The snow has finally left the GCHRR right of way and spring maintenance is underway. Not all of the frost is out of the ground yet, however, I thought it might be instructive to see what may have settled more than acceptable, so, TA-DA!, the Greensville-Crooks Hollow Grade Measurement Train headed out on the rails to look for dipsy doodles...
A laser level, coupled to a pair of flat cars, pair of locos for low speed steadiness, and a cleaner car makes up the consist:
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As it turns out, the level, inverted, places the beam right on the seam in the middle of the flatcar upright. In the sequence that follows you can see the dot move according to the change in grade. In the last photo, you can see that the track has risen quite a bit over a short distance (dot dropping). I run track power, and this is an area where the locos are sometimes flaky, especially if the track is dirty. I now see that the grade changes may be enough to affect power pickup.
I found an area thats a veritable roller coaster even though it wasn't that evident. When laying track I use a small bubble level that straddles the rails as I set it up. This method has pointed out areas the bubble didn't really identify. Trains working to play trains! Doesn't get any better!
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A laser level, coupled to a pair of flat cars, pair of locos for low speed steadiness, and a cleaner car makes up the consist:
As it turns out, the level, inverted, places the beam right on the seam in the middle of the flatcar upright. In the sequence that follows you can see the dot move according to the change in grade. In the last photo, you can see that the track has risen quite a bit over a short distance (dot dropping). I run track power, and this is an area where the locos are sometimes flaky, especially if the track is dirty. I now see that the grade changes may be enough to affect power pickup.
I found an area thats a veritable roller coaster even though it wasn't that evident. When laying track I use a small bubble level that straddles the rails as I set it up. This method has pointed out areas the bubble didn't really identify. Trains working to play trains! Doesn't get any better!
