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Trains would leave Sparks with enough engine to manage the 0.43% grade (e.g. a 2-10-2 with a 5500-ton train) and would get helper engines at Wells; the "ruling grade" from Sparks to Ogden could be considered 0.43%. But nowadays the railroad doesn't base helper engines at Wells so trains must leave Sparks with enough power to climb the 1.4% ...
The inclusion of steep gradients on railways avoids the expensive engineering work required to produce more gentle gradients. However the maximum feasible gradient is limited by how much of a load the locomotive(s) can haul upwards. Braking when travelling downhill is also a limiting factor.
In some cases, a vertical boiler can be used that is less sensitive for the track gradient. On a rack-only railroad, locomotives are always downward of their passenger cars for safety reasons: the locomotive is fitted with powerful brakes, often including hooks or clamps that grip the rack rail solidly. Some locomotives are fitted with ...
Gradients are expressed as a ratio of vertical rise to horizontal distance; for example, a 1% gradient (1 in 100) means the track rises 1 vertical unit for every 100 horizontal units. On such a gradient, a locomotive can pull half (or less) of the load that it can pull on level track.
The allowable gradients may be based on the ruling gradient which is the maximum gradient over which a tonnage train can be hauled with one locomotive. In some countries, momentum gradient which is a steeper but shorter gradient may be allowed. This is usually when a track gradient connects to a leveled tangent track long enough and with no ...
On steep grades the friction between the wheels and the rails cannot apply sufficient adhesion to the train's wheels so as to overcome gravity, and the train is in danger of sliding down the track.
The climb is just over 2 miles (3.2 km), at an average gradient of 1 in 37.7 (2.65%), between Bromsgrove and Blackwell (near Barnt Green). It is on the railway line between Birmingham and Gloucester (grid reference). The Lickey Incline is the steepest sustained adhesion-worked gradient on a
The ruling gradient of a section of railway line between two major stations is the gradient of the steepest stretch. The ruling gradient governs the tonnage of the load that the locomotive can haul reliably.