We no longer have Pluto (aka Pootie). He was a good cat. His litter box was in the basement train room, so he was with the trains all of the time. My layout was 48 inches high.
He never bothered it. I think he realized since they smell like plastic, metal, and oil; he wasn't going to eat anything up there, so why bother.
But, as far as cats go, he was not as "vertical" as other cats.
My fiancee had cats before we married. When she moved out, we cleared the place out but left the cats alone for a few days with food and water. Upon our return, they had plenty of food, but they were camped out in the bare upper kitchen cabinets instead of their normal areas.
I would call them "vertically curious".
I guess, in the end, it depends upon the cat.
- Douglas
whoa... I mentioned the song for humor as I saw Weird Al sang it. Anyway, y'all can crack on about the gory details.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I do not see the Chapin Estate as giving permission for something like that - and one thing Al does is he ALWAYS gets permission, even if technically it is not needed. Sometimes he even has the original musicians play on his version.
--Randy, still living in an Amish Paradise.
(which makes me think - obviously it fits the song, but does Al know that there is a town in PA Amish Country names Paradise? One can even take a steam train there)
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Manic Larry Baker wrote it, and there are several people who have sung it 'over the years' since the early Nineties... some of which do the Harry Chapin imitation better than others.
Weird Al is NOT one of them; he's on record as disliking the song for its 'racist' overtones.
rrinker I'm not so sure that's Wierd Al. There is a tendency to assign nearly any parody song to Al, but I never heard that one before, and finding it on YouTube, it doesn't sound like him. Plus Al usually goes all out and has a parody verse for every verse of the original. Still funny though. Some comedian once said something like, if it tastes like chicken, then why don't you just eat chicken? --Randy
I'm not so sure that's Wierd Al. There is a tendency to assign nearly any parody song to Al, but I never heard that one before, and finding it on YouTube, it doesn't sound like him. Plus Al usually goes all out and has a parody verse for every verse of the original.
Still funny though.
Some comedian once said something like, if it tastes like chicken, then why don't you just eat chicken?
--Randy
Whatever, but he sang it.
They make spray that is supposed to keep cats away. The instructions say to spray it on something, like a length of ribbon, and lay that around what you don't want the cat to get to.
It's obnoxious to humans. The cat didn't care and walked right over the ribbon sprayed with this stuff.
I knew a guy that just put a couple of mothballs on the front of the layout. Cats hate the smell and stay away. You can just pick them up and put them away when you want to work on the layout because people hate the smell as well.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
herrinchoker riogrande5761 Still laughing----- herrinchoker
riogrande5761
Still laughing-----
herrinchoker
Everything tastes like chicken, even cat. Just watch out for the furballs.
herrinchoker CATS Start with a wok, some bamboo shoots, terryaki sauce, water chestnuts,--------!!! herriinchoker
CATS
Start with a wok, some bamboo shoots, terryaki sauce, water chestnuts,--------!!!
herriinchoker
If it starts with a wok and teriyaki sauce, I will not be eating it, cat or no cat............
Sheldon
There a cat in the kettle at the peking moon, curtesy of Weird Al:
Did you ever think when you eat Chinese,It ain't pork or chicken, but a fat siamese,Yet the food tastes great, so ya don't complain,but that's not chicken in your chicken chowmein.Seems to me I ordered sweet and sour pork,But Garfield's on my fork,He's purrin here on my fork...
There's a cat in the kettle at the Peking Moon,The place that I eat everyday at noon,They can feed you cat and you'll never know,Once they wrap it up in dough, boys,They fry it real crisp in dough.
Chou Lin asked if I wanted more,As he was dialin up his buddy at the old pet store,I said not today,I lost my apettite,There's two cats in my belly and they want to fight,I was suckin on a Rolaid and a Tums or two,When I swear I heard it mew, boy,And that is when I knew...
There's a cat in the kettle at the Peking Moon,I think I gotta stop eating there at noon,They say that it's beef or fish or pork,But it's purrin there on my fork,There's a hairball on my fork.
dstarrPartly she is getting old, 14 years, and can no longer jump up 48 inches, and partly she just never had much interest.
David,
Maybe you should have started her out in the hobby earlier with her own train...
