Cass Scenic Railroad (vid)

RustyRatRod said
To my knowledge, the Shay has never been bested for pulling power on logging lines. There are bigger steam locomotives with more tractive effort, but they cannot get where the Shay can. Even the three truck Shays were a little limited in the roughest areas, because of the radii required to get in and out. They simply could not negotiate the sharper curves, so the two truck Shays did it. I believe if I'm not mistaken, the only thing that ever bested them on a grade was a cable tram.....and that' cheatin. The Shay can pull grades greater than 12%. To put that in perspective, that's 12" rise in 12" length of track. Or another way, 12 miles rise in 12 miles length of track. That's pretty astounding. The Climaxes and Heislers were both good, but even they couldn't out pull the Shay. There was just something about that side drive shaft and vertical engine configuration that made them total badasses.

I agree, Rusty. They could pull more than you would think possible. Steel on steel, you figure they'd spin. However, your math is a bit off. 12" rise in a 12" length would have an incline of 45 degrees! Maybe it's a typo. In my way of thinking, a 12% grade would be 12 feet in a 100 foot length. From google: "To calculate the percent grade, simply divide the rise by the run and multiply by 100"
I've ridden several tourist railroads, and Cass is definitely the most visceral. You can feel (and hear, they warn you that it is loud) how hard the loco is working.
One of the most relaxing was the the Napa Valley Wine Train. We had wine and snacks on the way out in the club car, and dinner on the way back in the dining car. All served in the style of "back in the day".