Our cats enter the basement only when I am there. They have learned to keep off the layout and know they are allowed on chairs, stools, storage boxes, one of the work benches, and the window sills. They also know to jump from stool to stool to earn a treat.
But cats' presence in the room, even off the layout, can produce mysterious pick-up problems in locos that pick up current through bearings instead of wipers. (Like Athearn.) We know enough to remove collected lint from wipers but it took me a long time to discover that a fine cat hair winds in a spiral between an axle and its bearing, insulating that axle from the truck frame!
Reality...an interesting concept with no successful applications, that should always be accompanied by a "Do not try this at home" warning.
Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction.
"Oooh...ahhhh...that's how this all starts...but then there's running...and screaming..."
Well,
Old Boskey is no more, we found him yesterday in his box. It was a good 14 years though.
Joe Daddy
This is an easy one guys. Simply run scale electric lines on all of your model "telephone" poles and charge them with 220 volt current when your not in the room!
Just kidding, I rather like cats really, their good when their fried!
Ocklawaha
SMILE!
Well it looks like it could do the job. Do you swing it single handed or with a two handed grip? I'd go with the two handed.
CATter up. He swings! <crack> IT'S A HIT!!! And the furry little monster's up, up and away! The cat just keeps on going! Out of the train room! It's a home run! And the model railroaders go wild! ;-)
ajelms wrote: stumpiesgrump wrote:keeping cats off anything is as simple as laying out strips of clear packing tape - sticky side up. -stevTried it, didn't work. My cat likes the tape. He chews on it and bats it around. I use a rain stick that I got at South of the Border. He is pretty scared of that. http://www.heritageethnicmusic.com/site/607029/page/276836
stumpiesgrump wrote:keeping cats off anything is as simple as laying out strips of clear packing tape - sticky side up. -stev
Tried it, didn't work. My cat likes the tape. He chews on it and bats it around. I use a rain stick that I got at South of the Border. He is pretty scared of that.
http://www.heritageethnicmusic.com/site/607029/page/276836
we have 5 cats and my layout is in a spare bedroom. I had one incident in which the cat that is least likely to climb and the least graceful of the 5 got onto my layout and knocked several cars to the floor. The cats dont have access to the room unless I am in it. One cat insists in being in the train room with me. I solved any issues with her getting on the layout or work table by putting a blanket in the top shelf of a rolling cart that I use to store supplies. Now she will jump into the cart and sleep and not be a bother to me or the layout. My biggest issue though is cat hair getting into the wheels of my rolling stock and locos.
Yeah, this is a prime example of why no cat can be trusted around trains.
I love the expression of the furry monster at the end. *Sniff sniff* This doesn't smell like a mouse?
Daddy, what are you doing with that bucket of water? SPLASH!!!! Mrrrowww! Mrrrowww! This is wet and cold! Why daddy why? ;-)
CSXFan wrote:Just to clarify some things, is this the reason you'd like the cats to stay off your layout? (video clip)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotPv39CAKA
Just to clarify some things, is this the reason you'd like the cats to stay off your layout?
(video clip)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotPv39CAKA
Well, I have a new kitten named Cudda, who is 8 months old now.
when I decited to (expand) my layout beyound my train room, I had to request land grants from the commitee (i.e. the wife) to take up 17 feet and over a work bench which I made for the wife. To make a new staging yard, I would have to cut a hole through the train room wall.
In doing so, I had to cut a hole big enought for two tracks to go through. Which my cat (Cudda) used to gain entry to the train room where he would cause great chaos to the room.
I have tried to block it with wood, cardboard, nothing would hold back "Hurricane Cudda" from his path of crash and smash! (The wife would laugh with joy) when I would report to her the latest exploits Mister Cudda would do via "The hole". So I glued a wood beam in the middle of the tunnel hole so he could not get through! So far, so good!! Stay tuned..
B.E.Cannon
Basement layout: I have a tunnel going from the train room to a little display set up at the bottom of the basementstrais. I found my cat laying in the tunnel. She is a funny one all you saw was her head peaking.
Upstairs Christmas layout I had a removable moutain incase the lcomotive got stuck inside well one day I was sitting and reading MR and all of a sudden the moutain moved. thought it was a mouse or something got up and the cat took off with the mountain attached to her back it was halarious.
joe-daddy wrote:You know, if the cat does not actually belong to you and something bad happens to it while it is trespassing on your space (the train room), I wonder, is that a sin?
You know, if the cat does not actually belong to you and something bad happens to it while it is trespassing on your space (the train room), I wonder, is that a sin?
The problem is that the owner on the cat, usually female, is hard to train. They get upset when you spray them in the face with water. They get very upset when you whack them on the *** with a riding crop when they do something they're not supposed to do, well most of them.
