In a word, yes.
22" is the radius of the circle.
A 90* arc follows the edge of a circle and takes up the horizontal space of the radius.  But the straight-line distance from one end of that arc to the other is...
a² + b² = c²
22² + 22² = c²
484 + 484 = c²
968 = c²
~31.11"
Where a and b are the radius of the circle and c is the hypotenuse, or the distance between the two points.

As I said, exceptions to the rule-of-thumb.

And Trainman203, as for his description of what could only come from pine knot fire, he's right.
As an Assistant Scoutmaster, I have the dubious honor of making the fire in the cabin wood stove when we go camping in the winter.  Occasionally, a pine knot will find its way in the mix, and I can always tell as the ire starts to snap and crackle much more vigorously.  When I go outside to see if I've caught the woods on fire (not yet), a large amount of 'fireflies' come streaming out of the stovepipe.  Great fun to watch as they shoot up, hit the rain deflector, and spray downwards before rising upwards once more.
As an aside, and nothing to do with railroading, you should not burn pine in a wood stove.  It is the major cause of clinker buildup on the pipes.  And you're gonna have a bad day if that thing gets clogged.

At a glance you should be able to tell what kind of fuel a locomotive burned.  The tender shape and smokestack type give it away.

For early engines, you just glance at the smokestack.  If it doesn't look like a straight tube, it burns wood.  The spark arrester was fitted inside the smokestack so that the embers the logs would throw off didn't catch the land on fire, which gives it the characteristic funnel shape.  Coal burned hotter and didn't throw off as many embers, so the spark arrester wasn't needed.

On later engines, the tender would tell you what kind of furl it burned.  A straight-sided tender was probably filled with coal and water.  A curved-sided tender was probably filled with oil and water.

Now, there are some exceptions to this, just like any rule of thumb, but for the most part, these little tips ran true for most engine types and railroads.

Woodland Scenics inclines are great.  I've used some myself.  But they take away from the ability to under-track scenic with bushes, trees, buildings, roads, etc.
What I like to do is make sure of which way my train will run, then make the upgrade section longer and the downgrade section shorter.  So the upgrade may start before the crossover.  But since the General is a short locomotive, and the piers are 3" at the tallest pair, that leaves a lot of wiggle room in grade placement.  You could have as little as 1.5% upgrade.  In fact, you don't even have to use all of the piers.  Make the top level shorter, stretch the piers out to less than 1 per track section, and you could go to less than 1% grade.

I've had a similar problem with used steam engines in larger scales (HO) and among some brands.  They run perfectly in reverse at all speeds, but tend to be sluggish, emit a grinding noise, or otherwise work wonkily in forward.  The problem may be a loose motor, or a loosely installed rotor.

In reverse, the motor itself may twist slightly, enough to put it in true with the gearing for the wheels.  But in forward, it may twist out of true, causing wonky (or strange) running.  In this case, remove the shell and whatever else is in the way of getting to the motor, then run it in reverse and pick it up off the track without shutting off power (so the motor is in true alignment).  Then shut off the power.  Tighten any screws you see.  If that fixes it, alright.  If not, go to step 2 and don't put the cover on yet.

If your problem is a loosely installed rotor, you should be able to push the axle coming from the motor in and out of it slightly more than on a properly working model.  This is the problem where you'll hear a grinding noise and have sluggish operation.  The rotor and attached axle (with worm gear) will tend to move forward or back before the gears on the wheels pick up any motion.  Through the years, this gets worse and worse (as the worm gear and first gear wear down) until someone decides to sell the model.  In the larger scales, this is a noticeable movement of the worm gear backwards and forwards.  In reverse, the gears on the wheels tend to make the rotor axle push into the motor, making it work slightly better, so you don't notice any ill effects.  But in forward, the gearing pulls the rotor out of the motor slight enough that there is a noticeable reduction in performance.  Unfortunately, I know of no remedy for this except a new rotor assembly.  But good news!  You can find these things a dime a dozen at train shows usually (maybe a little more).

But before you try any of these things, take it apart as much as you feel is in your capability to put back together (at least take the wheels and gears out).  Wipe and clean off everything.  Re-sellers tend to over-grease these things.  Put on a tiny dab of plastic-safe grease on the wheels and a drop of plastic-safe oil on the gearworks.  If this solves your problems, then you're good to go for another couple of months or years (depending on how often you run the engine).  And you know how to fix it in the future.  I do this for every single engine I buy second-hand, even if it looks unopened in the box.  There's a reason someone is selling it, after all.

