Cat proofing a layout

[richg1998]

I got rid of the cat and got a dog who does not pay attention to model railroads. End of story.

Rich 

[chatanuga]

Who would ever allow a cat access to a train room? why don't you go down to the local stock yards and get a brahma bull in let it roam around your room(makes about as much sense) Allowing a cat into a train room is a very irresponsible act.   Bring your cat's up here, the bald eagles are doing a good job of keeping the cat population in check(along with the owners of 22's)

Well, when I first just had Chessie, it was no problem letting him down to the basement.  He would look around on the floor and then end up curling up on the stairs where he could watch everything going on.  When I first got him, he did get on the layout a few times.  But I didn't have anything in the way of scenery at the time (just a bare tabletop), and he learned from the water bottle/can of air not to get up there.

Since bringing Casey Jones home, I initially tried letting them both down to the basement when I was down there.  However, they like to rough house when they are together as well as get into things more.  The last time they were down there, something that should have only taken 30 minutes took close to 2 hours because I was constantly having to get them out of things and keep Casey (my daredevil) off the layout.  Since then, they aren't allowed down in the basement period.

Kevin

http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html

[jbinkley60]

 

Cat, what cat problem ?

He got tired cutting foam.  Actually he has been very good with the layout.  Every so often he will climb on it but he has been careful not to break anything.  I am sure my luck will run out one day.

 

[twhite]

Okay, since this is still running ad nauseum, I had a talk with Spooky. 

Here is her answer: 

 

SHUT THE  DOOR, IDIOTS--HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TRAIN YOU?!

 

Uh, well--she's from Maine, understand--always speaks her mind. 

Tom

[concretelackey]

 

Cat, what cat problem ?

He got tired cutting foam.  Actually he has been very good with the layout.  Every so often he will climb on it but he has been careful not to break anything.  I am sure my luck will run out one day.

 

hmm.....looks like the beginnings of CATKILLED MT. ....just add plaster?

[SteamFreak]

Tom, is that a cabeese Spooky actually nabbed, or did you frame her?  

[grayfox1119]

I have mentioned this several times to the same thread about cats in a train room, I don't think that people read the threads...but that is OK, we don't mind repeating, especially for new members and those who have Senior Moments ....(who me? ) LOL

Cats HATE hissing noises. It scares the daylights out of them. Our cat tried to attack the Christmas layout under the tree several years ago. Knocked the train off the tracks and attacked the passengers cars. I had a nearly empty 1/2 gallon size plastic container of peanuts nearby, so I shook the container violently, which made it sound something like a rattlesnake. She leaped into the air and flew out of the room and down to the lower level of the house. The next night, the trains were running again, and I wanted to see if I needed to re-enforce Pavlovs theory. The cat came into the room and looked at the layout. She started a slow approach, and when she got about 3 feet from the train, I gave her the "rattlesnake" treatment again. Another giant leap in the air and off to the lower level again for the entire night. After that, she never went near the trains again.

So what you do is set up a motion detector, and make a tape of hissing noises (loud) that will play when the detector sets it off...works like a charm.

[CTValleyRR]

Unfortunately, the train is banished to the basement, where also resides the cat's litter box and food.  Can't ban the cat.

The cat belongs to the wife.  Can't afford to lose the wife.

What's a fellow to do?  Just for starters:

I built a step stool with a layout-level shelf on it so that my young children could observe trains in operation.  Unfortunately, the cat decided that she liked lying on the shelf next to the power pack and watching the trains go by.

One day, I was operating my beautiful Kato HO-scale TGV Sud-est (orange & gray, powered loco, 3 coaches, dummy loco) at realistic speeds (say 120 or so scale mph).  Now suddenly, the cat, which had formerly been quite content to simply watch the trains go by, decided to take an experimental poke at the train as it zipped by.  She barely made contact with it, but the train rocked sideways, jumped the track, and began its graceful arc to the hard concrete floor 48" below.  I made a desperate grab for the train, but succeeded only in clutching the unpowered loco, smashing the pantograph and snapping off the lead truck, which remained coupled to the coach ahead of it.  The rest of the train augered in to the hard deck.  The resulting "explosion" was spectacular, to say the least.  The largest remaining piece of the loco was about a square inch (even the motor came apart), and pieces of the loco and coaches were strewn over about twenty square feet of the floor.  Only the dummy loco and the rear-most coach were salvageable.

