"It is easier to be forgiven than to get permission"
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With regards to gradients, I have never worked out how the percent works.
In Australia, Main lines might have a gradient of 1 in 50, branch lines as steep as 1 in 30. (1 metre rise for every 30 traveled.) Occasionally it might be as much as 1 in 25. While going up on rails may not pose too many problems, consider how you are going to stop/slow down, going down grade. I can tell you rail vehicles roll very well down grade.
As someone who's worked on the bits that join those lines, the issue would be unsafe bridges. Lots of unsafe bridges. Lismore to Byron's not been maintained for 10 plus years.. just go for a little walk up track from Sth Lismore to see. The bridges have no floor other than sleepers. When sleepers rot out there are some mighty big drops. Don't forget the timbers below too. Actually, it's the timbers that aren't below..!
Thanks all.
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Just talking gradients - I've heard it said that the track from Valley Heights to Linden on the Lower Blue Mountains is the longest continuous steepest gradient in Australia??.
Gradient is simply rise divided by run. 1 in 50 = 2 in 100, or 2 percent; 1 in 30 = 3.33 in 100, or 3.33 percent; and 1 in 25 = 4 in 100, or 4 percent. Under disabilty access guidelines, maximum pedestrian grade is 5 percent, subject to intermittent level reaches.
Last night (Wednesday here), pbs' NOVA reported on train crashes, including a disaster in Quebec ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%..._rail_disaster ), owing to a runaway train improperly parked on a 1.2 percent grade.
Cheers,
Joe
a grade of 2% equates to a 2 m rise in 100m.
new main lines are typically constructed with a maximum grade of 1.25%, which if I'm remembering correctly is equivalent to 1 in 80.
Many of the main lines in NSW -- Main West, Main south, North Cost -- have maximum grades of 1 in 30, which is a little steeper than 3%.
the steepest direct adhesion line I know of is the Bernina Pass in Switzerland at 7%.
(rack and cable railways are steeper, but the Bernina is direct adhesion.)
There is a very good rail tour in NZ we've been on using modified golf buggies and now they've introduced pedal power. https://forgottenworldadventures.co.nz
In the early 70's on the Hamersley Iron line in the Pilbara a bloke was loading a rake of unattended ballast cars up near Tom Price, as he needed to move them he would push them along with his front end loader. He must have given them a bit too much push and they took off out of the siding and down the main line heading for Dampier. They had travelled 50 or 60 odd miles before the attempt was made to pick them up on the rear of a loaded ore train. As well as loaded ore cars the train had tacked on the end a goods train comprising some empty fuel tankers and flat tops these bore the brunt of the ballast wagons sailing up their a***e at an estimated 80 mph. As I recall, the wreckage on the side of the road was all the ballast cars, all the tankers and flat tops and a few ore cars.
As a toddler in Mt. Mulligan, Qld., I remember that occasionally cable-hauled coal trucks used to break free and head off down the line towards the train loader. We'd hear the siren from the mine, and watch from the back verandah as the coal truck went screaming past, to be derailed a little further down the line.
I have just spent the day operating one of these.
This type is only suitable for narrow gauge though. (In this case 762mm.) As you can see they can be operated both on rail and off. Can be transported on a trailer or truck. Maximum speed 15 miles per hour. Seat two only.
The unit was imported from the USA and had the rail gear fitted here.
Just for day dreaming purposes, do a search on cycles and the Boer War - several cycles were converted into rail patrol vehicles with modified rims and an outrigger, can't remember where I found the pictures. Somewhere I have a very amusing engraving of a snooty Russian Officer doing an inspection review on the Trans Siberian Railway, he is mounted on a purpose made rail cycle with small solid wheels and again a single outrigger wheel.
Australian trolley group assco.com.au currently only running in Queensland. Other group not running called motorcar consortium that has ex-assco members that split off. North American equivalent is narcoa.com
ASSCO obtain legal access to tracks, you dont need a trolley to come along you can just be a passenger on someone's trolley.