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?
there are MANY posts on these forums about this issue.
No solid consensus about solutions although one I read involved covering the layout with newspapers and under the newspapers, set mouse traps. The papers keep the trap from hurting the paws but the noise supposedly scares them off.
I have my doubts and I never tried that one myself.
I do know that at least one of our cats truly did dislike a certain spray we bought that had a sort of sour apple smell (that I rather liked oddly enough) and we’d spray that on house plants.
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!.
Years back cats were a problem in one of my past layouts.
My solution was to make trees by stretching Woodland Scenics over some really shrub branches with some extremely sharp thorns. They looked realistic enough and within a week, cats stopped jumping onto the layout. They never returned to the layout.
He’s actually pretty good. He likes attention and will bother me while I am working on the layout but he seldom jumps on the layout. Here he was helping me with the construction of Horseshoe Mountain. He decided to inspect the foam.
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. I had to keep the door closed but later as the cat grew older she stayed off.
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.
If you cannot keep them out with a door here is the best idea I have heard:
Get a motion detector / security light from HD or W-mart.
Instead of using lights you will need to get a screw-in plug adapter for one of the sockets.
Plug some type of noise making device into the newly created outlet on the sensor. A suggestion would be a small boom box set on a rap [xx(] radio station. Turn the volume way up. If that does not scare the cat nothing will.
Radio Shack used to sell an annoying noise buzzer that screwed into one of the sockets. I believe they have since discontinued it. Maybe an alarm bell would work.
You will have to play with the timer / motion sensor settings, as well as placement. No sense on this noise pollution [:(!] being on any longer than necessary. The motion sensor can be adjusted for area and sensitivity.
My old cat Erie has never climbed onto the layout. He has been trained that only the furniture is okay to be on, and only when I’m in the layout room. Otherwise the train room door is closed.
You might try putting a screen door on that room. That way you can keep air circulation and communications open with the family while keeping the cats out and the family happy.
My cat is like that. He finds a good spot and watches the trains for as long as I run them. He enjoys it so much that the left corner mountain of my layout is going to have a cat sized plateau where he will be free to hang and watch the trains all he wants.
If he is not sitting there, the plateau will also have a hinged lid with a storage compartment. It’s all up here (taps side of head with finger) .
Cats and trains don’t mix well. My last cat destroyed several structures and knocked a loco costing several hundred dollars off the table. The layout is still here. The cat is history.
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!)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
