Cats and N gauge experiences please

robert shrives · October 21, 2015, 06:41:20 AM

HI
Years ago I was befriended by a stray in Birmingham and as expected found best radiator ro sleep on and most comfortable part of layout to sleep on ! - I had a 12mm Narrowa gauge layout and cat would curl up in a valley against a drystone wall embankment - great ground cover - left over fur but he did chew the poly foam walling and the insulators on the telegraph poles.
His discarded whiskers made great ariels for 1/35 tanks and later NRN ariels on Farish 47s.

Yes hair is a real pain and knocking off stock a risk but you do gain a great manager!
In Gauge one at a late friend had a scale "tiger" that would stalk the line for the reducing wildlife but aslo knock off snails and slugs!
Cheers
Robert

Webbo · October 21, 2015, 06:44:26 AM

Our dearly departed Burmese cat, Coco, used to insist on being with me all the time. When I was at the computer, she would tramp around on the keyboard producing some truly strange results. She was not allowed in my train room however so she never was able to cause any havoc there. We now have a couple of dogs including a 10 month old kelpie who has already managed to wreck a few things within 3' of the ground always when we are not looking. Our previous kelpie was perfectly capable of jumping up on tables and would do so, so she was banned from my train room also. The biggest problem on my train table has been something small nibbling at my scenery - I suspect cockroaches. Liberal application of insect bombs seems to have eliminated the problem at least for now.

Webbo

rogercrossley · October 21, 2015, 07:40:21 AM

If you're getting long-haired cats, be prepared for lots of vacuuming up, as they shed all the time (experience). Short-haired ones aren't such a problem (again, experience over several generations of cat). Roger

silly moo · October 21, 2015, 07:58:44 AM

We have no cats at the moment :'( and I really miss having cats around. We had two with completely different personalities. One roly poly cat went to sleep on the layout and flattened a Ratio cattle dock, she got called 'Catzilla' after that.

Our other more nimble cat used to like very gently batting trains when went round the layout. For that reason and because I might accidentally knock trains onto the floor myself, the layout had a strip of Perspex along the edge.

If you are getting kittens, I wouldn't let them near the the layout to begin with because they are naturally playful and will think you have built it for them. You could always build them their own layout

deibid · October 21, 2015, 04:40:35 PM

My cat is quite well behaved, no problem at all. He only stares at the trains as they go and seems to have a really good time doing so. Anyway accidents happen and as I reported here he accidentally dropped a huge pirate ship on the layout making surprisingly little damage! 😊

scottishlocos · October 21, 2015, 05:13:11 PM

All

Have 2 cats and mostly dont let them in the railway room they have been on the layout a couple of times without damaging it. I would keep kittens away until they are older

Dave

GroupC · October 22, 2015, 12:53:47 PM

Many thanks to everyone for your cat tales (or tails, haha) - it seems these cat things are a right entertaining adventure in lots of fun ways so I think I'll be getting them. Just need to bump into my neighbour again, choose a couple (or let them choose me) and come up with some decent names now.

Meow!

javlinfaw7 · October 22, 2015, 01:20:48 PM

Always thought Kfir would be a good name for a kitten . It is Hebrew for lion cub , an Israeli jet fighter and just cay kfir cat.

railsquid · October 22, 2015, 01:26:10 PM

How about 50027 (or D0260) and 50028?

Newportnobby · October 22, 2015, 01:27:26 PM

Canary Wolfed

Deltic9001 · October 22, 2015, 01:56:24 PM

Our rescue cats are called Odin and Isis - the number of people that ask why we have called a cat after a terrorist organisation is unreal. They came with these names and we decided not to change them. Both were indoor cats when they adopted us and we keep tham as indoor cats - they wouldn't last long as we live near to a very busy road. They both kepp the local spider population down but we often find the spider corpses in odd places. Our previous cat ate the spiders but didn't like their legs - he always hid the legs behind the litter boxes!

When it comes to the railway, Isis just doesn't like the sound of trains running so has never come into the room. Odin on the other hand is extremely curious. When I was running the Dapol 66 with its load of containers, the reaction from Odin was a surprise.

As the train ran towards him, he kept on backing up while hissing very loudly at the train. Eventually he jamp of the baseboard and made a quick exit from the room - maybe he thought it was a snake. Needless to say, he no longer ventures into the room either. That's the only time I've ever seen him back off or hiss at anything.

daveg · October 22, 2015, 03:48:00 PM

Good advice to socialise the kittens when they arrive. Getting them 'fixed' is a must!

Our British Blue is a big feller, weighing in at 6.9 kgs but is as nimble and fast as smaller cats we've had.

He currently stays under the (work in progress) layout until I drop something when he then assists by savaging bits of foam and wire. So far he's not attempted to jump on top but is intrigued by the noise a loco makes when I do a test run.

Dave G

Richey1977 · October 23, 2015, 11:15:58 AM

I've had some experience of this, and it's generally not great.

For one thing, cats WILL want to sit on whatever is occupying your attention at any given time - laptop, book, newspaper... it becomes their seat as soon it looks like it's getting more attention than the cat.

Secondly, cats will be VERY interested in anything that's small and moves of its own accord. I can't see a healthy adult cat, never mind a kitten, let a model train move around a layout unmolested. At the very least, it'll need checking out, and might be swiped onto the floor, just to be on the safe side. As soon as the cat's decided it's neither a threat or food, it might (or might not) ignore it in future.

Thirdly (and this the most important one) - cat fur. If they're long-haired cats, their fur will get to places where the cat hasn't even been - and it will visit everywhere in the house, especially when they're new. I discovered too late that my long-haired cat had been sleeping on my half-built layout, and sure enough - it co-incided with running problems in a loco that had cat fur wrapped around the axle...

Good luck - they bring great rewards in the long run. They also bring half-eaten pigeons and mice, but you'll find that out all in good time!