How do i find out What Type of Grade I have in my backyard

[conrailpolice]

How do i find out What Type of Grade I have in my backyard

How do I measure It

 

 

John

[conrailpolice]

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/uploads/5720/Picture_006.jpg

[conrailpolice]

[img*]http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/uploads/5720/Picture_006.jpg[/img*]

[conrailpolice]

Here a Little Video Clip of the Grade

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUbGLoaYrYk

[Anonymous]

A quick down and dirty way to get an average is to get a nice straight piece of wood, a tape rule and a level.. Mark the stick at 25, 50, 75 and 100 inches. Stick a level on top then put one end on a higher spot on the bank, hold the stick level and measure down...then divide the rise (or drop) by the run (or length) For example, a  4" drop at the 100" mark is a 4% grade (about max for rod locos), a 4" drop at the 50" mark is an 8% grade, pretty tough even for geared locos, and a 4" drop at the 25" mark is a 16% grade...time to consider an alpine rack layout or build a terrace

[kstrong]

I covered measuring grades in part 1 of the Tuscarora Railroad series, so if you have the June '06 issue, it's in there. All you need is a laser level, a good tripod, and a long measuring stick. For your yard, I'd recommend a 1 x 3 with a few yardsticks taped to it. That's some serious grading you have there.

In a nutshell, set the tripod up in one spot with the laser level attached to it, divide the yard into a grid (I used 5' increments) and shoot the laser to the measuring stick placed at each grid point. That will determine your elevation.

Later,

K

[conrailpolice]

Thanks for the help guys . I got alot of work ahead but I'm going to build a huge Conrail Layout

 

John

[Anonymous]

This is a lot easier in metric but i divided my area into 1 m squares. Made myself a water level and got an assistant ot draw the whole lot out on a piece of graph paper and took a reading at every intersection and transferred the lot to graph paper and i made my plans from there. Don't forget to double the variations in your water levels, as they work half at each end of your water level. ie if youhave a variationof  2 cms one end will go up 1 cm and theother down 1 cm.

Now comes in the bit where metric is so good. All horizontal measurements are made in metres and vertical ones in centimetres; divide the vertical by the horizontal and all results will be in percentage of grade.

if you would like to see a picture of my water level send me your email adressa dn i wilsend you a copy of a photo and advice as to how to make one!

Rgds ian

 

[kstrong]

Suuuurrrre, Ian... Out to prove that we imperialists are still doing it the hard way... I know how y'all are down there.

 

Seriously, great tip. I'll have to remember that one, even if it does mean I have to learn how to divide the yard up into meters. Or is it meters into yards, or... *poof!* Darn. There goes the brain. See why we can't do metric???

 

Later,

 

K

[Anonymous]

The idea is to only have a vague idea of whats related to what. the idea is to do all your measurments in metric then all you will be relating to is other metric measurements. The overal answer will be apercentage which is neither a metric or impperial measurement.

Rgds ian

[Puckdropper]

I figure a meter is about a yard, every 10 or so you have to add another yard.  When somone tells you the building is 20 meters tall you can figure it to be about 22 yards or 66 ft.  This is not exact, it's a rough rule of thumb to get an idea of how large something is.

Read from the same side of the ruler and do the division.  It's exactly the same difficulty for either the Right way or the Metric way.  (Ooh boy, those are fightin' words there, aren't they?)

[Anonymous]

Forget about all imperial measurements when you are on this project, get metric measuring devices which are cheap enough to buy and just do your verticals in centimetres and your horizontals in metres and it will all take care of itself.

I live in a metric country but it hasn't always been so;  i can remember when we didn't even have netric money.

So if i can do it so can you!

Rgds Ian