Good day all. My cat just likes to watch and make sure that the quality control is in check.
Take care.
Scott
I've had a few cat problems in my world. My cat likes to sleep on my workbench and if stuff is in he's way he's big enough to move it. The other 3 cats like to steal stuff. The thing I found that works the best to keep them away is oranges. Sounds weird but it works. Anything that smells like an orange totally freaks my cats out. You might want to test it out by letting your cat smell and orange peel and watching the reaction.
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beaver3365 wrote: I had nearly the same problem except I'm HO. The way I (so far) broke my cat from roosting on my layout was simple. I have a Broadway 2-10-4 w/ sound. I left it idling one evening near the favorite spot of my cat. The sounds didn't bother him enough for him to move until I clamped down good on function #3. After I removed him from the ceiling, all it takes is a quick toot of a whistle and he's up the stairs and out of my train room.
I have two cats. They are onery little children. I totally ban them from the room with the workbench and trains stuff. The thunder and lightning that comes down on them should they even set a paw into there if the door is open is enough to make them think twice.
My solution will be to add onto the home, there the cats cannot get into the new room and have the rest of the place to run as they will.
Springtime is coming and they are much more insistent on having access to a open window or screen door to monitor the activity outside. Otherwise they are flat bored. We also have plants in another room and once or twice they got into it. The wife takes care of the punishment.
Fortunately one is too fat to get into trouble (Close to 30 pounds) and the other is a showboat that must have attention all the day and half the night.
One other thing. Having the big BLI engine HISS provoked a very interesting response of a hostile nature from both cats. They definately need to stay out of the room then.
Neither one of our cats does anything other than sit under the layout on the small shelf and let you know that they want attention too. Sitting at a corner of at the work bench and having a cold nose shoved into your hand or set of claws ever so delicately inserted into your thigh is a gentle reminder that your railroad shouldn't be the only object of my attention. Mostly it's just pet, pet, pet, tap the nose and they go curl up by the space heater.
With all of the cats I have ever own none of them have ever cause damage to a layout. Kali (the previous owner and I have had long chat about naming critters after things that are about or cause damage...) would sit on the back of the couch and watch the trains go by, she would sometimes walk on the layout itself, but because she was so dainty in her means, nothing was ever damaged. What she didn't like was my sound equiped engines. Didn't like the bell or the whistle at all.
My cats like to sit under the layout, on a shelf. It took me 2 days until I figuired out why my wiring was dissapearing.
We looked under the washer/dryer. Sure enough. With the mouse toys, there was probably 20ft of 12ga wire. I now solder and electrical tape all of my connections, and tack them to the posts, so they can not be torn out.
Phil
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.
My cat has a train of his own. A TT sized cast metal battery powered set from Wally World for ten bucks. It's taken quite a beating and still runs.
I don't really have a problem with cats, mostly because I have a dog. I do, however, have probems with crickets and spiders on my layout, seeing as my layout is in the basement. Let me tell you right now, it's a big mess when one of my trains hits one of those critters who have taken up residence on my layout.
-Brandon
Three cats are going to be a way of life with the Compromise Central. One of the three is not likely to be a problem...the other two are ornery snots, so I know I'm going to be in for problems. Since the layout is going to be in the dining room, no doors...so I'm trying to incorporate them in my plan...If I can work it out, my staging/fiddle area will have a removable lid. The cats are part of why I went with Unitrack...no separate "looks like kitty litter ballast.
This mustard seed oil...any drawbacks?
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..."
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
birdogman wrote:This reminds me of a saying I saw in a Railroad Modeler magazine I saw when I first got into the hobby back in the very early '70's ...... " Model railroaders need a cat like a submarine needs screen doors "...lol.
That would be exactly where I got it. Railroad Model Craftsman. Vintage mid-70'S. Somewhere I have the issue still. It was part of a hilarious comedy article about the hobby we all love. And possessing the issue tends to give hints at my age.
Oh, and yeah, I wore bell-bottoms. Sometimes they were even plaid. This was after we got color tv. It had rabbit ears. Our phone had a dial on it. Never had a leisure suit, but always wanted one.
I hear tv antennas are making a comeback if you air-broadcast HD tv. Yippeee!!!!. get out tthe tin-foil. er, rather aluminum foil!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
I spent several weeks building an N scale little league ball diamond. I hand painted uniforms on players for both teams. It was beautiful. When our old cat died, my wife got this kitten (about 6 months old). It got into my basement and ate, yes ATE, all of the players in the field. I figred kitty got punnishment enoug just passing those plascit figures, but suffice it to say we make extrasure the basement door stays latched now.
