Curves & Grades on the V&T

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Dreadnought1
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:40 pm
Location: Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Curves & Grades on the V&T

Post by Dreadnought1 »

I was looking at the area around Gold Hill in Google Earth and using the ruler available in that application, the horseshoe curve at the north end of the station looks to have a radius of about 350ft. If my calculations are correct, that's about a 16 and a half degree curve which is one helluva tight curve (we tend to define curves by radii in chains in Australia so forgive me if I'm not quite correct...).

Was this the tightest curve on the line or were there other similar curves?

While we're at it, what were typical grades on the Carson City - Virginia City section? Are there any grades/curve charts for the line still in existance?

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Dreadnought1
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Pencil
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Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:28 am
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: Curves & Grades on the V&T

Post by Pencil »

The maps I have (assuming I'm reading them correctly) show 18 and 19 degree curves around the Gold Hill depot.
When the Lakeview tunnel collapsed, the bypass built around it was said to be an 18 degree curve.
Taking a quick look at some of the other maps, it looks like most of the other curves tended not to get much past 13-14 degrees.

Grades: Less than 3%; usually less than 2.4% (at least, from the river up to Virginia City)

You can get route maps and elevation charts from the Nevada State Railroad Museum - the entire route on CD is $20 US (or it was last year..)
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