyway, I hope you enjoy building it. Post some pictures if you can.
Thanks Bruce, As soon as Railimages is up again I"ll post some pics, not much yet, just the benchwork and the plywood ready for cookie cutter. Paul
Just a thought to throw in here ... Maybe going over isn't always going up .... see if you can lower the bottom track some and that will reduce how high you need to go to get your clearance. I'm planning to do my layout on foam so that I can go down as well as up. Bear - of Bear N Trish
Bear, I played with that idea, but the problem is, where the track passes over the other, the lower track is a yard and this should be flat. Paul