Broads are totally irrational about their furry monsters...er, cats. My girlfriend got very upset when upon getting ready to go out to pick up some chinese food for dinner I picked up one of her cats and informed her I'd try and make the best deal I could. She was not amused.
I have a problem with my landladies cats coming up to my floor and using it as a litter box. When I catch one, I'm seriously thinking about doing what the forest service does with problem bears. I'm thinking about relocating it to a far off part of the city with the hope that it won't return.
I have a small 4by8 layout with a small extension in my basement.About a year ago I put some sides around the sides and this has worked pretty well. I also try to make sure there is nothing nearby they can get on to see over the sides. I do plan(hope?) to someday have a real live layout room.
Soo Line fan wrote: We have owned 2 cats at different times. I have found out they have different temperaments or personalities if you will. The first cat could not be kept off the layout. One time she was sleeping inside a tunnel. I did the only thing I could think of to get her out. I sent a train full speed down the track but the cat escaped unscathed.After this cat passed, we got another. This one is more a railfan and is content to simply watch the trains without getting up close and personal. Jim
We have owned 2 cats at different times. I have found out they have different temperaments or personalities if you will.
The first cat could not be kept off the layout. One time she was sleeping inside a tunnel. I did the only thing I could think of to get her out. I sent a train full speed down the track but the cat escaped unscathed.
After this cat passed, we got another. This one is more a railfan and is content to simply watch the trains without getting up close and personal.
Jim
Jim,
Let's hope this one entry slipped by a website wandering animal activist. Their mission does not include a statute of limitations. Re second cat, very interesting since motion is a trigger response for all cats. Your second cat, if he does the outside thing, must be a very efficient hunter since he's discretionary in his targeting technique.
I use the door, old tech but very effective.
Jon
NSlover92 wrote: Newyorkcentralfan wrote: I recommend modeling the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific. Then it's just a question of aquiring a 6 foot anaconda for the layout room. That takes care of the cat problem. Insert Cat Here! there you go thats the way to do things
Newyorkcentralfan wrote: I recommend modeling the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific. Then it's just a question of aquiring a 6 foot anaconda for the layout room. That takes care of the cat problem. Insert Cat Here!
I recommend modeling the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific. Then it's just a question of aquiring a 6 foot anaconda for the layout room. That takes care of the cat problem.
Insert Cat Here!
there you go thats the way to do things
Compared to snakes, cats are not all that bad. We are between cats at the moment as Old Bowsky here is 14 and his bladder has made him unwelcome in any portion of the house. This thread has actually been quite valuable.
I've been ready, even particpating in the eventual return of a new, 2007 model frisker, but thinking about it, believe my dismissive attitude towards them should and will change into a more insistent, read resistant force against the refresh plans. Translation, let the lobbying for no new cats begin today!
The cat hair thing bothers me too. So far, I really like the capacitor thing. Gives new meaning to Capacitor Discharge unit.
I keep an old pet fencer in the junk box, it does a good job of discouraging certain behaviors. I wonder if some vinegar in a spray bottle would be more effective than water and no more harmful to scenery than H20?
Nice thread, good for my insomnia this morning. Remember laughter and smiling is good for the soul.
Best to all, let me see, I wonder what size caps I have laying around. Better to be prepared you know. I could use that old DC power pack to . . .
As an alternative you could laquer the cat. ;-)
Eric
3railguy wrote:Never blame the cat. It is a cat's natural instinc to attack any thing small that moves. N scale trains are a popular target. Not only are N scale trains subject to cat attack, N scale engine gearboxes are magnets to airborne cat hair. The only practical solution is to completely seal the train area off from cats.
Never blame the cat. It is a cat's natural instinc to attack any thing small that moves. N scale trains are a popular target. Not only are N scale trains subject to cat attack, N scale engine gearboxes are magnets to airborne cat hair. The only practical solution is to completely seal the train area off from cats.
I knew someone would drag this old thread out of the archives sooner or later......the way you handle cats on your layout is to do one ot two things:
1. Cats HATE the noise of a rattlesnake. If you don't believe it, just take an empty tin can, place anything in the can that will rattle, like small pepples, marbles, even peanuts will work. When the cat come into your train room, just rattle the can and stand back. The cat will fly out of the room and be very wary of entering again, especially after several episodes if your cat is stubborn.
2. Another method is the charged capacitor method. If you cannot be around your layout to guard it from attack by the mad feline, then charge a capacitor of the proper size, and leave it in the path that the feline must follow. This works also.
Of course if neither of these metods appeal to you because of greater love for your cat than your layout and equipment, then obtain more insurance coverage...LOL
Another thing about my cat and trains, I had been putting on the control panel. I wasnt quite finished securing it but it was nailed in enough to stay up but not enough to stay in if weight was applied. Well I stop to get more nails and of course the cat jumps on it and down it falls. My cat likes to use my layout as a platfrom to get to the windows.