I stopped at Wal Mart and went into the crafts department and bought a round green foam disc thats 1-15/16" wide by 3-7/8". Its circumference is 12.25" so its just a little over 1 foot around it. I ran white tape around it and then marked the center, drilled it and then put a pencil in the middle. And then used a marker and marked 1 spot on it so I could count revolutions. The white tape does not grip the track well, so I will replace it with either duct tape or electrical tape so it grips the rails better. The climbing grade on my layout is 48 feet long, climbs 10.5" and now I know the grade is under 2%. Though I think the grade varies and needs some adjustment.
Boyd,
That sounds interesting. At one point I had kept track of how many of each section of track I used… lost the paper… [banghead]
As for fluctuations in the grade… buy a longer engine… LOL! I haven’t had any problems with GP7s, SD9s, GP30s, etc, but as soon as I set the AC6000 on the track and set her off at a slow crawl I found 3 spots where the track dips about 1/4 inch - just enough to cause her to lose connectivity… now I have some work to do before I go any further on scenery. LOL!
Y’know, this is interesting. I made a decision to stop trying to even out the layout (it’s built atop an uneven crawlspace) and just jockey the throttle - and train load. For example, there’s a grade on Percy’s usual track - as an 0-4-0, he just can’t make it with 5 loaded wagons, so I plan his train load-out appropriately. Adds to the fun I guess.