Practical grade for a 4-4-0

[ICEman]

Building 1st layout. Have a straight run of 3.5" in 7', my 4-4-0 loco has trouble pulling more than 7 cars up the incline. I realize this is a 4% grade, should I rework the layout or are their other alternatives ?

[Quentin]

Hmmm...

I really don't know how to answer this one, because I have s couple of 4-4-0 locos that go up grades from 2%-4% with at least 9 cars like a boss... I really don't know...

Maybe someone else can give more help.

-Quentin

[jward]

7 cars on a 4% grade is very good for a small locomotive like that. My Bachmann 0-6-0s will only pull 3-4 cars on a grade like that. Even the real ones probably wouldn't have been able to do much better than 7 cars. If you can live with the railroad the way it is you have two options, both of which were also used by the real railroads.

1. doublehead your trains. Adding a second locomotive will allow you to run more cars.

2. Run shorter trains. Limit your train length to whatever your locomotive can pull.

[rich1998]

Maybe eight years ago when running DCC, I ran a tender drive Bachmann 4-4-0 pulling about six cars on a 2 percent grade and ran an 0-8-0 Winans Camel pusher on the end on DC using stretch zero bit option. Needed a pusher. My tender drives wore all DCC modified. Motors from Computer CD drives. Lenz N scale decoders.

Rich

[ebtnut]

I agree with jward - A 4-4-0 taking 7 cars up 4% is just fine.  I suspect the prototype couldn't do much better.  It would kinda interesting to see what the real "York" could do on a grade like that, but the old Northern Central line it runs on has maybe a 0.5% grade in the southbound direction.

[Trainman203]

You can't judge historical trains and engines by contemporary standards. A 10 or 15 car freight on level track pulled by a 4-4-0 was quite a handsome freight way back.  There used to be a lot more frequent trains back then.  From the beginning railroad companies have economized by reducing labor costs by running progressively trains hauled by progressively larger engines.

[jward]

I have a book on the B&O's west end which included several substantial grades of about 2.5%. The book mentioned that the Winans Camels, 0-8-0s which were probably the most powerful thing on rails in the pre CIvil War era, could only manage 8 loaded cars on those grades. A 4-4-0 would pull significantly less than that.