I guess the title says it all. Are live steam engines able to handle the same grades as electric locos, less than 4% let’s say?
Geared locos (Shay, Climax) will pull a pretty good grade. I have well over 4% and an Accucraft 2 Cyl. Shay climbs my grade with a few cars. Usually it will slip before it stalls due to oil on the rail.
Rod locos (Ruby etc) have a harder time with grades. 4% is probably out of the capability of most rod locos.
In any case, remote control is pretty much a requirement if not running on the flat.
Thanks Jon. I am getting hot for burning my fingers with live steam in the yard. The area I am considering is terraced and want to figure if I can jump from one terrace to another to expand the line and add interest.
I used to have a 2.5% grade on a deck layout. My rod type locomotives could climb the hill, but at the throttle setting required, they would over-speed going down grade. Radio Control was an answer, but it required watching the throttle carefully. I could find a throttle/fire setting combination on my Roundhouse Katie that would not over-speed and yet make it up the hill. It would stop at the bottom of the hill, build up the required head of steam, and then walk up the hill. It was beautiful. You could count the 1-2-3-4 of the chuffs. Here is a picture of her coming up the hill…
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/steamtom1/1-Katie%20going%20up%20hill%20on%20the%20deck.%20620.jpg)
David Hill said:A perfect opportunity for switchbacks !!!
Thanks Jon. I am getting hot for burning my fingers with live steam in the yard. The area I am considering is terraced and want to figure if I can jump from one terrace to another to expand the line and add interest.
If you have serious grades, then geared locos are the way to go. That means Shays, designed to go really slowly and haul a massive load. The upcoming and just arrived Climax might just be too high-geared for Shay-like grades, but, hey, they’re cheap enuff in the USA to buy one to try out.
Jon’s 2-cyl Shay and my 2 and 3 cyl Shays, all made by Accucraft, are prodigious haulers, but an element of open-eyedness has to enter into your layout construction. I’d say that providing you tailor the load with realistic expectations you should be fine, but a twenty-car consist with logs is a far-off dream up a 4% grade…
tac
I can easily plan to a 2% grade and I have the ability to lay wide curves. But it seems that the way to go here is with a RC control to vary the throttle.
Thanks all for the tips.
2% is easy meat for any of the Shays. We have yet to see the hauling power of the new AccuCraft Climax, but it shouldn’t be too far behind. Those sidewinders DO have the edge though, achieved through the combination of the sheer speed of that frantically-thrashing engine and low gearing - just like the real ones. And BTW, there’s a clip on YT of my 3-cyl Mich-Cal hauling 22 log cars with real loads around main131’s fine trackage. Being a sneaky kind of guy, who likes folks to have to actually drive their trains, he makes the ends of the loop graded as well as curved, and you have to have some serious power to haul slowly around them. Any of our Shays seems to ignore them, and none of our Shays have r/c. either. We just go with throttle up…
tac
Quote:Make that >5%. Roger C has a 4% grade and a 3.5% on his RGS East and we have no problem climbing it with assorted rod locos. R/C is a must though, especially coming down the mountain!
4% is probably out of the capability of most rod locos
Me and ig are just too mean to put r/c in any of our narrow gauge locos. Even old and crippled as we are we still have no trouble keeping up with a galloping Shay…
Only our Garratt and S3/6 have it fitted, and I’d sooner be without it to tell the truth.
tac