New Idea: Underwater HO scale RR!

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tbonem91

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Nov 13, 2003
Messages
720
Location
Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Okay, so I have always loved model RailRoads and FishTanks. I recently decided that my next (future) fishtank will be a combination of the two hobbies.

Here's what I'm thinking so far:

large, long FW community tank: 150 Gal or so.

A 'mountain' in each back corner, each with a tunnel
RR tracks coming out of the tunnels, meeting in the center
Train station and other small buildings complete with people
Everything glued together of course
I would add real plants on my mountains and around the buildings.

Okay, so everything, once painted would have to be coated in something to keep anything from leaching into the water, this includes the track itself and any train cars - the metal parts must be kept from rusting. (any ideas??)

I am thinking mostly bottom-dwelling fish, ones which will live in my buildings and caves and 2 or 3 medium schools of smaller fish. Any ideas on fish that would look good in this environment?

I plan on building the lanscape up along the back wall as to hide any filtration, heating, etc.

What do you people think? This is definitly going to take quite a lot of time to set up and money to get together and I wont have either for ages but I really want to look into this venture...

-Tony
 
I have one question. How about the electrified rails? I cant recall from my childhood what the voltage is on the rails but I really dont think wet rails are going to work.
 
Keep in mind that water is the 'Universal Solvent' and will eventually dissolve away any material you put on the metal parts...thus contaminating the tank with toxic metal ions of various types. You might consider trying to figure out how to make replica tracks out of plastic rails (available at some hobby shops). As far as the railroad cars....good luck! They'll be almost impossible to waterproof for any length of time. Oh...while we're at it....make sure that you use silicone aquarium sealant as your glue. It is pretty much the only stuff that will hold things together and remain waterproof and non-toxic at the same time.

Oh...fishfreek....I don't think he was actually talking about a FUNCTIONING underwater train!!!
 
Oh...fishfreek....I don't think he was actually talking about a FUNCTIONING underwater train!!!

That was my take on this too, just a static train scene underwater. Could be pretty interesting! If you could get some old trains and gut them of all metal, coat the tracks with silicone, it could work.
 
Most HO scale trains are metal. I have no clue how you could seal them 100%. If you melted something like silicone sealant (silicone sealant doesn't melt, it disintegrates, so it would have to be something else) and could soak it so it covered 100% and then let it dry, maybe.
 
To take the whole thing in a crazy direction, you could have a tube through the tank and have the train run through. Maybe go with a futuristic underwater city kind of theme :D
 
I like the underwater tube idea that is kool

But if you're going for the more natural train look, how about dipping everything in a crystal clear nontoxic coating first... like this:

1. Set up a waxpapered box a couple inches smaller than the inside diameter of the tank.

2. Set up the entire thing on the waxpaper, tracks, train, etc.

3. Pour on your coating stuff.. something like that really awesome Behr's crystal clear stuff they use for inlaid countertops. Lift up all of the stuff just a smidge to let the coating flow under everything to coat both sides. Glop on top of everything. It will gently flow down and coat all surfaces.

4. Let dry to completely hard and gassed off and lift away from the waxpaper.

5. Viola, a permanent, sealed, scrubbable train scene. Drop it in the bottom of tank.

Maybe a phone call to Behr's or whover's product you plan on using to check the toxicity of the stuff.

:eek:
 
Oh. a static scene. im so dense. I like the concept of a clear acrylic tube. :) Thtas sure to scare the fish. When I had HO trains the where mostly plastic with metal only in a few places like the springs on the wheels and cuplers and the wheels on the motorized parts.
 
I had old trains, which are now safely stored since they are older than I am. I wonder if you could drill the tank, put a big enough tube across it, seal it, and run your track in there so the train went through the aquarium. I wonder if the current through the track would be a problem. Interesting.
 
I like the tube idea better. you could drill holes in the tank & have the train circle around and through. N gauge may be better, you can get more track in your tank.
 
Ok, how about the plastic trains they sell that don't really work, my wife just bought some for the grandbabies.
 
Thanks for the replies! Not too sure about the tube idea personally but I'm sure it would be a really neat way to go with a running train setup.

Im pretty sure that a clear acrylic paint over the tracks would be fine but I'm not really sure on what impact the paint would have.... hrmm...
 
Your not so dense Fishfreak! That's exactly what I was thinking as I was reading the thread. A static scene would be OK but an actual operating train! SO COOL! The clear tube is the way to go, Tony and you would avoid having to coat and everything. You could set it up where the entire scene drops right into the tank and the track leads to your transformer would also follow a tube up and out of the tank. Maintanience would probably easier too. There wouldn't be any interaction between the train and fish but who cares. This tank would definatly be unique. Good Luck!
 
tbonem91, you've got a really cool idea there!. Fisher Price makes a pretty realistic train set complete with all-plastic tracks. The loco is battery-operated, but I suppose it could be gutted and sealed.

As for movable trains in an aquarium, did you ever see those decorative Xmas villages that have figurines 'skating' on a glass pond? They use magnets that move around on a track under the glass. Could you do something like this to make a plastic train move around? You'd need strong magnets for the cars and for the under-glass mechanism.


Trains and fish...it's been done on a much larger scale.... So long Redbirds, the #7 will never be the same!
www.njscuba.net/reefs/site_redbirds.html
 
Well... if you wanted to do this you'd simply have to use a clear epoxy paint like the coat some aquarium gravel with... use aquarium grade silicone to glue it down... you could use the techniques people use for the "3d backgrounds" where they take foam sheets... apply heat to melt the foam on the surface and rub sand etc into it... that can thus make your mountains... the trains would be best to be disassembled and usually there's various mechanical parts and "dead weights" installed in alot of them to hold them down... remove everything that isnt necessary for appearance and then get a sprayable clear epoxy to coat everything with....

I would think that the tube idea would be much much cooler but the problem would be algae growth on the tube and eventual discoloration/scratching things like that.

If you did it in the tank instead of the tube I'd suggest coming out of a mountain... running it on a ledge and then out over the tank on some sort of a raised bridge and then back into a mountain on the opposite end....

maybe even for interesting effect have some sort of "river" made from the epoxy stuff as well... little rocks in it... etc... you could plant some of the various dwarf grasses all around it etc...

maybe make a few places to tie riccia and stuff down to in your tank
 
Never in my life would I have thought of this idea, but it's cool, lol! You better bust out some pics if you make this happen :)
 
Why not look for a really good looking wooden train toy. I mean the fish are going to be a little out of scale anyway, so realism isn't totally needed.
 
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