Mainline Railways was a British model railway brand that operated between 1976 and 1983, introduced by Palitoy, the...
Valid to UK only - excludes oversized items
Mainline Railways was a British model railway brand that operated between 1976 and 1983, introduced by Palitoy, the...
A Wickham Trolley is a small railway maintenance vehicle once widely used across Britain's railways. Built by D...
The Blue Riband subbrand was a significant step in the evolution of Bachmann Branchline, the UK division of Bachmann...
Applying a camber to a tight curve of track on your model railway layout can help improve the realism and operation...
A well-designed model railway is more than just a collection of tracks and trains: it’s a miniature world that...
When working out the gradient for an incline on a model railway, your research may well uncover advice and tolerances expressed in two different ways.
A good example of this is the many articles written advising that an optimum gradient should be between 1 in 30 and 1 in 50. But then you read another article advising a gradient of between 2 and 4%, and that can be a little confusing.
Fortunately, converting the measurements is easy. Simply divide 100 by the number in a percentage gradient and that will give you the second part of its equivalent fraction gradient. (the first part is always 1).
This is how that might look for a 4% gradient: 100 divided by 4 equals 25. Therefore the equivalent fraction gradient would be 1 in 25.
This time we work out a 3% gradient: 100 divided by 3 equals 33.3. Therefore the equivalent fraction gradient would be 1 in 33, and so on.
This also works for converting gradient measurements the opposite way round. When presented with a fraction gradient, divide 100 by the last part of the fraction to find the percentage. For example, a 1 in 50 gradient would be converted by dividing 100 by 50. The answer (2) is the gradient expressed as a percentage.
Here we see a 1 in 30 gradient converted: 100 divided by 30 equals 3.3. Therefore the equivalent percentage gradient would be 3.3% (this would usually be rounded down to 3%).
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