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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
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