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
My very nice cat stays off the layout. Partly she is getting old, 14 years, and can no longer jump up 48 inches, and partly she just never had much interest. I used to run an HO train around the Christmas tree. Cat was fascinated by the moving train and watched it for hours. She never summoned up the courage to pounce on it, she just watched it.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
I live in a condo and my layout is in my living space so no doors are there to close. My layout is 51" high so that prevents them two from jumping into my layout and even if they did its what they do. So you deal with it and move on.
besides I like having my best buddy's with me when running trains, lock them out, never going to happen.
Dave
We have a wonderful 2 year old orange tabby, who unfortunately loves the basement. Sometimes he sleeps under the layout on storage boxes, and I can run anything I want. When awake, he likes to bat the last car in the train off the track, so I use old cars that I don't care about on the end of the train. He will also go after new engines, mainly out of curiosity, and has jumped on expensive brass models while they were running. On one, a stanchion was broken loose and I was able to neatly glue it to its (EMD style) base, which was still soldered to the model. No real harm done. Often plastic engines have rolled over with no damage whatsoever.
So most of the time there is no damage at all, but on highly detailed plastic freight cars, there has been some damage, and I've written off a few cars as a result.
If I really want to run trains, we lock him out of the basement temporarily (but his litterbox is there). Other times I can walk around the layout and by doing that, he will avoid attacking the trains. Since he wants to attack trains entering/leaving tunnels, if he is awake, I don't run expensive brass models into/out of tunnels, so my running pattern becomes point-to-point. The plastic, just as when I was a kid, is assumed that it will eventually get damaged, so I don't worry about it.
There has been layout damage from him scratching on the edge of it, and I had to pull most of the wire trees because he was eating them and I didn't want him to choke on the wire. Fortunately most of my layout is rural desert scenery so there weren't many trees to remove at all.
All the trains are just expensive toys, and I only really care about the handful of brass models that I have (except I do try to minimize any kind of damage to the plastic).
John Mock
Dogs have owners, cats have staff.
Actually this cat is fairly mellow, occasionally she gets the zoomies and runs back and forth in the hall for no real reason. But unlike previous cats, she does not bother you constantly when there's still food in the dish but the bottom of the dish is visible.
Around here, the birds get revenge - the hawls I have mentioned that nest in the water town next to my house. I'm not worried my cat will kill birds, I'm worried the hawk would take her. Last year someone had their dog taken, smaller than my Pugs, but as it ended up too big for the hawk. Unfortunately no one thought to look in the empty field next to the lady's house, which is where they finally found the dog, but it was far too late. They couldn't possibly fly off with any of my dogs, but they are just around that size that they might be tempting, and even if the dog gets away, they will be badly cut by the hawk's claws. There are plenty of squirrels for them, and judging by how many dead mice I fish out of the pool every summer, plenty of mice to eat as well.
doctorwayne Overmod ...Wayne evidently doesn't understand cats or he'd know better like the rest of us. His loss. I know them well enough to stand by my earlier statement. I've seen too many people, brainwashed by their cats, who become subservient vassals, kept solely for their entertainment value by their cats.
Overmod ...Wayne evidently doesn't understand cats or he'd know better like the rest of us. His loss.
I know them well enough to stand by my earlier statement. I've seen too many people, brainwashed by their cats, who become subservient vassals, kept solely for their entertainment value by their cats.
Rich Bertram
Alton Junction
Having had pets my whole life and model trains since I was a kid I would say the best way to keep cats away from your train layout is to put the layout in a room where the cat isn't allowed to go and keep the door closed.
Overmod...Wayne evidently doesn't understand cats or he'd know better like the rest of us. His loss.
Pet owners who contend that "cats rule" don't understand the truth of that statement.
Wayne
UNCLEBUTCHI believe cats belong outdoors.
Hi UNCLEBUTCH,
I like cats, but I have to politely disagree with letting domestic cats outdoors. Since 1970, the bird population in North America has decreased by 3 billion birds! That's about 30%.
Cats kill birds. Of course they are not the major contributor to the decline in bird populations, but allowing cats to kill any birds is not acceptable IMHO. They are not lacking for food so why let them kill at will? We are in an age where every bit of conservation counts.
Why worry about the birds? The birds eat pest insects. Fewer birds = more pests. With respect, enough said.
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
My cat does that all the time, she likes to sit on window sills, but she can;t seem to judge ahead of time if there is enough room for her to fit. In the office there is nothing for her to jump on first, so she goes from the floor up to the window - but unless it's open, she can;t fit, and falls back to the floor. Thing is, she always ponders the jump before trying it, looking up at the target. In the bedroom, she can go from the bed to the window, but unless it is open enough for her to sit in, again she can't fit, but those usually turn into kitty parkour as she bounces off the window and lands back on the bed.
