Totally Confused! Please Help!

[Commander Zarkon]

Working with HO. Just started using this software today, so still learning.
I'm designing a layout for a big room of about 36x57', but the layouts have to be pushed to the walls because its a classroom.

I laid out 1,912.43 inches of track in a section that winds back and forth in switchbacks. The track drops 48 inches in that length. The software is saying this is a 25.1% grade. That seems wrong.
A track calculator online gives me 2.51% grade.
What am I doing wrong?
Is the software wrong?

Also, put in a helix with a rise of 24" using 24" diameter track. The software is telling me I need 79 loops and 11,912.92" of track and 1,264 pieces of track for a 2% grade.

Any advice is appreciated!

[RailModeller Support]

Hello Commander,

Glad to help.
Is there any chance you've set your preferences for inclinations to Per Mille but are expecting to see Percent?

The General section of the app's preferences controls how grades are displayed:

grade_prefs.png (92.5 KiB) Viewed 1450 times

Any of the following popular formats can be chosen from

• Per Mille: units of height change per 1000 units of track length,
• Percentage: Height change per 100 units of track length,
• Ratio: One part rise to so many parts run.

The user guide also provides additional details in the Track Heights and Grades section.

Hope this helps,
Jan

[Commander Zarkon]

Thank you!
I will check that out asap!