Cats and trains

That has not been an issue with Ralph.  I have never heard of anyone having an issue.

You have to be kidding me with this post.  Cat hair gets into everything  Period

Ben, I have had cats all my ,life and I have a few trains.  Not a situation here.  Not all cats shed hair.  

In opinion, cats and trains make a pretty good pair. Often times I will put the cat up on the layout when she wonders down to the basement (she can't get up without help because of the layout height). As long term problems go, I'm happy to report that I haven't had any yet  I don't notice any cat hair piling up anywhere, and anywhere that the cat can go, you should be able to reach with your arm and a brush. I'm more concerned about the cobwebs accumulating in the corners of the layout All that being said, Natasha (the cat) always jumps down when some noisy postwar power comes by!

Cheers from the Frozen North!

Zach

Does Ralph prefer DCS or Legacy when he runs trains? This could be a major deciding factor in the age old question of 'which one is the superior system'. (Please don't tell us he prefers DCC.)  

hello phillman......

I have 4 cats (Tuxie, Bebe, Charlie Brown and Lucy), l run my trains on the Carpet Western but will have to vacuum

 the carpet and tracks otherwise there WILL be cat hair all over then bottom of the

 engine truck gears,wheels,roller pick-ups, axles and bearings(diesel)and freight car trucks wheels sets,axles.  It is a lot of trouble to remove the hair so it is BEST to

vacuum the carpet and tracks FIRST before running the trains. You will be more happy

so will the trains (trouble free running).  Three of my cats are short hair and one

is long hair. Hope this helps.

Tiffany

I have two cats, but no layout. However, when testing/programming engines, the gets get a bit curious, but don't bat at them. One of them, Rascal, who gets into the most mischief, isn't even phased when I blow the horn or whistle. It's going to be interesting to see how he is when/if I set up the layout indoors.

Ralph loves any train with red on it.  He will sit for hours and watch trains.  No DCC.  I have been in the hobby for a bit and honestly do not know a DCC guy.  DCS and Legacy live on my layout.  At MTH school we had to run a train with DCC and that was my only contact.

If I had a cat I would be tieing him to the tracks and running him over

Ben,  you are a bad bad man.  Cats are cool.

I have had many cats and layouts over the years,,and cat hair on my tracks was never an issue,,,,

I had a basement cat for my last layout. The cat never jumped up on the layout. Instead, she would sit on a nearby couch while I did my usual tinkering. Never had trouble with cat hair making its way onto the layout. Dust was more of a problem.

Tom 

Marty is right, cats are interesting critters.  Some shed and leave hair everywhere...

but not all do.  I do not understand people who hate domesticated cats.  There are

larger and more aggressive animals, "domesticated", and not, to be concerned with,

as Californians on the news, who have bears and cougars romping through their yards.

I, also like Marty, have had cats and train layouts all my life.  The love and affection I grew up with from my feline buddies is irreplaceable.  Also, my cats have always been a part of my train running, chasing some, hide-and-watch play, following the caboose around the tracks, etc.  But, have never had any problems with cat hair or other contributions from them.  The live accent my cats have contributed to the trains far outweighs the few problems presented over 50 years plus of running and enjoying.  Besides, cats do not weigh as much, or as large as, most canine critters. 

When I had my carpet central, I had to police it for cat hair before running.  No big deal.

Andy

Terry, your two friends could pass for my Katman and Abby, my train buddies.  They are both "rescue cats" as are all our cats.  We acquired Katmandu and his sister, China, from a local Petsmart, kept them together.  Katman and his sister, China, were named when we picked them by former owners, and both white with blue eyes.  Abby is a rescue from when I managed a construction site in Georgia and he was left behind by an apartment tenant who shipped out to overseas.  He is named Abby for the type he is, a "gray Tabby". 

I have cats that shed, but they have never been an issue with my trains.  I ran FasTrack on the floor, and that kept most of the hair out of the gears.  One of them loves sleeping on the track (Until the trains come.) but I never noticed more hair on the track due to it.  Now that I have a layout table, they never get on it, nor has it collected any hair, even being next to their "tree".  I've had traction tires getting in the gears more often then cat hair.

I have a carpet central and I just vacuum it before and after I run my trains. this way dust and cat hair is eliminated and doesn't cause any issues. If you have tunnels you have to take extra care to get them vacuumed well. Cats love tunnels. Here my cat is taking it easy in a tunnel and I don't even have the track laid yet(at the time this photo was taken.)

We had both cats and trains for years and never had a hair problem.

People, I LOVE your cat photos!

