kinda simular to my house. My 180 pound English Mastiff has a 6 pound pet tomcat....I hate that cat, but the dog (and my daughters) love him. MY cat hates my dog
Umm. I see a climbing wall for said cat to the right of that layout. All you need is for said cat to slip and fall off, and your hosed. Might I reccomend a lid? Or a shock collar for poor fifi. Not that I promote them, but when it comes to protecting the trains...
There are companies out there that sell sheets of Plexiglas and your idea of the total top cover would work and you could still see your trains run and operate. Might be slightly costly but so are repairs to your layout or upsetting the Wife. Here is one such site where they can be found http://www.eplastics.com/Plastic/Plexiglass_Acrylic_Sheet
My solution may not apply but years ago, my friend Peach Head liked to get up on the layout and nap in a certain canyon-my layout was a high country narrow gauge mining line. He never did any real damage but the cat fuzz didn't fit in with the scenery. One day, I bought some MLR Sugauro cactus and put it into the canyon. Well, the old man got up there but didn't care for the cactus, got down and never got on the layout again. He's about 14 now and a bit too old to jump up on my layout, but if he did, I would know what to do. Woodie
Just do what I do at my house. Keep the door to the train room shut! Cat cant go through a closed door.
Since my 'layout' is a small 10' x 5' L-shape shelf layout I used mini-blinds. Not only do they cat-proof the layout (mostly) but help keep the dust out when lowered. The only caveat is .. you can't leave a chair, stool, bench, box or anything else they can use as a jumping point .. they aim at the 'cat gap'. As long as I keep that in mind they keep off of the layout via the blinds. Works.
I would also recommend a squirt bottle filled with water for a deterrent. Should Furball decide to climb on the layout, pick up the bottle, take aim, and fire. A couple of well-placed shots will make Kitty leave in hurry. Doesn't hurt the cat, and maybe it'll understand that the layout is no place for cats. After a while, just picking up the water bottle in the cat's presence will alert them to an incoming shot if he or she doesn't leave pronto. I have two cats, both rescue critters, and they have the run of most of the house, with the exception of my train closet.
I had the same problems .. 4 large dogs and 5 cats .. but since the dogs considered the cats as part of their "pack" .. they never even considered stopping the cats. Since the room is on the S.W. corner in a Florida house far from the AC unit .. keeping the door closed isn't a feasible option if I am in there, or going to be in there soon ... TOOO darn hot! The layout is a "U" shaped dogbone against the walls of a 10 x 12 room ( 8' x 10' x 12' ) ranging between 30" and 5 1/2 ' wide .. acrylic isn't a real good option either. I considered weaving some bare wire into the scenery hooked up to some capacitors .. lol, but then realised that I am the one that would wind up accidentally discharging them and a $350 engine would go flying across the room as I jerked away. I even tried just running into them with the trains at full speed .. well .. it would move them .. but it only worked if I was in there actually running something, but it did give me some spectacular train wrecks ... lol. I finally settled on a squirt gun .. it worked .. very well .. now, only 2 of them come in just long enough to see what I am doing; if it is something new, they come sniff it .. then they leave ... haven't had any problems for the past year now
