Talk:Hillclimbing (railway)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Any details of what normal gradients could be expected in modern railways?

I think about 1% grade (1 unit of vertical difference per 100 units of horizontal distance) would be considered in the "normal" range. 2% would already be pretty steep, although there are railways that are much steeper (such as Flåmsbana in Norway with about 5% grade, without rack).

Passenger-only railroads could easily be steeper than those served by freight trains, since the vehicles are usually lighter.--CodeGeneratR 23:48, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stiffen?

Hi :) The use of the word 'stiffen' to describe an increase in gradient seems a bit colloquial to my (non-railway expert) ears. Would it be perhaps better to use the word "steepen" i.e. to increase in steepness? Thanks, Oliver —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 60.234.251.100 (talk) 03:38, August 24, 2007 (UTC)