Steepest Grade On The Monon

[Tom Kepshire]

Had contact with a guy working on an article for Trains. He would like to know the steepest grade on the Monon and the highest point on the Railroad.

[Cully Kowal]

Not an exact answer to you question, but related:
From what I remember from reading an article in the July 1947 issue of TRAINS magazine, the highest point on the Monon was 963 feet.  This was on the Indianapolis branch near Sheridan.  On the main line from Hammond to New Albany, the highest point was near Bainbridge at 933 feet.  (Near the Tree Of Hope?) However, that doesn't mean that the approaches to these points were the steepest grades.  Track profiles in that issue of TRAINS list which grades are pusher grades and those that are doubling grades.  I believe that these profiles were also published in in News and Notes and perhaps THL as well. 

[Rick Berg]

I would think it would be
The tree of hope, or coming into Bedford or the knobs.

[Rick Dreistadt]

Both Bedford and Hunters were close to the same grade, I always thought Hunters was tougher for the engineer, mostly because they were already on an uphill grade when they started their train at McDoel.  I'll be interested on hearing engineer Ron's perspective. 
Rick

[Joe Land]

Did quick check on Profile CD. Steepest mainline grade I found was a 1.85 near MP 220 on Hunters Hill.
Steepest grade found was a 1.96 between Braxton and Paoli on the French Lick Branch.

[Ron Marquardt]

The steepest grade is not necessarily the hardest pull, and using the profiles to determine it can be misleading.  Railroads always figured what we called a compensated grade, which figured in the retarding force of curves on the grade.  This, of course, was also affected by train lengths.

As a rule of thumb, we added 1 ton to the tonnage of a train for each car in a curve (at any given time) times the degree of curvature to come up with a compensated figure.  / Ron

[Joe Land]

Ron,
Where was the hardest pull in the Middle Division?

[Ron Marquardt]

Hunter's Hill.  We could handle an extra 1,000 tons out of McDoel with a pusher.  We could then take the same train over Spring Cave and Bainbridge without the pusher.  / Ron

[Stew Winstandley]

I recently saw on a TRAINS Magazine map covering railroads steepest grades, showing what Joe reported above about the Monon grade between Paoli and Braxton. When I look in Hilton's and Dolzalls' Monon books about freight on the French Lick branch I find almost nothing.  There's one comment on page 155 of Dolzalls' "in the early 1960s - when the Southern Railway delivered a trainload of coal to French Lick - a trio of C628s was sent to French Lick to lug the coal off the branch."  Hilton's states on page 299 the "branch's last chance had been a proposed unit coal train from the Southern in the 1960s, but the Monon lacked motive power for the movement".

In looking at a map, I see Lick Creek that runs between Paoli and Braxton and then west to Lost River.  My Indiana DeLorme Atlas shows the railroad on the north side of US 150 in Paoli and then crossing US 150 at Braxtons Siding.  Was the 1.96% grade downhill to Braxtons from Paoli?

Stew

Stew

[Robert Wheeler]

According to an undated sheet in the archives that I estimate to be before 1935 as data for the B&B are shown.

The steepest grade is 1.96% Northbound on the Orleans - French Lick Branch. The Profile books shows 1.96% between approximate MP D 8.15 and D 8.36 just north of Braxtons @ D 8.6. Or about 1108 feet in length

The next steepest was 1.76% northbound between Bloomington and New Albany. This is between approximately MP 295.85 and 296.18  for a distance of approximately 0.33 Mi. or about 1724 Ft. just south of Pekin @ 293.4.

[Robert Gibson]

This might be the stretch of track south of Pekin looking north.

[Mark Johnson]

That grade between Pekin and Borden can't have been any picnic...with sharp curves on both ends of the hill, I could easily see it being less than no fun at all for an engineer.

Mark J
Columbia MO

[Ron Marquardt]

Here are the tonnage ratings from the last Monon timetable.  / Ron

[Ron Marquardt]

Here are the tonnage ratings from a 1964 timetable that show the first generation combinations and the C628's.  / Ron

[Robert Gibson]

Here is a photo taken at the same location as above only looking south.  The line curves to the left down the hill.