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Post by stapler on Feb 26, 2020 14:42:48 GMT
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Post by norbitonflyer on Feb 26, 2020 15:39:01 GMT
I never understood how he coped with the conductor rails. Natural selection? Cats that avoid standing on rails live long lives. We don't hear about the other ones. |
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Post by littlejohn on Feb 26, 2020 18:27:17 GMT
They would have to stand on the conductor rails 9 times (or maybe 10?).
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class411
Operations: Normal
Posts: 2,744 
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Post by class411 on Feb 26, 2020 19:18:37 GMT
[PEDANT]
Standing on the conductor rail is not a problem (unless a train comes).
It's getting on and off that is the risky bit.
[/PEDANT]
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Post by simran1966 on Feb 26, 2020 19:20:33 GMT
I've certainly heard the announcements:
"MIND THE CAT", "STAND CLEAR OF THE PAWS"
😆
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Post by stapler on Feb 26, 2020 22:28:31 GMT
Was he equipped with the regulation tail lamp?
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Post by bassmike on Feb 26, 2020 23:13:35 GMT
What, the one that looks like a pencil sharpener?
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Post by bassmike on Feb 26, 2020 23:15:34 GMT
Or should I say a tea-towel holder
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londoner
thinking on '73 stock
Posts: 480
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Post by londoner on Feb 27, 2020 0:36:47 GMT
I'm sure I've read before that there is a national rail station which has a cat which regulaly wonders around the station but I can't remember the name of the station.
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Post by MoreToJack on Feb 27, 2020 2:02:45 GMT
Plenty of NR stations have cats, I think the famous two on NR are Felix at Huddersfield and Paul (no, not rincew1nd) at Liverpool South Parkway. On LU the best known example that comes immediately to mind would have been Barbican, although I forget the name. |
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Post by rheostar on Feb 27, 2020 8:42:42 GMT
There used to be a station cat at Cockfosters that lived in the supervisor's office.
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Post by humbug on Feb 27, 2020 13:14:22 GMT
The drain depot used to have lots of cats - this was in the '80s when I visited however. Still there?
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Post by trt on Feb 27, 2020 14:03:21 GMT
Where there's mice and rats of course...
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Post by stapler on Feb 27, 2020 14:41:31 GMT
it occurs to me that Henry at B Hill had one advantage we bipedal customers didn't. In the 40 years of closure, we could not use the London end entrance so as to get to Waitrose quickly. He could (and did) just shimmy through the bostwick gates!
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Post by littlejohn on Feb 29, 2020 10:31:42 GMT
I am surprised that no-one has yet mentioned Skimbleshanks. In the movie he tap dances along the rails (surely an H&S violation?). However, he was on two feet and kept them off the live rails.
Edit. I have noticed that I have now reached my century of posts. I must open a bottle to celebrate. |
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rincew1nd
Administrator
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Post by rincew1nd on Feb 29, 2020 10:46:03 GMT
Plenty of NR stations have cats, I think the famous two on NR are Felix at Huddersfield and Paul (no, not rincew1nd) at Liverpool South Parkway. Paul Newman (to give him his full name, though surely it should be Miew-man) is indeed something of a local celebrity: |
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Post by holborncentral on Feb 29, 2020 16:04:44 GMT
I'm actually wondering now how many LU stations might have cats. I think every station should have one
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Post by stapler on Mar 1, 2020 8:19:45 GMT
I'm actually wondering now how many LU stations might have cats. I think every station should have one Agreed, HC. But not in the deep tube; too much danger. Mind you, the rats at Mile End had no difficulty with the live rail on the north side of the Central EB. Still haven't had an explanation of that. Buckhurst Hill in comparison is/was a country station with plenty of flower beds in which Henry could dig a hole! |
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Post by croxleyn on Mar 1, 2020 12:17:45 GMT
Quote was: Mind you, the rats at Mile End had no difficulty with the live rail on the north side of the Central EB. Still haven't had an explanation of that.
It's quite likely that animals can sense the 700V of the conductor rail - even a human would probably feel the electric field if holding your face close by... One can definitely feel the static on a rubbed balloon.
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Post by Tubeboy on Mar 1, 2020 16:46:13 GMT
On LU the best known example that comes immediately to mind would have been Barbican, although I forget the name. That was Pebbles. There’s a plaque to Pebbles in the ticket hall. Back in the day, some stations had cats for obvious reasons. They were excellent at pest control. At some locations, there was even an allowance for cat food. |
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Post by stapler on Mar 1, 2020 21:58:14 GMT
What changed?
Plenty of pests around LU; not all of them controllable by Henrys or Pebbleses
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Post by holborncentral on Mar 1, 2020 22:03:01 GMT
I'm actually wondering now how many LU stations might have cats. I think every station should have one Agreed, HC. But not in the deep tube; too much danger. Mind you, the rats at Mile End had no difficulty with the live rail on the north side of the Central EB. Still haven't had an explanation of that. Buckhurst Hill in comparison is/was a country station with plenty of flower beds in which Henry could dig a hole! True. They should have them in the sub surface and outer stations though |
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Post by theblackferret on Mar 2, 2020 9:30:31 GMT
BarsPage 1, my post of 22.5.14-Sloane Square pub/bar had one in 1938.
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Post by peagle on Mar 4, 2020 9:42:21 GMT
A few years ago there was the famous fox spotted riding the escalator up from platform level at Walthamstow Central in the evening, presumably off for a night's foraging after spending the day snug in the station.
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Post by stapler on Mar 6, 2020 14:06:05 GMT
AIRI, Henry's favourite pests to devour were pigeon squabs. Where he got them, I don't know, because the spandrels and girders of the GER roof where the pigions nested would have been inaccessible even to a feline.
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rincew1nd
Administrator
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Post by rincew1nd on Mar 6, 2020 19:52:15 GMT
I have recently gained a cat.
Rule №1 of cats: cats rule.
Rule №2 of cats: humans don't decide where cats can and can't go - they will find a way!
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Post by John Tuthill on Mar 6, 2020 21:24:41 GMT
I have recently gained a cat. Rule №1 of cats: cats rule. Rule №2 of cats: humans don't decide where cats can and can't go - they will find a way! Does it live in a dustbin and talk like Arnold Stang?  |
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rincew1nd
Administrator
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Post by rincew1nd on Mar 6, 2020 22:21:01 GMT
Oh no. Baroness Alan of Crossgates doesn't go anywhere near bins!
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Post by theblackferret on Mar 7, 2020 10:08:44 GMT
AIRI, Henry's favourite pests to devour were pigeon squabs. Where he got them, I don't know, because the spandrels and girders of the GER roof where the pigions nested would have been inaccessible even to a feline. Nothing and nowhere is inaccessible to a feline. Especially one with 'the knowledge'. No doubt Henry acquired that from being in a long line of GER cats? Just as a GWR cat would find mice & rats in every nook and cranny in stations from pagoda-sheltered haltes to Paddington, or an LCDR one would know every crook and nanny instead, and every dodgy deal under the sun in Ashford or Herne Hill. The most interesting underground cats would be those at major interchange sites such as King's Cross or Charing Cross. You'd probably need a separate cat who knew the ambience and raison d'etre for every line calling there, and who could treat passengers accordingly. In conclusion, pleased to hear rincew1nd has been adopted by a cute-looking moggie;wonder if your new personal shopper and overlord has any Liverpool Overhead Railway ancestry? |
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Post by stapler on Mar 7, 2020 22:10:30 GMT
Well, the LOR was known as the "Dockers' Umbrella" - and cats don't like getting wet.
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