Hi All:
I am not sure how many people have heard of Saluda Grade in western North Carolina. It had the steepest grade for a mainline route in the country; over 5% at one point and much of it at 4.7%. The following websites have a lot of pictures, information, and stories that I hope you find interesting. There is some duplication between the sites but all have somethings that are different.
dwight77

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Very interesting articles...thanks for posting the links!

The GE's & EMD's all "whine" on this grade.

I assume you mean the "steepest grade in modern times"?

The Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad had a stretch of 6% and a ruling grade of 4%.

MountainMan Wrote:I assume you mean the "steepest grade in modern times"?

The Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad had a stretch of 6% and a ruling grade of 4%.

I think the reference is to the "steepest grade on a standard gauge class one railroad." Narrow gauge, short lines and logging railroads often have much steeper grades. The steepest I've heard of was 14% on a logging road in the Sierra Nevada Mtns here in Ca., but I think the steepest of all was the incline where the Sugar Pine Lumber Company interchanged with the Yosemite Railroad.

MountainMan Wrote:I assume you mean the "steepest grade in modern times"?

The Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad had a stretch of 6% and a ruling grade of 4%.

Uintah railway - <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7IkujWEpm8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7IkujWEpm8</a><!-- m --> had 88 foot radius curves and 7.5% grades. Of course this is narrow gauge. It was about the most treacherous non-rack railroad line that I am aware of in the USA. Sure, some logging lines were equally treacherous, but those were often more temporary tracks built quickly. The Denver & Salt lake route over Rollins pass had switchbacks and 4% grades. That line proved to be so treacherous it was bypassed with the Moffat Tunnel.

Funny/ironic - the bigger and more powerful the Class I railroads became, the less able they were to meet the physical challenges of the railroads that conquered the West and the mountains, those little narrow gauge railroads that everyone laughs at that hauled all the gold and silver that paid for it all.

It wasn't the grades and tight curves that hobbled the narrow gauge lines of the Rockies - it was Winter. The final grade to the Alpine Pass at over 11,000 feet was regularly closed for up to 8-9 months of the year by drifts of up to 40' or more and avalanches.

Those little railroads that everyone mocks went places and did things far beyond anything done by their bigger cousins.

That is one ugly grade I'd love to see some locos go up it