How do you protect your scenery from: Cats, Dogs, Reaching arms that can mess up scenery along the edge of your layout.. (This also goes for us that have "bellies" - when you reack over and your belly re-arrainges your scenery) 
11 - 10 .... What's your secret
- Thread starter N Gauger
- Start date
A sign - "no cats allowed" 
Actually, we don't have cats, and the dog is too lazy to jump on the workbench...
Andrew
Actually, we don't have cats, and the dog is too lazy to jump on the workbench...
Andrew
The problem of pets can be solved by closing doors to restrict access to the room, but the problem of wrecking scenery by arms or other appendages can only be solved in the planning stages of the layout. I think the most common problem we see here on the Gauge in the track planning forum is people who try to use bench work that is way too deep to reach the back without damage to the front. The benchwork and scenery needs to be planned carefully to enable the operator to rerail trains and do switching without bumping the scenery.
Yeah - good points Russ!! My difficulties, lie in the fact that we have the kitty litter in the basement 
so we cant restrict access...
The scenery near the edge of my platfiorm is in some danger - be cause of the same reason you stated above
My belt line is even with the layout..... OOps!!!!!!
My difficulties, lie in the fact that we have the kitty litter in the basement so we cant restrict access... The scenery near the edge of my platfiorm is in some danger - be cause of the same reason you stated above
My belt line is even with the layout..... OOps!!!!!!N Gauger said:How do you protect your scenery from: Cats, Dogs, Reaching arms that can mess up scenery along the edge of your layout.. (This also goes for us that have "bellies" - when you reack over and your belly re-arrainges your scenery)
Its a secret, tell no one.....
Hermit crabs. i'm serious, it works.... it might look like a 1950s horror movie but it keeps the cats at bay. unfortuneatly mine died...
that, and my cats don't care for the trains, which is good, because my parents forced on cat into the basement.
AndyWS
New Member
True story: A few years ago, a mouse that was scurrying around the basement shimmied up the power cord and onto the train table. It began crawling onto the train parked on the mainline, so of course I switched on the layout and started up the train. Needless to say that mouse did not stick around for long! sign1
If I told you my secret...It wouldn't be a secret anymore.
Any way..Having the layout in the attic keeps 65 pounds of Norweigian Elkhound away from it....Stern voice and a watchful eye keeps liitle hands from touching.
Any way..Having the layout in the attic keeps 65 pounds of Norweigian Elkhound away from it....Stern voice and a watchful eye keeps liitle hands from touching.
No pets=no problems. The youngins on the other hand, could be a problem. They're 5 and 7, and SHOULD know better, but we'll see how that goes.
I cringe at the thought of hearing, "Daddy, how much does one of those trains cost?"
I cringe at the thought of hearing, "Daddy, how much does one of those trains cost?"
Cats
Here is what I have.
Picture 1 is the door to the basement -- the previous owner had taken it off and I put an accordion door on; the cat manages to open he door so it got a latch -- both sides.
Picture 2 is a project: the wire cage is to be kitbashed into a signal box. Cat seems content to be in it - he curls up and goes to sleep or just watches.
Here is what I have.
Picture 1 is the door to the basement -- the previous owner had taken it off and I put an accordion door on; the cat manages to open he door so it got a latch -- both sides.
Picture 2 is a project: the wire cage is to be kitbashed into a signal box. Cat seems content to be in it - he curls up and goes to sleep or just watches.
Attachments
I saw an outdoor railroad photo once where a train had run over a frog. Not a good result for the frog. on a more serious note, we use plexiglas on our club layout to keep animals away, the human kind. This past summer while the museum and model railroad was open full time, we had a problem with one kid who found two 1 inch holes in the plexiglas that we use for raising the window to do track maintenance. He made a point of finding a long stick so he could push some buildings onto the right-of-way so the trains would run into them. We covered the holes and he came back and bent the covers over and tried again. No problems with cats and dogs.
It was one of those situations where a well meaning museum volunteer would let the local kids come in and tour the museum. Our layout is in a separate building from the main museum. Policy has since been changed and parents are now required. Too bad, because the kids did enjoy the trains and the volunteers even provided quarters so the kids could run the layout.
My wife and I got a pair of cats this past spring...unfortunately, my workbench is in the same guest bedroom that their favorite bed is in. So long as I keep the blinds shut on that window and I'm not in there, they leave it alone. They only seem to jump up there when I'm in their working. I do have to be careful with my under construction On3 modules...the cats seem to think the foam is fun to chew on...one of our cats is a goat. My solution is to leave the foam on our third floor loft with the door shut.
Growing up, my parents' first cat never bothered our HO layout...or the LGB at Christmas time. Unfortunately, when he died circa 5th grade, the three cats we got there after took a liking to the model railroad. Midway through HS I completely rewired the layout since they liked to snack on the wiring and my dad had to replace all of the cross bracing on his scratch built 3' long, 1' tall, curved trestle. I also had to re-plaster several mountains where catzilla had smashed them. The worst is when the vomit hairballs on the layout...one time they got a stockcar. In the 5 years since I moved to Cincinnati, I've fallen behind on layout maintence and most of the equipment is in my loft down here to protect it from their cats.
All they've really needed is to install accordian doors at the entrance to the room.
Here are two pictures of damage...and repaired damage. The 4-4-0 with the passenger train in the distance is on the repaired trestle. To the left of the tunnel portal in the same picture is the mountian side that was repaired. In the other picture is a scene of 1:1 scale cat vomit (hairball) with a 1:87 scale 4-4-0.
Growing up, my parents' first cat never bothered our HO layout...or the LGB at Christmas time. Unfortunately, when he died circa 5th grade, the three cats we got there after took a liking to the model railroad. Midway through HS I completely rewired the layout since they liked to snack on the wiring and my dad had to replace all of the cross bracing on his scratch built 3' long, 1' tall, curved trestle. I also had to re-plaster several mountains where catzilla had smashed them. The worst is when the vomit hairballs on the layout...one time they got a stockcar. In the 5 years since I moved to Cincinnati, I've fallen behind on layout maintence and most of the equipment is in my loft down here to protect it from their cats.
All they've really needed is to install accordian doors at the entrance to the room.
Here are two pictures of damage...and repaired damage. The 4-4-0 with the passenger train in the distance is on the repaired trestle. To the left of the tunnel portal in the same picture is the mountian side that was repaired. In the other picture is a scene of 1:1 scale cat vomit (hairball) with a 1:87 scale 4-4-0.
