Getting an Idea From Your Head to Fruition...Harder Than It Sounds

After laying the track and doing some testing, I decided I wanted to add a water feature in the far corner of the layout. As a kid, I remembered a ride at Disneyland, Mine Train Though Nature's Wonderland. I thought somewhere in that ride, the train passed behind a waterfall between two rock tunnels( I was wrong, by the way). I decided to try and sketch out my idea...that turned out to be a disaster, since I am lacking any drawing skills. Since my sketch looked nothing like what the vision in my head was...I decided to just try and build it without a sketch or plan.

I purchased a small, round pond liner that I sunk into the ground.I watched MJMTrains video on making concrete mountains and set out to Lowe's for some supplies. I gathered up some chicken wire, cement, redwood posts and heavy duty paper towels and headed for home. I started trying to figure this all out without a plan and pounded a few posts into the ground. Got some chicken wire rolled out and stapled into place. On the first go round, I used weed cloth dipped in cement and laid it over the chicken wire. It wasn't cooperating with me and I was getting frustrated.

Once I removed the weed cloth and started using the heavy duty paper towels, things went a bit better. There was some trial and error on the part of the cement mix, but I got it dialed and started to work for me. Since you would be able to see "through the waterfall" and to the back of the tunnel, I needed to paint the concrete. I continued to add bracing and chicken wire and my idea was starting to come together the way I envisioned it.

I added a couple of faux stone, foam tunnel portals that I had seen on a video on You Tube. The ones pictured are from my 2nd attempt at making them. They don't look too bad but they are out of scale a bit. I continued to add cement to the mountain and form it into the shape I wanted. I placed a 3 gallon bucket in the base of the pond and pored 3 gallons of water into the spillway and let it flow into the bucket. It looked OK, but I saw how to tweak it to get more water and to flow over a wider area.

I made a template for making trestle bents and started to rip down some redwood. I started with 3, but then made a few more as it didn't look right. After the holidays, it was time to finish the mountain and waterfall, problem is...I am now rethinking the waterfall idea. I'm not sure I want my locomotives and rolling stock to have the potential to get wet. So back to the drawing board I went. I racked my brain, re-thought the design and I am still stuck. Right now, I am thinking about finishing the top half of the mountain without the waterfall. I am thinking of painting the pond liner to match the surrounding colors, adding some rock and make it a dry cavern crossing. I think I'm gonna think on it for a bit more. Any suggestions or ideas are welcome.

Night Time Motion Shot