|
Do you want to know the grade on Arenzville hill and the grade on Browning hill between Frederick and Vermont? Or do you want to know the "ruling grade"? They mean two very different things. "Ruling grade" refers to the location of the worst or most difficult grade on a sub-division. It might not be the steepest grade because another stretch of lesser grade may longer or have more curves, but it was the location that determined the tonnage rating of motive power for that line. Azenzville hill was the southward ruling grade for the Beardstown and St. Louis Sub-division and was (and is) about 1.2%, likewise the "old line" over Browning Hill was about 1.5%, but after the early 1920's, northward tonnage trains used the "new line", so it was not considered a "ruling grade", since only passenger trains, locals and southward freight trains used it. And by the way, Arenzville hill is much closer to Beardstown than Jacksonville. It was within the "pulling and pushing limits" of Beardstown Yard. This meant that Beardstown switch engines could push trains over the hill without the road crews being able to "claim time" for it and the yard crews were not paid for doing road service. The practice of using Beardstown yard engines to push "cowboy coal trains" over the hill, lasted until distributed power. From: "Stan Maddox stan@maddoxhome.net [CBQ]" <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 4, 2015 8:27 PM Subject: [CBQ] Arenzville Hill Hello,
I am doing a little layout planning. Can someone please tell me the ruling grade on Arenzville Hill, located roughly midway between Beardstown and Jacksonville, Illinois? Also, the ruling grade between Frederick and Vermont, Illinois? Thanks for your time. Best regards, Stan Maddox __._,_.___ Posted by: "John D. Mitchell, Jr." <cbqrr47@yahoo.com> __,_._,___ |