Kato V12 and V13 piers

[Kiran]

Are the default piers included with Kato V12 and V13 too steep? The Shinkansens seem to handle them well but the Dapol Class 43 HST loco can't pull 8 carriages and a dummy loco up the incline. Same for Amtrak P42. It just about manages to pull 7 superliner carriages up the incline.

[katoftw]

They are designed to be 4%, which Kato say is fine for all their trains.  But as you mention, not all trains are equal.  Sometimes when you go from 4 to 8 cars still with one motor, or have corners as part of the incline, the 4% is too much.  You can get alternate pier set than fits in between the basic set and makes the incline a 2% rise.  But that will double the length of your incline.