Dear pull contest contestants, There is available on the market a paste product that is used to drastically increase friction. I have seen it advertised and seen it work at industrial machinery shows but I have never used it. The paste contains some "vehicle" like grease with a very hard powder mixed in it. I don't remember what the powder consist of but I think it is one of the harder stones like diamond or ruby. Also tungsten carbide or boron powders can be used. This paste is used to help keep a screw driver blade in a screw head's slot when the slot is worn and rounded. Microcopically the hard powder particles in the paste imbeds them selves in the contacting softer surfaces, that would have a tendency to slip, dramatically inceasing the friction between the 2 surfaces. This makes it possible unscrew a screw without the screw driver blade slipping out of the screw head's slot. This product is not very costly because diamond and ruby powder are industrial products and have no relation price wise to gem stones. If a very small amount of this paste, or even a bit of fine boron powder, is applied to the tracks or driving wheels on a locomotive it would climb like a rack RR engine. So I take these 46% grade climbs with a grain of diamond dust.
Arthur--Mexico City
