# steam locomotives, matching the tractive effort

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-locomotives-matching-the-tractive-effort/793799>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 16, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-locomotives-matching-the-tractive-effort/793799 "2017-08-16T14:49:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-locomotives-matching-the-tractive-effort/793799/21 "2025-08-16T21:34:25Z")

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> [@Melbourne](#):
>
> I imagine that if you spent all day shunting trains up a hill, you would get better at it. Real train drivers did occasionally fail on hills, and have to back up and take a running start.

I can say from experience that this is true of the [mini amusement-park train](https://memphiskiddiepark.com/things-to-do/kiddie-rides/) (bottom of the page) I used to run as a summer job. You had to be careful not to give it too much throttle on the turns, or it’d derail, but the last quarter or so of the loop was up a steep hill, and you needed to start accelerating for that before you got to it, or you wouldn’t make it up.

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