The two Pugs - you just have to laugh. They are natural clowns. Old Dude the mutt sticks to me like glue, and he's always so happy when I come home from work. Trixie Pug is a mama's girl and whines if my GF goes out, even though I'm still here. Bubba Pug, the best way to describe him is stoner. He just doesn't care. Moves when he wants to move. The gerbil in his noggin runs real slow and takes a while to wake up. Trixie is a little hyper, you have to remind her to take treats nice or she snatches them out of your hand and might take your hand with it - if you hand actually fit in her mouth. But she's quite smart - if you give her a water bottle with the lid on it, she knows how to unscrew the lid so she can crunch on the bottle and make noise. Bubba half the time can;t decide if what you are holding for him is something he wants or not, he's a real food critic. Old Dude, he takes offered treats so gently you hardly know he grabbed it.
They aren't pets, they're family.
My last layout, I knew the cat we had would eventually find his way onto it. So, I purchased from a local window glass store some plexiglass, cut down to 12" high, to act as a "catch fence" around the edge of the layout. (It extended about 8"above the layout, so it would catch any stray rolling stock or knocked over locomotives.)
The unintended result was that the cat could not see said 8" high barrier, as it was clear. He attempted to jump onto the layout only once. He bounced off of said clear plexiglass barrier back to the floor, with an extremely bewildered look. He then immediately ran out of the room, before coming back and standing in the doorway with a look of "I meant to do that" on his face.
Not how I intended it, but it worked.
So, my layout "catch fence" did indeed catch something.... The cat!
Does that mean it's a cat fence?
No, the cat was not harmed, but he never attempted to leap onto the layout again.
Now if only I can find a mouse barrier that works just as well.....
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
ATLANTIC CENTRALDogs are needy 3 year olds that never grow up
.
My feelings exactly.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Every once in a while, maybe once a month, old Mr. Wilson will join me in the layout room for some quiet retrospective. He has a favorite chair as do I. We don't get in eachother's way. After a few hours he's bored and hungry so he asks to be allowed back upstairs.
We have an understanding and he's a good companion when I'm contemplative moods.
Wilson_blog by Edmund, on Flickr
He does like to look over some of the MR forum posts.
Cheers, Ed
Cat: not allowed in the basement.
Dogs: Not allowed in the basement unless they then proceedeth to the garage for a car ride. They do their business in the back yard, which does not require going through the basement.
Problem solved.
Yes, cat has managed to go down a few times. Generally from the door being left open an extended period of time. She no longer attempts to sneak down every time you come up - the unpleasentness she was subjected to the first few times seems to have stuck, for now. No, no cats were harmed in the making of this post. She hasn't been down since the new walls are up, which no longer give her the opportunity to run around in circles to avoid capture. Should she manage to get down there now, there are too many dead ends where she will be cornered.
Bigger thing is to keep her away from the back door when lettign the dogs in or out, she likes to try to run away. Usually not a problem except when Bubba Pug is out, he will come to the door to be let back in, you open the door and he just sits there and stares at you for a whle before he realizes that the door is now open - that's when the cat likes to attempt an escape. The other two dogs, they come right in when the door opens.
The only pet damage to anything train related is when Trixie Pug got hold of one of the covered hopper conversions I was working on and chewed it a bit. Maybe I'll take the start of a roof I did off that one and melt the chewed corner and press it in like wreck damage.
dknelsonYou could end up being an unrecognizable kitbash ...
How could you not resist the obvious puns?
The problem with door access is ... sooner or later, even Jove nods. And when you do, you'll find out what curiosity killed, and possibly want to finish an incomplete job.
Not mentioned (although perhaps in the other thread) is tunnels. Both on the route and 'accessible from behind'. Cats can fit into surprisingly small places, not quite as bad as octopi but nearly so, and they like to curl up and sleep in the dark...
Funny thing is, you'd think once run into, they'd learn not to go back. That doesn't always happen.
Perhaps the 'best' approach is to know where your cats are BEFORE you go into the layout room, and then again where they are AFTER you go out.
Personally, I agree with Underhill the pinlighter with respect to cats: there are good ones, bad ones, and spectacular ones. Wayne evidently doesn't understand cats or he'd know better like the rest of us. His loss.
We have a dog too. She's not the brightest bulb in the pack. I think I have my wive convinced not to get another one after this one passes. But she really likes my daughters cat.