I try to discourage the darn thing with a spray bottle, but I can't sit by my layout 24/7 (although it would be nice!).  She also plays Catzilla when I'm not looking.

[twhite]

Tom, is that a cabeese Spooky actually nabbed, or did you frame her?  

Nelson--

I gotta admit--for that particular photo I 'framed' her.  That cabeese had been on the kitchen table for two days, and she just STARED at the darned thing.  It finally dawned on me--she only steals the railroad BROWN-colored Walthers Rio Grande cabeese--she's not interested in the earlier red MDC ones.  

However if it helps at all, two days ago she started to walk off with the front pilot deck of the brass Yellowstone I'm working on.   By the front coupler, yet!   She sure likes helping Dad work on his trains, LOL!

Tom   

[Flashwave]

Who would ever allow a cat access to a train room? why don't you go down to the local stock yards and get a brahma bull in let it roam around your room(makes about as much sense) Allowing a cat into a train room is a very irresponsible act.   Bring your cat's up here, the bald eagles are doing a good job of keeping the cat population in check(along with the owners of 22's)

Well, when I first just had Chessie, it was no problem letting him down to the basement.  He would look around on the floor and then end up curling up on the stairs where he could watch everything going on.  When I first got him, he did get on the layout a few times.  But I didn't have anything in the way of scenery at the time (just a bare tabletop), and he learned from the water bottle/can of air not to get up there.

Since bringing Casey Jones home, I initially tried letting them both down to the basement when I was down there.  However, they like to rough house when they are together as well as get into things more.  The last time they were down there, something that should have only taken 30 minutes took close to 2 hours because I was constantly having to get them out of things and keep Casey (my daredevil) off the layout.  Since then, they aren't allowed down in the basement period.

Kevin

http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html

May I make a humorous comment and point out the power of names?

Chessie: While cute, sleeps ON trains. Not a porblem when the train is 10 ft high, and 72 feet long. When the train is shorter than her body, Houston has a problem.

Casey Jones: While it was minimal, this famous man's life story ended in a Train Wreck Need I say more? This admittedly might be a clue to events to come...

[twhite]

Flashwave--

Neat analogy.  Which might explain why I named Spooky after a character on the "X-Files." 

Tom

[Tilden]

  Snakes keep cats off a layout and are much less trouble than dogs. 

P.S.  Also keeps the wife out of the layout room.

Tilden 

[HarryHotspur]

How about one of those invisible electric fences around your layout? Or if that doesn't work, a scale model high voltage cattle fence with real high voltage?

[Anonymous]

my cat used to attack our cloth furniture and my parents got mad. my dad got some kind of spray that they dont like the smell of ill try to find some for you but it works also, my layout is high and in a place where i can keep the doors closed and everything out. ALSO: be very glad that your problem is only a housecat, i have a little brother to repel and, unfortunately, he can open doors, unlike my cat. maybe i can find a human repellant and just wear a gas mask!

[Packers#1]

Got a BB gun? Keeps you in pratice for deer season. Cats don't like em either.

Ah, maybe airsoft?

[Packers#1]

Who would ever allow a cat access to a train room? why don't you go down to the local stock yards and get a brahma bull in let it roam around your room(makes about as much sense) Allowing a cat into a train room is a very irresponsible act.   Bring your cat's up here, the bald eagles are doing a good job of keeping the cat population in check(along with the owners of 22's)

Didn't you see the mythbusters? The bulls barely, if any, nocked down china.

Maybe owners of 12-gauges as well?

[Newyorkcentralfan]

Then don't let her catch you fitting the cat with cement shoes.

 

The cat belongs to the wife.  Can't afford to lose the wife.

[dale8chevyss]

I'm not a cat fan so yes I would send the dumb thing outside if it was tearing up my stuff.  Or try a cage or something, I don't know. 

[SteamFreak]

You could always try working him into the layout.

 

[HarryHotspur]

Then don't let her catch you fitting the cat with cement shoes.

Good idea. Or maybe tie some ankle weights on the cats legs to keep it from jumping very high. One pound per leg oughta do it.

[Packers#1]

That's a great one, SteamFreak, ROTFLOL.

[SteamFreak]

That's a great one, SteamFreak, ROTFLOL.

They sell a motorizing kit too.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Install cat-hating terrier.

[Packers#1]

Even funnier. ROTFLOL!