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Getting from one level to the next or Making the Grade 

she'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes....

Trains, especially N scale trains like flat terrain.  A 5% grade can really cut into your pulling power.  My layout has grades at about 2.5%.  Grade is the climb divided by the run (or the height your are going up, divided by the length you are taking to get up.  So if you went up 1" in 10" that is a 10% grade (1/10) Trains do not do 10% grades.  (Well maybe downhill but that would be dangerous).  My climbs are all 1" in height and the train has a half circle to do this in.   I could go back and do the algrebra and talk about pie being square, but I just ran a string along my line and measure it. My climbs are about 40" long, more or less.  1" climb in 40" run works out to 2.5% grade.  I would like less because then I could run longer trains.  My 2.5% grade limits me to about a dozen or so cars.  Two engines can pull more (but not twice as many).   I have pulled 16 up the hill but the wheels slip.  And that is my better diesels.  Steamers?  Well lets just say we'd need a Helper service engine. 

This shows uptown and the outer loop.  The train will climb from 1" at the left of the photo to 2" at the right as it heads down the backside of the layout and into the downtown area. 

Grades should be even.  I strove for an even climb by checking the incline with a straight edge, watching for any dips or hills.  The ruler should lie flat even on the surface.  Should have taken a picture of that would make more sense. 

I was working freehand shaping styro with sanding paper and a Stanley shaper (yes they make such a tool, and it is only about $6, best investment if you are working with foam.  It is the bright yellow hand tool in the pics. 

This angle give you an idea of the grades involved. this is take from the back right corner. 

Top view of that same incline.  Two tracks head uptown, the inner track is more than 2.5% but it is the track that the helper engine uses to come down the mountain. Most climbing will be done on the outer line of these two parallel tracks.

Ah, the layout in it's natural state. 

  And the test run, well that loco can pull up five boxcars - and it did so with some ease so I guess I get "a passing grade"

yuk yuk

Notice the naturally weathered rolling stock.  Dust was carefully applied over a period of about 20 years.