My cat Spike just sits there and watches them run, he's not fond of the horns or whistle tho. My other cat "lives" in the tunnels on my permanent layout, no hair issues but every now and then there are hairball issues on the layout to deal with with her.

Jerry

For better or for worse, my cat's not a fan of the train. When under the Christmas tree he'd glare at it & give a low growl, then run as it rounded the bed towards him.  He generally stays out of the guest bedroom where the train lives from New Year's to Thanksgiving.

For the record, the dog runs to Mom when it moves, too. 

the only time our cats are near the trains is Christmas. If there is any cat hair getting in the trains, I can't see it for the icicles.

The cat hair only sticks to the lubricant in the gears.

Andrew

I tried washing my cat, but the hair gets stuck on my tongue

Paul

ps - sorry Ben, Marty is right on: Cats are cool.

I love cats as well, but not in my train area. My cat Chilley used to get up on my layout and move stuff around even knocking stuff to the floor.

Don't know about hair from the cat but no more cats in the train area.

Another thing that Chilley and his brother Mickey did one time was to knock off my telephone book and phone from a night stand and then lay down there. I was afraid of the feline duo in my train room, so I put up a door to keep them in the back part of my house.

Lee Fritz

Mine shed hair and it is all over my layout. I had doors but when I expanded the layout and took down the doors and walls, they took it over.

Ha! Really enjoying the cat on layout pics!!!!

One time I was gluing down ground cover.

In the morning it had cat paw prints in it :-)   I kept it that way.

Sometimes I would notice sparking as the engines rolled over cat hair and burnt it!

Best solution IMHO is brush your cats daily.  My cats purr loudly when getting brushed and your vacuum cleaner with fill less quickly.

I have two cats, and a table-top layout.   No issues with cat hair detected.   My dog sheds tremendously, but that stays on the floor.   It makes sense that hair would get in the gears, but I am not seeing it at all.   My cats rarely get up on the layout.   The dog never does!

We have three cats who love visiting the basement. They try to fit through tunnels and pick up and move things around the layout. That's why I don't secure anything. The tunnel can be re-set (it's essentially cut-out cardboard boxes draped with LifeLike 'classic' scenic paper for hills) and I can move the trees, crop lines (which is long strips of fake fur) and other misc. I used a blue towel to represent a rippled pond and it is a favorite spot to sit and watch everything.  

Two cats here, one could care less about the layout, the other thinks the tunnels are hangouts.  He does use the mountain to gain access to the rafters, the hole between two rooms as a shortcut and generally does a great Godzilla imitation in the downtown.  He sheds more than any long hair cat I have ever had, we can create another cat from his "leavings" about once per month.  That being said, he hangs with me whenever I am in the basement and I would not have it any other way.

Who makes that train above?  Cannot now be Williams or K-Line.  Background looks European. Odd that cats like to hang around and, sleep with, and ON, people, even when it is not time to open a can for their food bowls.  When I was a tot, I had a cat follow me all around the farm, like a dog.  That is one of my earliest memories and probably the basis for my affinity for cats.

Our cat Smokey would love to jump up on the table, 41", and wonder around at his lesure.  Even blowing the train horn wouldn't make him move.

Enjoy,  Marty

We have 4 cats.  My layout is in a detached building and the cats don't get over to it. 

They do get their train exposure at Christmas when the trains are set up under the tree.  Two of them cautiously sit near the track and watch.  One of them likes to walk on and lay on the track.  The 4th one likes to lay under the tree; he gets as tightly under the tree as he can so he can avoid laying on the track.

I used to put out some Lemax/Dept 56 buildings.  But when the cats are in play mode, they go tearing through the train area, and any fragile parts of the buildings are at great risk.  So, now we just have track and the trains.

This is THE best cat-on-a-layout picture that I have ever seen! Brings new meaning to "Powered by CAT".

Superintendent Tux making sure I've done it right!

Right now, as I post this, I have Cleopatra on my lap just a purring like there is no tomorrow.  Her front paws continually flex open and close as she is making "air bread" in show of her pleasure at sitting on my lap.  Cats are very affectionate creatures, they relish in having human contact and being on receiving of the "pet-pets". 

Every Christmas layout i have built since i was 10 years old has had a cat around it .  I have had instances where the cat and the train occupied a tunnel at the same time and they exited the tunnel opposite one another with out injury or derailment.

Shadow an all black cat would sit with me and guide me in placing track on the carpet central till he was happy with it and the he would sit by the transformer and my side when the Steamers ran but add the Caterpillar F40-PH to the Track and he ran after it

In all the years i have had cats and trains i have never had a cat hair problem at all