Of course, Terry, that also gives you an excuse reason to model a construction/demolition scene as well.
Whenever I'm making a new model, I 'drag out' my construction scene from Life-Like (sorry Bach Mann) and plop it down where the new building will go until it's finished, and I swap them out.

Trainamn203, I live in a fairly large city.  Thus the warning to all.  But whatever works in your area, right?

Another tip:
          Those flexible foam paper-like sheets some small electronics are packaged in (and some model train cars, such as Bachmann's Old Time passenger car [Union Pacific])?  Snow.  Just cut the shapes of vertical things (trees building, people, but not bushes) out of it and lay it down.  Don't bother gluing it as you can then change the scenery for non-winter scenes.

To hijack Trainman203 comment on house construction.
Go talk to the foreman (white helmet) to see if you can pick up scraps with his blessing in the middle of the day (not illegal).  Or take your chances and sneak around, possibly getting caught and dealt with for trespassing (illegal).  And if you get his okay, see if you can borrow a helmet.  Always watch where you're walking.  I will probably repeat this phrase every time I post on this thread.  You never know where inspiration may come from.  A scrap of wood or bent metal thingy might remind you of something you could model.  And look for sanding blocks that are all 'gunked up' with drywall dust and stuff, or otherwise torn.  They come in more handy than sandpaper when modelling because of the harder, FLAT surface instead of the soft surface of the paper on your fingers.  And a few flicks with your finger should knock off most of the dust.

And from Terry Toenges
If you paint the end of the skewer gray or brown and leave it sticking out of the walls, you can model either a building going up (gray) or coming down (brown).

So you have the train, transformer, and an oval of track (12 curved pieces and 2 straight pieces) correct?
I'm going to assume you are in HO Scale.

20 curved pieces (18" radius [standard EZ Track])
4 straight pieces (9")
14 piece graduated pier set
Is what track you'll need from scratch, also is what is included in the Bachmann EZ Track Over-Under Figure 8 kit ($89, #44475).  Just to make sure you have the room, this will be 78"x36".

So what you need to get are 8 curves, 2 straights, and the piers.

Real gravel ballast made from rocks you find outside, or prototypical limestone-like coloring by using chunked limestone, like most rock pathways are made from.

Hit the rocks with a hammer until the chunks are the correct size for your particular scale.

While not really trash, it's still a way to make your roadbed more realistic.  And keep the dust from pounding the rocks.  Depending on the type of rock, it may look like snow, gravel, or sand.

Mostly, the answer will be NO.

The hard, thin plastic most things are packaged in now?
          I cut it into rectangles small enough for my spare parts bin and use it to glaze windows in structures or passenger cars.  And I cut the plastic base off of the 'little people' (after painting, if I paint them) and glue a small square to their feet so they won't fall over.

Tissue paper?
     I mean the kind of stuff that's used in gifts, not snot rags.
          Useful to wipe up spilled liquids or ball up to use as paint sponges.  Or if used correctly with the plastic packaging, making a 'glazed window' effect.

The plastic (sorry, resin) sprues that most of your injection-molded plastic models are packaged with?
          Cut, slice, or (miter) saw them up in tiny pieces and glue them to trees as fruits, birds (in the smaller scales), or Christmas ornaments.  Use them to create your own pipework for an oil refinery.  Or super-detail a scene with downspouts, garbage, drainpipes, etc.

The foam blocks electronics are packaged in?
          Glue them together and shave them down for hilly scenery.  Cut (or dig) out space in them and put some fragile things in them when you're not using them.  Actually, that last one is kind of what they're made for anyway...



A lot of the things you toss can be used on your model railroad if you just stop to think for a moment.  Hold it in your hand and turn it around a few times.  Ponder.  Imagine.
And what you may not realize, is that you're recycling and liking it!

Or you can hook up only the switches away from the edges of your layout to your controller, and use hand-thrown switches for the ones closer to the edges or controls.

I don't have to worry about dust too much, as I set the whole shebang up only around Christmas time.  I just blow the dust off the fragile stuff or wipe the dust off the building before boxing it away.

I might keep a small circle around, but not up, just as a test track for new purchases.

Actually, I'm planning to re-sell the set.  I have the Atlas Rerailer, and it's a perfect match to the hole in the box.  But I'll keep looking into meets and hoping to find one in the track boxes.

Thanks.  I'll try that and then post the results.  I also visually sighted down the tracks and the grade was a lot more than I thought it was, so I re-graded the incline (put styrofoam strips under it).

Oh my, that would indeed make a mess.  Thanks for the warning.

Would I be able to make an approximation of the fluid from P Glycol and Glyerine from RiteAid or Walgreens?