Your cat(s) and your layout

My cat chessie likes to watch them for a few minutes.I stayed in a mobelhome for a while.I hasd my o scale trains on the floor.Went from the livingroom to a bedroom and bak to the living room.Any way while runing the train chessie found himself cutoff by the train.He took a runing start and jumpedover the train.And he cleared it big time.I wished I had a camera it would have been a great picture.

One of our cats (Toby) is very friendly, has a huge 6 cylinder 'diesel engine' and enjoys the trains.  Toby will sit at the top of the stairs in the kitchen, going downstairs (there is no door) and mews for me.  He then proceeds downstairs, jumps on the train table and awaits start up.  I run PS2 locomotives, and PS1 Budd cars on a Point-to-Point line with stations at both ends.

Toby will sit, listen and watch the Budd cars run, stop at a station, then Toby goes over to the other station and waits for the train.  Sounding the bell or horn does not frighten him.  If I stop the cars midway on the line, and activate the Passenger Station Sounds, Toby looks all around for the person speaking.  It is funny to watch.

On the main lines, Toby sits by the engine house and watches the trains run.  He does not interfere with them or swat them.  The only disturbing thing is he likes to bat the wires underneath the table.  I can remedy that when I get a chance.

Will add pictures when I have time.

Back in the 1990's, my cat Bushwhack kept getting curious about my engines idling on the floor. When a steamer did a blow-down, he nearly hit the ceiling jumping away. I miss him. The other cats pretty much ignore the trains.

I have two and they do get up on the layout but they just walk around never bothering anything. 

 

One cat named Ed is my train buddy, he is always with me when I either work on the layout or just running them. The other one, Flo just comes and goes. 

We always have strays.  They often are sick to start with, and have a tendency to spray when not at ease.  Cat pee can eat the finish off of a baked- on K-Line passenger car.  It can eat holes in bare brass.  Many years ago one pulled a 763 off the display shelf, cracking the cab roof.  Part of life, I guess.  We have all been comparatively lucky, to worry about stuff like this.

The cats we have now pretty much either hide from the train or ignore it.  But as a teen I had a small N scale layout on wheels that I could roll under my bed when not in use.  At the time we had a kitten that would come over and watch the train.  Sometimes he'd lay on his side and try to paw at whatever was under the board making the train move.  It was fun to watch.  He'd get down low and try to see what was moving the train, but didn't see anything, so he would sick his paw under the board and move it around when the train went by.  Other times he's wait by the tunnel opening and sick his paw in after the train went in, other time I'd make the train come out of the tunnel and surprise him and he'd jump.  He was the only cat we ever had that came around the trains.  Sadly he died one night hit by a car.

Not our cat, but Ralph is a big part of Marty & Dotty's layout.

 

 

I am following this thread with interest. I am thinking of getting a couple cats. My family has always been dog people, then my sister adopts a wonderful cat. Is there a way of keeping them off a layout, as when I begin to build again, it will be a scale detailed hi-rail/scale compatible layout. Or are cats so surefooted, that they may not disturb anything? I'd get a dog, but I live alone and I'm not retired yet. It would be unfair to the new dog to be unattended that long. My old dog passed away in March, and it's so quiet around the house.

Ralph is a big cat!  Looks very much like my Maggie (size too!).
Quick Casey, it's just a matter of "training".  My felines don't bother the layout at all. 
'Cept last Sunday.

You can train a cat? Having dogs all my life, I thought that was impossible. Rumors spread by the canine inclined? 

I have always had cats around my trains. and they have ridden in gondolas as kittens and the such but my new train buddy is the absolute best.  I was doing some work on a friends of mine steam engine and decided to put some track down to check it out at this point shadow was upstairs and didnt come down while the steamer was on the track. I then went up stairs to pull out my Caterpillar F-40 I brought it down and put it on the Track Shadow apparently got interested in the cat and  watched it run around the track for a few turns and then decided to chase it. it was funny as all get out then he came over beside me and sat down on his hind quarters and just sat there for a good hour just watching the train run on the Track. Now almost always when i put track down Shadow will come out of nowhere and sit with me and now the has gotten to where he will put his paw where he wants the Tracks to sit and if I dont put it there he will take his paw and move the track to where he wanted it. When all is done and the engine is on the track he will sit beside me like a statue while we run trains

 

It really depends on the cat and how you train them.  I've had cats that'll stay a mile away, even if you aren't running.  Once they see it in action they just leave it alone, never sure when it'll come to life and get them.  I had another cat that wouldn't come around when running the train, but it would go and sleep on the under the bed layout I made my son when it was put away.  Covered everything in cat hair, but not much moved.

 

If you don't ever want them up there, keep a spray bottle of water handy and spray them in the face anytime you see them up there, eventually they'll learn to keep off.  Same goes for desks, tables, and counters.

There's that phrase again. "Train them." How do you get across to your cat walking on the layout is undesirable? What are the techniques? "No" usually worked for my dogs.

Train cats?   No they train you!!

Out cat would go down and prowl the layout in the old basement.

And She likes to sit in the middle of the new (carpet central) one, but she pretty much ignores the trains.

And I just pick up the buildings and such and vacuum it periodically to remove the hair.

 

PS The spray bottle will train a cat after a few times. Not sure I want to spray water on my trains tho...