While railways have a great ability to haul very heavy loads, this advantage only really applies when the tracks are fairly level. As soon as the gradients stiffen, the tonnage that can be hauled is greatly diminished.
Some of the techniques that can be used to overcome steep hills include:
History
The early tramways and railways were laid out with very gentle grades because locomotive and horse haulage where so low in tractive effort. The only exception would be with a line that was downhill all the way for loaded traffic. Remeber also that brakes were very primitive at this early stage.
Liverpool and Manchester Railway
This pioneering railway was built at a time when choice between locomotive and cable haulable wasn't clear cut. Therefore all hill climbing (1 in 100) sections was concentrated in one place where cable haulage by Stationary engines could be used if necessary, while there rest of the line was engineered to be so gently graded (say 1 in 2000) that even primitive locomotives would have a chance of succeeding. As it turned out at the Rainhill Trials of 1829, locomotives proved capable of handling the short 1.6km length of 1 in 100 gradients on either side of the Rainhill level.
See also