Ron
Owner and superintendant of the N scale Texas Colorado & Western Railway, a protolanced representaion of the BNSF from Fort Worth, TX through Wichita Falls TX and into Colorado.
Check out the TC&WRy on at https://www.facebook.com/TCWRy
Check out my MRR How-To YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/RonsTrainsNThings
I have a work area in the basement of my house, but my layout building is no mans zone for the cat, I dont know why, but he just doesn't want to come in, which is fine with me. When I work in my basement, he is big for attention and causes messes some times. My old cat would chase the trains, but never intentionally destroy anything.
-beegle55
A model railroad needs a cat like a submarine needs screendoors.
Cats usually like it when trains run. It reminds of mice I guess. A well trained cat from the beginning helps. only certain furniture allowed and some definately NOT (ex: NOT tables NOT counters) helps. I don't like when I see someone elses cat jumping up on the kitchen table or counter. (Nor will I eat there either)
You can get supplies at HD or LOwes or your favorite to build screen panels and clamp together when not in use.
Oh, and yes, we do have 2 cats.
Tracklayer wrote: phugo wrote: Hello everyone,I have spent the last year very slowly building an N scale layout. My three cats have barely even noticed. Last weekend I finished the last bit of track laying for the main line and wired it up enough for a test run. Well my cats are now very interesested in trains. I came downstairs one day to find they had completely destroyed a laser cut wood structure that I built, knocked several cars off the table, chewed the back end off of the caboose, and chewed on some of the wiring. I now have to build some kind of doors to separate the cats from the train room. Anybody out there have cat/train issues?To begin with, cats have no business even being able to get in your train room... Your asking for all sorts of trouble if you continue to allow that. Not only can they do a lot of damage to your layout and trains, you can also get hair in your locos, and this can be disasterous to steam locos... I'm an animal lover, and own a cat, but he's not allowed anywhere near my train room!.Tracklayer
phugo wrote: Hello everyone,I have spent the last year very slowly building an N scale layout. My three cats have barely even noticed. Last weekend I finished the last bit of track laying for the main line and wired it up enough for a test run. Well my cats are now very interesested in trains. I came downstairs one day to find they had completely destroyed a laser cut wood structure that I built, knocked several cars off the table, chewed the back end off of the caboose, and chewed on some of the wiring. I now have to build some kind of doors to separate the cats from the train room. Anybody out there have cat/train issues?
Hello everyone,
I have spent the last year very slowly building an N scale layout. My three cats have barely even noticed. Last weekend I finished the last bit of track laying for the main line and wired it up enough for a test run. Well my cats are now very interesested in trains. I came downstairs one day to find they had completely destroyed a laser cut wood structure that I built, knocked several cars off the table, chewed the back end off of the caboose, and chewed on some of the wiring. I now have to build some kind of doors to separate the cats from the train room. Anybody out there have cat/train issues?
To begin with, cats have no business even being able to get in your train room... Your asking for all sorts of trouble if you continue to allow that. Not only can they do a lot of damage to your layout and trains, you can also get hair in your locos, and this can be disasterous to steam locos... I'm an animal lover, and own a cat, but he's not allowed anywhere near my train room!.
Tracklayer
There is also the issue of any animal (or child) ingesting something that could hurt them. Best solution is to keep the unwanted out (cats, dogs, unsupervised kids). My train room as a lock on it for that purpose. But not all people have the luxury of a separate train room.In the past, our cats have not been much of a bother but a kitten is due to arrive in the house this spring so we will see what happens then. Cats CAN be trained, we did it with spray bottles of water. When they do something they are not supposed to, spray them down. Note this only works if you are consistent and do it within 5 seconds or so of the incident happening so they retain the association.
Even if the cats don't get on the layout, their hair will. Cat hair is not good for any moving or rolling parts. When I first tried running trains on my current layout, nothing ran well. There was no such thing as "free rolling" stock. Upon disassembly, I found cat hair on every axle and packed in every bearing surface. It took awhile to clean it all out.
Best to keep the cats out of the train room all together and that will only minimize the problem.
Good Luck
My cat got on the layout once.(once!) and in the middle of a bunch of cheap crap locos reached in and got my brand new Dash 8 and knocked it on the floor.(the horror).
You can spray the cat with somthing to stop this.....BULLETS! (dogs rule!)
I guess I'am lucky,my old girl can walk around the whole layout with touching anything,most of the time she does not care about trains at all.
JIM