Water pump question

[Anonymous]

That was great , I never new something like that excisted

[FJ and G]

Frank Hale built it with glass and brass. He also designed a Lionel disappearing loop in his layout and other nifty things. He's an elderly gent who lives atop a mountain not far from my home near Manassas, VA. The all-day rides at club meets appear not to bother the fi***oo much. They get lots of attention, for sure. Of course, in O scale, they would represent giant carp. Incidentally, there really were aquarium cars.

[Anonymous]

The idea of a under water seen was agood idea . I still have my 55gal that could be my next winter project

[jkerklo]

I knew there were real aquarium cars, but didn't even imagine it had been modelled for real before. Thanks for the link. I thought I had a brillliant idea. Oh well ..

Back to the fish

When they get too big, you can have a fish fry, and invite train buddies. Bet Frank never did that!

If you aren't into eating pets, then put them back in the stream ... Born Free!

John Kerklo
TCA 94-38455
www.Three-Rail.com

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

"Think of it. You could have a REAL aquarium car, since you already have the fish. You would be the only one in all of train modelling!"

Don't laugh, I once tried doing that with plexiglass, in HO no less. I think I still have that, and I'll post a picture here when I find it. Sorry you didn't see the diagram with the original post, it took me about 10 minutes to draw and upload. I just used MS paint.[;)]

[Anonymous]

Also alot of fish pumps and power heads , can control the flow of your water they have adjustments

[FJ and G]

"Don't laugh, I once tried doing that with plexiglass, in HO no less."

Elliot,

No wonder they threw you out of HO. Very unprototypical! :-)

[Big_Boy_4005]

OK Dave, now it's all right to laugh. I made this when I was about 15. Not too many people have seen it until now. My 11 year old son kind of thinks it's cool.[(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][sigh][swg]

[jkerklo]

Dave,

I think you can do Frank, and Elliot, one better. Build the aquarium car on a log dump chassis, then, when the fish have had a long enough ride, SPLASH, they go back into your pond.

With your imagination, you can probably come up with a way to load fish INTO the aquarium car. A motorized net, a water ramp, big funnel ... sounds interesting.

John Kerklo
TCA 94-38455
www.Three-Rail.com

[FJ and G]

John,

How bout a TMCC-crane with a fish hook and worm attached to lure them back into the aquarium car? To unload the car, you could shoot an ICBM from Lionel's missile car at the Aquarium car and it would explode, shooting the fish back into the river.

If the fish missed the river, you could place a cat on the river bank to scoop up the fish.

[jkerklo]

Ok gang, it took awhile, but it looks like we have Dave hooked, so to speak, on live fish for his water feature. Now we have to help him do it right.

Tom, with your pet store experience, what kind of fish. Minnows from a pond? What to feed them. How about plants? Snails to keep it clean? How much light? Will he need some pond scum?

I would also suggest turtles and crawfish, but they might crawl all over the layout and get hit by trains. Messy. Would need a really good track cleaning car.

Lots of opportunities for action.

Dave already suggested a crane with a hook. How can a worm be modelled? It should wriggle.

Fishermen of course. If they occasionally raise and lower their lines, maybe the fish will bite and get drawn out of the water. No hook, just a good worm.

Must have one of those hobo campfires, but with a large fish (fake) on a turning spit.

Fish just swimming around will get boring after awhile. Will a small electric current through the water make them jump?

Let's give Dave plenty of good ideas.

John Kerklo
TCA 94-38455
www.Three-Rail.com

[Big_Boy_4005]

John, I'm not so sure that we have Dave ready to change his original plan.

Dave likes Santa Fe, and was planning on modeling a thunderstorm in a dry climate. My understanding is that the storm will start, the pump will kick on, the water will run down the gully, and when the storm stops the pump will too, leaving everything high and dry. I'm not sure where the fish would fit into that plan.[swg]

[Anonymous]

In my water fall,into a pond I used the waterfall as the filter .The second stage has filter cartridges with carbone inserts along with the third stage. This keeps the water crystal clear and smell free as long as the carbone changed on time. As far as the turtle that's what I have, it's a great effect. Along with fish as you can see in my pictures. The turtle or crayfish won't escape as long as your walls on the pond are high enough. Mine are about eight inches. The walls are made of roofing rubber 060. As far as the pump fish will get stuck to it so you must build a screen around the pump. I used an aluminum paint grids. It works perfect. I used a submersible pool pump and I can adjust the flow of water. Hideing the pump is easy as you can see by my pics mine is under a ramp for my turtle. The hoses run behind the rocks. I've had my pump for 6 months with no problems. I hope this info helps.