C-WW I'm from Johnstown, PA and the Incline Plane has been the topic for this subject for a long time. Has anyone ever accomplished or ever thought about having an Incline Plane on thier mountains? This is a good subject and worth the reserch for a good detail on a layout! [ March 29, 2006, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: watash ]
Yeah Will, there are some kits from Europe that are pretty neat. Some work by cable, some are cog rail.
Will, there is an Incline at Manitou, Colorado that goes up 40 degrees from the bottom and ends up at 60 degreess at the top. I has two cars for tourists. Both cars are hung on a cable, so as one car is going up, the other is going down. The sight from the top is awsome! You can see 50 miles to Kansas on a clear day! There are kits for Cable car aerial lifts that are powered. A couple of the Swiss model makers also have kits for cog railways, narrow gauge. Expensive but actually work on the tiny racks between the rails.
There is a cog railway in Switzerland that goes from the town of Brig/Visp up to Zermatt, and then continues up to the Gornegratt glacier. It is not standard gage. From Zermatt to Gornegratt is all cog and I think the steepest grade is 20 degrees, by the way that's almost a 50% grade. Lots of switchbacks, very beautiful trip both in summer or winter. The car interiors are inclined so the passengers stay level. The locos are electric, and going down use both mechanical and electric breaking.
