Ralph,
Please feel free to visit my Webshots site as often as you like. I hope to add more photos (proto and N Scale) about every month.
Marcia,
As far as the cats go, if you can't beat them, join them. It seemed that the more we tried to keep the off the layout, the harder they tried. Since we let them in and out of the trainroom (with supervision and without) they no longer desire to get on the layout unless they get locked in the trainroom, in which the layout allows them to get enough height to jump over the train room wall to freedom.
P.S. They enjoy the sound of the trains overhead as they sleep under the layout on the new carpeting.