I've had critters and keep traps set all the time, mice, usually in the early fall. I get them in the CEILING of the basement, and can see them running across the suspended ceiling panels..above the layout....talk about a wierd sight when they are over top of you on a clear light panel running around. This weekend I had a pair of red squirrels in the attic. One ended up caught in a rat trap baited with walnuts, the other ended up in a live trap outside. The one caught in the rat trap thrashed for SIX HOURS despite a solid neck grab...man.....and the one in the live trap took three hits of carbon monoxide off the car before it finally gave in. Few critters are tougher and harder to kill. If they were the size of grizzly bears you'd need a Sherman tank to stop them. OK, I'm probably offending at least one person, but damn, I really hate 'em!
I really like them... ...on a plate beside mashed potatoes, gravy and a big pile of steamed veggies. Yeah, but they sure can be destructive. I had them in the attic once but plugged the hole they chewed up under the eves. Now I mix a little Tabasco sauce in some paint and paint over the patched area with that. They chew a little but leave it alone after that.
There was an article a few years back about the SP banch line to New Iberia. Maybe you could model that!
But you would then have an excuse to slather Tabasco sauce all over everything and keep the mice away. I believe the New Iberia line serviced the plant on Avery Island that makes the stuff.
Maybe some of that heat will radiate into the rest of the train room so it will be more comfortable working out there.
It sure needs to be!! Went down there this morning....14 degrees in there! Just started lightly snowing again. Ice, 8 inches of snow, sleet last night, and now snowing again.
(In fact, I tried to get to work this morning and slid downhill on the ice almost 40 yards before I stopped, then got stuck trying to get back up the hill!)
Nasty, nasty weather! I have dug out some heaters and may try to do some work on the layout tonight if I can warm it up some in there.
