I love the idea and I wanted to do mine with real water. I will have to wait until I live in my own house and have alot more room for a layout.
Looks great and keep posting pictures of it as you go.
Baker
Using real water is generally discouraged for several reasons:
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It doesn’t look realistic in scale (too flat, too clear).
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It’s hard to contain (it can leak through plaster and dissolve it).
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It constantly evaporates (and can cause humidity problems).
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Not a good idea to have it around your wiring.
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If you ever had a loco “join the birds” and end up in the river, it’d probably be a dead loss.
Now, if you have found a way to mitigate all of these (except 1, there’s no way around it), enjoy!
I like it, Looks cool. Good work.
If Mine wasn’t portable I would have done something similar 
Keep it up.
i only use real water to put on a show .looks and sounds good
Mike,
Just a suggestion. You may want to delete the additional threads where the pictures didn’t post correctly. That will unclutter pg.1 a bit…
Tom
Water will accelerate the oxidation of your Lionel tracks via increased humidity in the room. If that is not an issue with you…then go for it. Real water generally creates a positive reaction with visitors.
The real water sounds very appealing, but if you don’t mind it looking decidedly toy-like, then you should forego it.
The reason is that the water will appear to flow…anywhere it can…at about five to six times the rate that anything else seems to move on your layout, including your speeding trains. In other words, it does not scale out properly. Your trains can be controlled to look like they are getting from telegraph pole to telegraph pole along your right of way at about 20 mph, but your water will flow down its course in about 2.0 seconds…or at about 90 mph! Then, there will be the chemical treatment that all indoor water storage devices need in order to keep algae and bacteria-free.
It works okay for those cute little plastic fountains that you see in plant nurseries and in department stores in the seasonal section, but on a layout…not for me.
I can make the flow fast or slow. the back of the river is deep 4". Up by dam is only 1". Ipump water from lake back to top with a valave in pump line .
If you can get an even grade of about 0.02%, all along the water course (not an average, but consistently), you might be able to get it to flow at something like a scale speed.
My bet is on the water.
Water seems to disregard gravity. I’ve had it go up a slope; fail to drop off the edge and instead proceed horizontally on a rock ledge…so…be very careful when you start working with it inside.
Outside, it’s another adventure. I’ve pulled dead voles out of my pond…along with worms and acorns
hi,
you might consider the use of glycerin. it is denser than water and might replicate more closely the properties of ‘scale’ water to ho or other scales. the only drawback i can see is that it is also defined as a solvent so you would need to be careful what you use as a bed for your pond, river, stream or waterfall. since it is a raw material in the production of rigid and flexible types of foam; sheet foam might be a good material for the bottom of your areas you want to create. you might lay the sheet foam where desired and use low heat on a hair dryer to shape it. i havent tried it yet but i believe it may work. in theory it sounds like a good idea. correct me if you think i am misguided on this idea.
michael, esspee
Now that’s an interesting idea. [:)] If you try it out remember to research compatibility with the other layout materials (as Michael stated) and search the web for COMMERCIAL grade glycerin. You can get 2 gallons for under fifty bucks including shipping. Yes it is that expensive, but pharmaceutical grade costs at least four times as much. Yikes!
Good luck.
Karl
Very interesting idea and if done carefully, I’ll bet it will look great. If you change your mind later about water, your setup can still lend itself nicely to a dried up riverbed/waterfall, or even a volcano eruption with lava flow maybe taking out a small village or forest of trees along the way. Lots of ideas with your setup as I see it. Please post pics once you’re finished.
One last idea since I just took my kids to a waterslide park. On scale, you could have a 100 foot high set of 4 water slides comming down into a amusement park with kids playing in the water.
The lake and river are made of tank liner as use in hot water heaters . I do not run the water down hill . I run the water up hill . So i cam run it fast,slow,or stop it . I have to say it is cool. I do not leave water standing in lake. The lake and water fall holds about 25 gal of water. p.s. only for show look and sound greatttttttttt.
I think Dave Vollmer nailed it right on the head. Using real water will only creat headacks in the long run. Many people have tried this method in the past, and there are reasons why this modeling technic was discontinued. Look back into the 1970’s/80’s MR magazings and you will find references to problems experienced with real water.I honestly can not see this idea working well.
Duncan
I like the concept, but for me, the threat of being electricuted would keep me from doing this. Not to mention the scale, flow rate, rust, and humidity problems…just to name a few.
I do wish you luck and success.
Trevor