Can trains travel up hills?

Question

Can trains travel up hills?

Answer 1

Throttle eight and sand, baby...

Answer 2

The Darjeeling light railway goes all the way up to Darjeeling on the slopes of the Himalaya from the plains of Assam using a series of 'loops' where it goes round in a small circle and crosses over it's own tracks, that keeps the gradient low enough for the train to manage. Otherwise mountain railways  may use rack and pinion systems where cogs under the train link in to a notched central rail, as on the train up Snowdon. Funicular systems, (not really trains), used to use the weight of one car, with tanks full of water, to pull the other up as it descends. The water is then pumped back up to the car at the top and the process repeated, as in the Hastings West Hill and East Hill lifts. Nowadays most funiculars simply use electricity, but are still pulled up by cable. Normal mainline trains can only manage very limited gradients, so their tracks have to be engineered very carefully to follow contours gradually up or round hills.

Answer 3

No, when they get to the bottom of the hill they have to be scrapped.

Answer 4

Certainly

I live in an area where trains cross the Continental Divide every day in the Rocky Mountains, I would have to consider that as hills.

they normally dont likke to negotiate as steep of grades as highways do but it is possible.

The steepest grade operated by adhesion is about 8% and cog railways have ran up around 14% I think.

Just like your vehicle or a truck, all it takes is horsepower and torque, lots of it.

Answer 5

SURE! Up to a certain angle, assuming adequate horsepower and traction.

They even make specialty trains for EXTREME hill climbing. These are called cog railroads, which use a locking-rachet type of locomotion.

Answer 6

yes

Answer 7

Yes. Take the Lickey Incline as an example.

Answer 8

Yes. The Steepest self propelled trains (as opposed to cable hauled) are the Pilatusbahn in Switzerland. The steepest grades on the route are 1 in 2! It climbs 5300ft in 3 miles.

I believe that the steepest adhesion railway is 1 in 11 in the French alps

Answer 9

Have you ever read the book The little engine that could? I think I can, I think I can,,,,,and he did.

Answer 10

Yes, a train can travel up a shallow gradient by means of adhesion (friction between the wheel and the rail) but a sharper gradient needs a rack, a set of teeth between the rails which is engaged by a cogwheel on the engine, hence, rack railway (or cog railway in the USA)

Answer 11

Jesus go back to school good man.!:)

Answer 12

Can travel up Mountains if the tracks are laid correctly. The higher the gradiant the igger the problem. The Railways in the Andes are the best example with plenty of switch backs cut into the mountain so the train can run up in a crab like motion.  The Best example in the UK of a Train going up a steep hill / mountain is of course the Snowdonia Railway.

Other examples are the short venhicular railways which can be found at seaside resorts like the two at Hastings which go up the cliffs.

Answer 13

yes of course they can

Answer 14

only backwards

Answer 15

Yep. They also go down hill. And they can even go left and right! Sometimes they even do a combination of these at the same time.

Answer 16

Yes.

Some mainline railroads had pretty steep grades, like the Canadian Pacific on the eastern side of the Rockies. From 1885 to 1909 it was a 4.5% grade from the Continental Divide to Field, BC. -- every 100 metres, there is a 4.5 metre drop. It's pretty impressive.

Answer 17

Trains are like electricity, they cannot go around corners or up and down hills, they have to go straight.

Honest.  George W. Bush told me that!

Answer 18

Trains only have problems with stairs.

Answer 19

Yes of course they can look at trains like the Glacier Express that travels through hills and mountains

Answer 20

yes , and with a rack and pinon a very steep hill

Answer 21

Yes. All they have to do is say, "I think I can.... I think I can..." over and over again.

*Rolls eyes*

Of course trains can travel up hills. Otherwise, they wouldn't get very far. There are hills everywhere. If trains couldn't travel uphill, we wouldn't be able to ride them to other cities.

Answer 22

Right on up!

Answer 23

Yes but if it is very steep it my go up in diagonals or zig zag

Answer 24

Now think about what you asked, US ain't flat

Answer 25

Do bears sh*t in the woods?

Answer 26

Yes trains do go up hills! If you climb mount Snowdon in Wales there is a railway that goes to the top.

Then if you go to Switzerland you will find that there are railways climbing the alps. The lines are adapted and special engines run on them.

But you will find that even on the normal railway that trains are going up & down hills. Just look at the lines in Scotland & Yorkshire!

Answer 27

Of course!!

Answer 28

You surely can't be serious!

Answer 29

Sure.  They do all the time. The ruling grade may limit the tonnage and / or require multiple units.  On my little railroad, we don't have more than a mile of straight or level  track at any given point.

Answer 30

lol...well of course dear.

Answer 31

Of course a train can travel up hill, but not a real steep one. A train can only handle a certain amount of incline.

Take the Lickey Incline for example, a Virgin Voyager can top the hill at 60 Mph I think, In the Past they used to have to use backing trains to get up there.

All depends on the engine, apparently I heard something about using sand to help give trains grip at hills, but I'm not too sure on that.