(erielack) Re: Rahway Valley grade

[David Goessling <dmg_@_library.ho.lucent.com>]

Randy Brown wrote:

> I was bemused to find, upon investigation, the the Rahway Valley is only 7 miles long.  I forgot that Roselle Park and Summit are that close to each other.
> 
> Then it struck me -- Summit is called "Summit" for a reason.  The Lacawanna takes about 13 miles to climb from Newark to Summit.  The Rahway Valley runs pretty much flat from Roselle Park to well beyond Kenilworth, thens climbs for maybe the last couple of miles to Summit.
> 
> What is the gradient?
> 
> Randy Brown

The grade from Baltusrol (Springfield) to Summit is 4%. 
In passenger days (ended in the 'teens...) RV steam often had to double trains
to get everybody up to Summit. 
In the Arcadia book on the RV (which is great BTW!) there's a copy of a letter
from George Clark (Pres and COO) to the PRR about a locomotive that the PRR was
offering to the RV. Mr. Clark thanks them but says that it's not suitable
because the RV needed lightweight locos with high tractive effort, suitable to
the "heavy grades" on the line. Come to think of it, that's pretty much the only
grade on the line! The rest is pretty much flat.

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