That is the only measuring stick you need and you can apply it to real estate, education, transportation, everything. 

The crack is up on the second floor so it's tough to get a good look at it or really measure it.

For others that have essentially unlimited resources and decades of experience, it is much less important to be accurate, and becomes more a measure of performance.

Any good realtor in DC has a tape measure in the car for this reason!  

I also have separate umbrella policy as a "just in case" measure.

Having clear short-term and long-term goals will help guide your decisions and allow you to measure your progress over time.

So yeh it's gonna cost you - and there is no measurable return on your money... but I'd do it.  

I realized I was measuring it inaccurately and as the crow flies, the tracks are actually 0.1 miles (~400 ft) from the property.

I use excel for organizing most of my work and have gotten pretty good at estimating without the fancy software by having an accurate set of architectural drawings and PDF pro (measure tool) to pull dimensions and figure material.

It's a good preventive measure too.Nice call!