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27-902: Blue Ridge Railway may refer to: Blue Ridge Railroad (1849–1870) in Virginia, predecessor of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Blue Ridge Railway (1901) in South Carolina, predecessor of the Southern Railway until about 1990 Blue Ridge Railroad of South Carolina , 1852–1880, predecessor of the above Blue Ridge Scenic Railway , tourist line in Georgia Virginia Blue Ridge Railway , 1914–1980, short line in Virginia Blue Ridge Railway Trail , built along

54-409: A 71 percent grade instead of a 100 percent. But in practice the usual way to calculate slope is to measure the distance along the slope and the vertical rise, and calculate the horizontal run from that, in order to calculate the grade (100% × rise/run) or standard slope (rise/run). When the angle of inclination is small, using the slope length rather than the horizontal displacement (i.e., using

81-415: A physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal . It is a special case of the slope , where zero indicates horizontality . A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of "tilt". Often slope is calculated as a ratio of "rise" to "run", or as a fraction ("rise over run") in which run is the horizontal distance (not the distance along

108-680: A vehicle can ascend while maintaining a particular speed is sometimes termed that vehicle's "gradeability" (or, less often, "grade ability"). The lateral slopes of a highway geometry are sometimes called fills or cuts where these techniques have been used to create them. In the United States, the maximum grade for federally funded highways is specified in a design table based on terrain and design speeds, with up to 6% generally allowed in mountainous areas and hilly urban areas with exceptions for up to 7% grades on mountainous roads with speed limits below 60 mph (95 km/h). The steepest roads in

135-730: Is 23.1% by the 67-Bernal Heights on Alabama Street between Ripley and Esmeralda Streets. Likewise, the Pittsburgh Department of Engineering and Construction recorded a grade of 37% (20°) for Canton Avenue. The street has formed part of a bicycle race since 1983. Grade, pitch, and slope are important components in landscape design , garden design , landscape architecture , and architecture ; for engineering and aesthetic design factors. Drainage, slope stability, circulation of people and vehicles, complying with building codes, and design integration are all aspects of slope considerations in environmental design . Ruling gradients limit

162-533: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Blue Ridge Railroad (1849%E2%80%931870) The early railroads in Virginia were privately owned, but often received partial state-funding through investments by the Virginia Board of Public Works , which was always keen to help with internal improvements in the state's transportation infrastructure. The Louisa Railroad Company (renamed Virginia Central in 1850)

189-654: Is expressed as a percentage, the angle can be determined as: If the angle is expressed as a ratio (1 in n) then: For degrees, percentage (%) and per-mille (‰) notations, larger numbers are steeper slopes. For ratios, larger numbers n of 1 in n are shallower, easier slopes. The examples show round numbers in one or more of the notations and some documented and reasonably well known instances. In vehicular engineering , various land -based designs ( automobiles , sport utility vehicles , trucks , trains , etc.) are rated for their ability to ascend terrain . Trains typically rate much lower than automobiles. The highest grade

216-699: The Buckingham Branch Railroad . Three of the original four tunnels were either replaced by newer ones or eliminated around World War II . Over 50 years later, still passable in the early 21st century, portions of the old tunnels and route were included in a rail trail project. The $ 1.6 million project is planned to turn the main Blue Ridge Tunnel into a "dark, chilly and 'mystical' hiking and biking trail". Grade (slope)#Railways The grade (US) or gradient (UK) (also called stepth , slope , incline , mainfall , pitch or rise ) of

243-424: The perpendicular cross slope . There are several ways to express slope: Any of these may be used. Grade is usually expressed as a percentage, but this is easily converted to the angle α by taking the inverse tangent of the standard mathematical slope, which is rise / run or the grade / 100. If one looks at red numbers on the chart specifying grade, one can see the quirkiness of using the grade to specify slope;

270-515: The Blue Ridge Railroad to accomplish the hard and expensive task of crossing the Blue Ridge mountain barrier to the west. Rather than attempting the more formidable Swift Run Gap, the Blue Ridge Railroad built over the mountains at the next gap to the south, Rockfish Gap near Afton Mountain, from an eastern point around Blair Park to a western point near Waynesboro . Under the leadership of

297-570: The Commonwealth of Virginia for its use) until it was bought by and incorporated into the Virginia Central's successor road, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad , in 1870. At least three hundred enslaved African Americans were used to construct the Blue Ridge Railroad, either directly in the construction or indirectly making materials such as bricks. These slaves were generally hired from owners in

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324-459: The Great Western main line, nicknamed Brunel's Billiard Table, because the early locomotives (and their brakes) were feeble. Steep gradients were concentrated in short sections of lines where it was convenient to employ assistant engines or cable haulage , such as the 1.2 kilometres (0.75 miles) section from Euston to Camden Town . Extremely steep gradients require the use of cables (such as

351-618: The Guinness Book. Drawing on the U.S. National Elevation Dataset, 7x7 (magazine) identified ten blocks of public streets in San Francisco open to vehicular traffic in the city with grades over 30 percent. The steepest at 41 percent is the block of Bradford Street above Tompkins Avenue in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. The San Francisco Municipal Railway operates bus service among the city's hills . The steepest grade for bus operations

