Pumping running water on layouts

[Anonymous]

Since the amount of water I am pumping is very small and leaves the layout when the power is off, I have no problem with algae or mold. I also use distilled water to begin with so I don't develop scale. If the water ever gets really dirty, I can always dump the bottle and refill from the layout. Jerry

[Anonymous]

My question is why bother?

BB

[Anonymous]

I tried real water years ago. You fellows are correct, the mechanical problems can all be worked out. There are, perhaps have always been, chemicals to treat water to control algae and bacteria. The thing you will never control completely is the humidity. And a long-terrm humidity problem will give you growths of strange stuff all over your layout. If you use plaster, yes, even hydrocal, it will begin to hydrate given enough time. You want to try it, I say go for it. I was discouraged by all the side problems.

Tom

[Javern]

real water is a viable and interesting feature to be added to a layout. Plenty of water treatments availible to control algae and bacteria, if it were me I would have it so the water drains int a container when pump is shut off then u could just dump it. Maybe activate the real water when a audience is around or planning a all day session.

[Anonymous]

Im plenty happy with my woodland scenics water products[:D]

[Big_Boy_4005]

I agree guys, water is for drinking not for model railroads. Even the best pumps in the world wouldn't get me to use real water on my layout. Too many potential problems.

[Fergmiester]

There was a thread regarding this back in November. If I recall correctly the consensus was that real water was not a good thing especially as it does not "scale Down" properly. As the the Algae issue I was on the set for Theodore Tugboat several years ago and they used blue coloured water treatment used in septic systems. Didn't look bad for something in the G scale range.

Regards
Fergie

[darth9x9]

Yeah, the 'scale' of water has always been a problem for modelers. Even the movies have the same problem and you can tell when a dam burst is a model.

[der5997]

darth, I would guess that any of the anti-algae products for outdoors ponds would do the trick. It's an ingeneous set up Jerry's devised.
I think I'll stick to my ModPodged painted plaster, as I've only very short sections of rivers modeled, and will have a few small ponds in due course.
I'm in N, so I wonder how Jerry would go about accounting for scale since water is always 1:1, and N waves are 1:160.

[darth9x9]

Hey Jerry,

How do you deal with mold and algae forming in the water?

[Anonymous]

Model Railroad

Pumping water down a stream into a pond on a layout
I have found a good way to supply running water to a small pond which is fed by a stream or waterfall on a layout. I have a NOCH layout “Lucerne” which can be viewed at: http://www.eurorailhobbies.com/erh/eurorailhobbiesdetail.asp?pageid=&MN=15&CA=39&SC=HO&stock=NO-80200. This layout has a small stream that enters the layout about 12 inches above a small pond that is about 9 inches in diameter and holds about 1 inch of water. In the past I have used in line faller water pumps unsuccessfully as they have not worked reliably.

I have recently found a much more reliable way to pump water that might be useful on other layouts. I purchased a Micro-Mark pump 82089, which is a submersible pump. It can run on as little as 3 Volts DC up to 12 Volts DC. I placed the pump and tubing into a 32oz. plastic water bottle which I had cut the top off just below the upper ring and after placing the pump and tubing into the bottle, I securely attached the top back into place with several wrappings of electrical tape. I then placed the drainage tube from the pond into the opening in the bottle to allow water to flow back into the bottle. Since all of the water flows out of the pond down into the bottle when the power is off, I made sure that the amount of water in the pond was not in excess of the amount that the bottle would safely hold without overflowing. I connected the pump to a 6 Volt DC transformer. Once the power is on, the water is pumped back onto the layout, down the stream and into the pond. Since most of the water is pumped out of the bottle, the manufacturer recommends using 6 volts or less so as not to burn out the pump. You will want the flow out of the bottle to be slightly greater than the flow back into the pond, so the pond stays full. You can accompli***his by using a smaller drain tube than the feed tube to the layout. This will also cause the bottle to empty except at the bottom of the pump. Since the bottle is heavy when full of water, It is important to secured it by standing on something firm, or by suspending it by wire under the layout so it would not spill or fall. If the amount of water is greater, a larger bottle would suffice. When the water is pumped out the water flowing back in will be recirculated and a running stream will be created.

Jerry Marcus
Wichita, KS. 67208