Western Railroad Discussion > Raton Pass Ruling Grade

I know that Cajon Pass north of San Bernardino, CA on  the old Santa Fe, now Burlington Northern Santa Fe, has the so called north track with a ruling grade of 3%. What is the steepest part of Raton Pass in New Mexico and is it the steepest on BNSF?

SantaFeRuss

Westbound, 3.5% Wootton to the summit and Eastbound 3.32% Keota to the summit. The summit appears to be at approx  MP 652.8. Keota is MP 655.2 and Wootton is MP 651.8.
Per AT&SF System Timetable No. 5, April 16, 1995.

The steepest grade in operation, is BNSF's spur to the Boeing Everett plant 5.6%
Raton is varies up to 3.7 westbound and 3.2 eastbound.

I wonder how many trains a day ran on Raton Pass during WW2? Wasn't all DT back then?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/21 18:03 by jayman.

jayman Wrote:
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> I wonder how many trains a day ran on Raton Pass
> during WW2? Wasn't all DT back then?

S. Kip Farrington Jr. authored a book called 'Railroading from the rear end' that nicely documented Raton Pass around World War II with lots of photos and wonderful narrative of Santa Fe's operations over Raton Pass. Still wish I had that book! I would imagine the ATSF ran a bunch of trains daily during that time including freights, passenger an troop trains. Thanks folks for the gradient info!

SantaFeRuss



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/21 18:21 by SantaFeRuss.

~ Mr. MRL

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And the old line was even steeper.

Out 

SantaFeRuss Wrote:
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>  What is the steepest part of
> Raton Pass in New Mexico and is it the steepest on
> BNSF?

The single steepest section of Raton Pass is between the set out track just RR East (north) of the switch at Wooton and said Control Point, I have a grade chart showing it at 4.05%, but it's not the ruling grade.

Correct 

Official 2/18/2021 track chart, 4.03 grade for that short stretch east/north of Wootton...


~ Mr. MRL

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SantaFeRuss Wrote:
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> I know that Cajon Pass north of San Bernardino, CA
> on  the old Santa Fe, now Burlington Northern
> Santa Fe, has the so called north track with a
> ruling grade of 3%. What is the steepest part of
> Raton Pass in New Mexico and is it the steepest on
> BNSF?
>
> SantaFeRuss

Since your Raton question has been answered, we should point out that it's the SOUTH track, now Main Three, that has the three percent grade on Cajon.  The North Tracks are the 2.2 per cent grade.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

MrMRL Wrote:
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> ~ Mr. MRL

is there any way you could post the grade chart on the glorieta sub?

thanks for any info.........

66

ntharalson Wrote:
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> SantaFeRuss Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I know that Cajon Pass north of San Bernardino,
> CA
> > on  the old Santa Fe, now Burlington Northern
> > Santa Fe, has the so called north track with a
> > ruling grade of 3%. What is the steepest part
> of
> > Raton Pass in New Mexico and is it the steepest
> on
> > BNSF?
> >
> > SantaFeRuss
>
> Since your Raton question has been answered, we
> should point out that it's the SOUTH track, now
> Main Three, that has the three percent grade on
> Cajon.  The North Tracks are the 2.2 per cent
> grade.  
>
> Nick Tharalson,
> Marion, IA

Thanks folks for the charts. Interesting. Also thank you for the north track on Cajon at 2.2% and the south track at 3.0% correction .

SantaFeRuss

Must have been fun to start a westward train that was stopped at the west switch Wootton....

goneon66 Wrote:
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>
> is there any way you could post the grade chart on
> the glorieta sub?

 

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muchas gracias............

66

ATSF1129 Wrote:
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> SantaFeRuss Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >  What is the steepest part of
> > Raton Pass in New Mexico and is it the steepest
> on
> > BNSF?
>
> The single steepest section of Raton Pass is
> between the set out track just RR East (north) of
> the switch at Wooton and said Control Point, I
> have a grade chart showing it at 4.05%, but it's
> not the ruling grade.

What's the official definition of 'ruling grade'?

So, if you put a boxcar at Woolton and let it roll, assuming there are no derailments on curves, how far would a modern boxcar roll from the top of that hill?  Any guesses on its maximum speed?  

John

> What's the official definition of 'ruling grade'?

There is none -- if you want to define the term,
your definition has to be some arbitrary, and
no reason the definition would be the same
as on some other RR.

What's the "ruling grade"  westward on Track 2
approaching the Benicia Bridge? Miles of level,
followed by 3500 feet of 1.95%, followed by level.
Depends on how long the train is, and depends on
how much of a running start you assume.

MrMRL Wrote:
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> Official 2/18/2021 track chart, 4.03 grade for
> that short stretch east/north of Wootton...
>
>
> ~ Mr. MRL

Great track diagram! Is there a legend or guide that explains things like the curves and grades?

Very interesting to study!

Chuck