I have two cats and they’re driving me crazy!
they rub on the grass I just put on the layout, rub the unfinished weathering off of RS and ruin ballast.
what can I do about this problem?
When not using the layout, carefully remove the locomotives, and anything else that draws power from the track, and connect it to a step up transformer giving a high enough voltage to give the cats a jolt when crossing the track.
They should learn fairly quickly.
Keep other human members of the household away, and don’t forget to turn it off before working on the layout.
It might work…
Peter
(I actually like cats, so don’t make the voltage too high, just enough to make them notice!)
Best bet, in my opinion, if it is possible, try to keep the cats out of the layout room.
One cat that we have, Scooter, isn’t interested in my trains at all. The other cat,
Chessie, (should of seen it coming when we named her!!!) can’t control herself!!
I currently don’t have a layout, but whenever I am trying to put a kit together she has
to be in the middle of it. I put her in another room now to keep her away from the
adhesive and parts–for her safety and my sanity!!
P.S. Currently house hunting–looking for layout space with living quarters attached!
I love my cats you know. I rescued the older one and saved her lone kitten
(reall odd only one kitten) but they sleep in my 20 by 9 room with my layout.
And they aren’t really liked by the rest of the family. so its hard to keep em out.
You have a choice to make, you can have cats or you can have a model railroad. You cannot have both.
Randy
JC,
Have you considered putting a plexiglass (plywood, cardboard…) cover over your layout when you’re not working on it or operating it?
How do the cats ruin your ballast?
Oliver
I consider myself very lucky in that my cat shows (almost) no interest in my railroad…maybe because his first leap onto the layout was sufficiently adversive.
After making a four point landing in some freshly poured hydrocal, and my chasing him down to wash off his paws so he wouldn’t lick it off and clog up his internal plumbing, that was evidently enough that he’s content to just watch now.
Thankfully, my cats (both HUGE) stay on the floor while they’re hanging out with me in the basement. Cats love to be explorers, so most will naturally want to be up on the layout checking things out. If you’ve got a good relationship with them, they’ll also want to be hanging out with you.
Your best bet is to just keep them out of the layout room. Since mine is in the basement, there are plenty of doors I can keep closed to isolate it from the rest of the house. If you can’t close off the layout from the rest of the house (and prehung doors only cost around $50 or so), add a tarp over the layout. Add some 1x2’s to the benchwork to hang the tarp from and keep it from actually touching the scenery, and you’ll not only get something the cats won’t want to jump onto, but it’ll keep dust off your layout to boot!
Hey y’all, lets watch what w’ere saying about our feline friends here, Bubba(>^…^>) is reading this and has taken a real interest in this thread. He has even tried to give his own opinions but I had delete them to keep from getting kicked off this forum. JC, plant new grass, reweather and reballast and I’ll tell you another way when Bubba isn’t watching. [(-D][(-D][(-D]
Horse Puckey!!
I have 2 cats, one gets on the layout ONLY when she wants my attention but she knows not to get on it. It’s really funny because she’s a very gracful cat and when she has jumped on it it is always on an unfinished part, then I pick her up tell her she knows better and tell her NO. Most of the time she just gets on the chair next to the layout and talks to me while I’m working.
Now, my other cat, his name is “freedom” hense his favorite part of the layout is called “Freedom Park” gets on it and sleeps, ALL THE TIME. I’ve learned a few things that might help you out. Remeber I reffer to him as the HO scale tornado (he’s an all black cat)…:
1 - Never yell “GET OFF THAT” or anything else that startles him, he’s like a bull in a china shop compaired to my other cat so when I yell he RUNS as fast as he can knocking any over that is in the way.
2- The higher the better, anything that’s requires more effert to get on is usually discouraging to him (plexiglass would most-definatly work for the cats and kids).
3- ALWAYS makes sure there is nothing of great value anywhere NEAR the edge of the layout. I can glue things back together but putting an entire loco back together after it hit the concrete floor would just suck.
4- Consistancy really does work. Be sure to always remind them that the layout is not a kitty place.
5- I discipline my cats with a squirt bottle with a 15ft. spray, they have learned that when they see it I mean business. So, naturally, when I get that out and bring it downstairs they are little angels.
Really the fact is if you have cats and you have trains, you will find a way to work it out. I have. most of the time now they just sit on the steps and watch the trains move around.
meow. [:)]
Go to Walmart sporting goods dept. Buy manual sporting clay launcher. Show it to cats and give final warning. If it happens again, place cat #1 on clay launcher, load 12 Ga #8 shot into gun. Launch cat, lead 1-3 inches, shoot. Repeat as neccessary.
One of the funniest suggestions I have seen (and not “funny” in a shoot-or-electricute-the-cat way), is to simply post a sign → “No Cats Allowed” [;)] [:D]
Seriously though… does the room have a door? If yes, you could install a self closing mechanism so it never gets forgotten.
Andrew
We have 5 cats and only 3 of them show interest in the layout. Most of the time our smallest will sit in an area I have cleared for them on the layout. So what shes not prototypical! Our male is the only one I have a problem with. He likes trees and telephone poles but is cooperative in leaving when told to. I have built high shelves with a climbing pole and most of the time they will climb up there and watch.
RMax
Have you considered Wyoming? Lots of housing available, and lots of land to establish a country residence. Lots of room for trains and cats, indoors and out.
James
Go to Junkyard. Build model railroader launcher. Show it to self that is discouraged from cats and give final warning to self. If the above happens, place self on launcher, load 12 Ga #8 shot into launcher. Launch self, lead 1-3 inches, shoot.
Repeat.
Realize that it’s easier to train a cat to not do something than to train humans to do anything.
[:D]
You’d need a REAL big laucher to get me to altitude…easier just to shoot the cats. [;)]
I think it’s more of a personality difference with cats. My cat only notices the layout table when she wants to rub against it to scratch an itch. Otherwise, she doesn’t care. The tabletop is about 16" off the floor (it’s N-scale), while the HO tabletops are about 40" off the floor.
Since my cat is almost 10, she really doesn’t care to jump up onto the tables. She has her couch spot and her recliner chair spot, and I don’t have to worry about her being on the layouts. However, since she is also a long-haired cat…<achoo!> it gets into everything. But, a bright-boy on the rails and it’s okay. Fortunately, no hairs in the SD80MAC.
A friend of mine with an extensive garden layout (he had a mail-order and shop business selling G-scale equipment) had endless problems with his cat, specifically with the tunnel on the garden layout. The cat was in the habit of dragging dead wildlife into the tunnel and leaving it there - result: train enters tunnel but doesn’t re-appear at the other end. His solution involved a very heavy Playmobil tender loco known as “Big Bertha” (both loco and tender were motorised) which was run with a snow-plough and an Aristo-Craft track cleaner car before every operating session. This also had the benefit of discouraging the cat from sleeping in the tunnel!
Give them their own layout to play with