Yesterday I was running Elvinley and my Farish 8F came out of the tunnel in what can only be described as a cloak of cobwebs. Some of it had wrapped around part of the valve gear and it took the best part of half an hour to remove it. It was as if an N gauge candy floss had got caught in there. Unbelievably sticky and stubborn. It took pointy tweezers and the edge of a craft knife to remove it all. I still think there is a remnant left. Never had this much trouble with spiders before. Any one else been afflicted by this?

Cheers
Ian.

Not spiders, but I did find a mouse nest in a tunnel after having a very similar experience with a filthy train exiting a tunnel. My layout is in the garage so mice are quite common. These critters had used some shredded newspaper from below the modroc for their nest! For the uninitiated, mouse poo really makes a mess on track...

Quote from: Chetcombe on October 07, 2022, 12:07:52 AM
For the uninitiated, mouse poo really makes a mess on track...

But does it scale well for the human poo that used to be discharged from trains before the arrival of retention toilets? 

John P

Yes, I've had various wildlife issues over the years on the B&CE. The spiders here are big suckers!

Spiders decided to move in under the arches, but the Deputy Cat Controller helped me to remove them with a paintbrush. I had been trying to get them to spin me some overhead wires for the catenary, but they so far haven't got the hang of it . In the meantime they have moved on to spinning cables between some houses, but don't recognise the official pole route 

When we lived in South Africa I had problems with silverfish, the little critters loved eating Metcalfe buildings, I don't miss them one bit as they liked munching books too.

I sprayed the Metcalfe buildings with artists fixative and grated bath soap seemed to keep them away from books. Maybe that would work with spiders too.

We've got those here too!

But they're not so scary as spiders.

You need one of these, Ian



More seriously, it's quite well known putting conkers in each corner of a room deters spiders so maybe put some in the tunnels. I must admit, having been to 3 shows in the last 3 weeks I have observed a lot of cobwebs under viaducts etc.!

Real railway has the same problem with mice. I've been on the Jubilee line platforms at 2 in the morning and seen masses of the little beggars running about.
The real problem is Rats, when I did my track access course we were warned about Weil's disease (leptospirosis) from their urine.
Martin

Many MANY years ago while at  school a cousin came to stay for a few months, 4 year old trouble on legs.

At the time I was into model kits as well as railways, and had a huge collection of fragile aircraft, and hot rod cars, very attractive to a four year old to "play" break. After one break-in, I took great delight of "cleaning the shed out" visibly placing in a large glass jar so he could see all the spiders I could find, then with him watching in horror placed them all back.

He never tried again...........   

Spiders are USEFUL............. 

It is that time of year when spiders seem to be more common in the house; maybe it is just 'cos it is getting  colder outside now?

One way to discourage them, and it is seasonably suitable, is with conkers!
A bowl full left in the room could well do the trick!

Quote from: JasonBz link=topic=57885.msg776457#msg776457 date=166516702
One way to discourage them, and it is seasonably suitable, is withi]conkers[/i]!
A bowl full left in the room could well do the trick!

Quote from: Newportnobby on October 07, 2022, 10:23:51 AM
More seriously, it's quite well known putting conkers in each corner of a room deters spiders so maybe put some in the tunnels.

Amen, Brother

Quote from: JasonBz on October 07, 2022, 07:23:40 PM
It is that time of year when spiders seem to be more common in the house; maybe it is just 'cos it is getting  colder outside now?

One way to discourage them, and it is seasonably suitable, is with conkers!
A bowl full left in the room could well do the trick!

We get a LOT of spiders in our conservatory.
A couple of years ago we placed a couple hundred conkers all over the place.
And did the spiders stay away?
No....they even attached their webs to them.

 

I hate conkers. Used to play it at school in the sixties and some dude would beat me every time.

Best place for a conker is getting roasted in a fire, I reckon. 

Drifting further off topic, when I lived in Northampton we'd visit the conker World Championships which, if I recall correctly, was held at a great real ale pub in Ashton, near Oundle, called the 'Chequered Skipper' (after the butterfly). The beer was just sublime (hic).
Meanwhile, back to Boris the Spider.............