378-666: The Scenic Railway at Katoomba Scenic World , Australia, with a maximum grade of 122% (52°), claimed to be the world's steepest passenger-carrying funicular ) or some kind of rack railway (such as the Pilatus railway in Switzerland, with a maximum grade of 48% (26°), claimed to be the world's steepest rack railway ) to help the train ascend or descend. Gradients can be expressed as an angle, as feet per mile, feet per chain, 1 in n , x % or y per mille. Since designers like round figures,

405-468: The above Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Blue Ridge Railway . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blue_Ridge_Railway&oldid=949921036 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

432-597: The following day. The completion of the Blue Ridge Tunnel eliminated this grade. During the American Civil War , the tunnels on the Blue Ridge Railroad were utilized as part of the so-called foot cavalry movements of the Confederate troops of General Stonewall Jackson . After the completion of the tunnels, the Blue Ridge Railroad was operated by the Virginia Central Railroad (which paid annual fees to

459-507: The great early civil engineer Claudius Crozet , the railroad bored four tunnels , from east to west: Greenwood Tunnel , Brooksville Tunnel , Little Rock Tunnel, and the 4,273-foot Blue Ridge Tunnel at the top of the pass, then one of the longest tunnels in the world. The tunnel was 'holed-through' on December 29, 1856, and was less than six inches off perfect alignment, as construction had proceeded from either end. Rail service didn't begin until April 1858, although temporary tracks over

486-457: The horizontal run by using the Pythagorean theorem, after which it is trivial to calculate the (standard math) slope or the grade (percentage). In Europe, road gradients are signed as a percentage. Grades are related using the following equations with symbols from the figure at top. The slope expressed as a percentage can similarly be determined from the tangent of the angle: If the tangent

513-539: The load that a locomotive can haul, including the weight of the locomotive itself. On a 1% gradient (1 in 100) a locomotive can pull half (or less) of the load that it can pull on level track. (A heavily loaded train rolling at 20 km/h on heavy rail may require ten times the pull on a 1% upgrade that it does on the level at that speed.) Early railways in the United Kingdom were laid out with very gentle gradients, such as 0.07575% (1 in 1320) and 0.1515% (1 in 660) on

540-766: The locality. After the Civil War, the Virginia Central and former Blue Ridge Railroads became part of Collis P. Huntington 's Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and helped complete Virginia's longtime dream of linking its navigable rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed with the Ohio River , which led to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico . The Blue Ridge Railroad and the former Virginia Central Railroad are both now part of CSX Transportation and are operated under lease by

567-747: The method of expression can affect the gradients selected. The steepest railway lines that do not use a rack system include: Gradients on sharp curves are effectively a bit steeper than the same gradient on straight track, so to compensate for this and make the ruling grade uniform throughout, the gradient on those sharp curves should be reduced slightly. In the era before they were provided with continuous brakes , whether air brakes or vacuum brakes , steep gradients made it extremely difficult for trains to stop safely. In those days, for example, an inspector insisted that Rudgwick railway station in West Sussex be regraded. He would not allow it to open until

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594-400: The numbers go from 0 for flat, to 100% at 45 degrees, to infinity as it approaches vertical. Slope may still be expressed when the horizontal run is not known: the rise can be divided by the hypotenuse (the slope length). This is not the usual way to specify slope; this nonstandard expression follows the sine function rather than the tangent function, so it calls a 45 degree slope

621-736: The sine of the angle rather than the tangent) makes only an insignificant difference and can then be used as an approximation. Railway gradients are often expressed in terms of the rise in relation to the distance along the track as a practical measure. In cases where the difference between sin and tan is significant, the tangent is used. In either case, the following identity holds for all inclinations up to 90 degrees: tan ⁡ α = sin ⁡ α 1 − sin 2 ⁡ α {\displaystyle \tan {\alpha }={\frac {\sin {\alpha }}{\sqrt {1-\sin ^{2}{\alpha }}}}} . Or more simply, one can calculate

648-413: The slope) and rise is the vertical distance. Slopes of existing physical features such as canyons and hillsides, stream and river banks , and beds are often described as grades, but typically the word "grade" is used for human-made surfaces such as roads, landscape grading, roof pitches , railroads , aqueducts , and pedestrian or bicycle routes. The grade may refer to the longitudinal slope or

675-436: The top of the gap were placed in operation by the Virginia Central as early as 1854. This line enabled the Virginia Central to offer rail service over its entire length, which had reached a western point around Jackson's River Station, near present-day Clifton Forge, by 1857. Due to the extreme grade of the temporary tracks (approximately 5.6%), the first train to cross over the mountain wrecked on its return journey eastwards

702-695: The world according to the Guinness Book of World Records are Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand, Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech, Wales and Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Guinness World Record once again lists Baldwin Street as the steepest street in the world, with a 34.8% grade (1 in 2.87) after a successful appeal against the ruling that handed the title, briefly, to Ffordd Pen Llech . A number of streets elsewhere have steeper grades than those listed in

729-601: Was chartered by the Commonwealth in 1836 and had reached a western point around Mechum's River by 1852. This railroad, which was planned to link the Piedmont region of Virginia with the Shenandoah Valley and points west, had found a planned crossing at Swift Run Gap to be financially unfeasible. To protect its investment and enable transportation, the Virginia General Assembly then incorporated and financed

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