My Lamoille Valley track runs around the walls from St. Johnsbury to Johnson before passing through the wall into a small closet area, then reentering the layout room below these scenes on the wall to get to Sheldon Junction and the Central Vermont. As the picture shows, this hidden track is just a simple piece of wood to span between the wall holes.
Well, I have found that my 2 relatively new cats have figured out how to open the bi-fold doors which can lead into this area. Being curious they seemed to have learned that this shelf leads to holes in the wall and ultimately a whole new place to explore. As I found out one day when the remnants of what I can only guess was Hurricane Lexie followed by tropical Storm Roxy...broken trees, freight cars knocked on their sides, some power lines down in Hardwick...even the moose at Fisher Bridge was "sleeping" in the water.
To avoid a repeat of this, I installed a simple foam core protective cover for this track and used sections on top secured by blue painters tape to act as hinges, meaning I can lift up the top and get to the track for maintenance.(I have a pretty good supply of foam core board from a friend)
I am happy to report no further feline incursions to the Northeast Kingdom!
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| Before, pretty easy access for the cats to the layout room through those holes |
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| With the protection in place, the cats can only visit the layout room under supervision! |
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| Were we bad? |
Knowing first hand all the mischief felines can cause, I can particularly appreciate this article, funny stuff!
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