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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2007 0:23:22 GMT
I saw this on the BBC site and I'm rather startled. Yes, a cat is an excellent and obvious way of keeping the rodents under control but how safe is a cat around a station? According to the article it has free run of the place. Aside from dangers of getting electrocuted on the power rails what happens when it's moseying along the track one day as the 0845 drives in? Good idea? Bad idea?
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Post by Tomcakes on Nov 17, 2007 0:26:20 GMT
I'd be impressed if it was electrocuted on power rails at King's Cross! They have proper electrification there . Cats have been living at stations for years - it's nothing new.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2007 0:48:44 GMT
It depends where they mean by 'the station'. If it's allowed to stroll downstairs then it could get zapped.
And yes, many quiet stations have had cats hanging around. But King's Cross?!
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Post by railtechnician on Nov 17, 2007 2:58:07 GMT
Cats have been living on stations for years and not just the quiet ones. I don't know if it still happens but there was a budget for keeping a station cat on LU stations with a proper cost number to book to, to pay for the cat food. Stations I remember having cats were places such as Arnos Grove, where the cat was still fed in the old depot rooms after Ash House opened, Barbican, where the station cat would be found perched atop the UTS gates for the warmth at night in the winter and also a good vantage point for spying out prey, and Farringdon where I recall there were once four cats homed in the signal cabin. In the summer they would sit on the ledge of the open cabin window and at least one did fall to its death. As for being electrocuted or otherwise injured in my 28 years on the Underground I only ever encountered one dead cat and that was trackside just outside Leyton station. However, there were plenty of dead rats around the job and none worse than at Kennington and of course dead flying rats, i.e. pigeons anywhere and everywhere decaying in places where most would never see them.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2007 6:25:37 GMT
In the summer they would sit on the ledge of the open cabin window and at least one did fall to its death. Apparantly one cat at Farringdon was last seen riding an A stock towards Barbican.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2007 20:48:55 GMT
I've seen a few cats strolling around station platforms and trackside, hopping over juice rails... I think they can sense the 'electricity'. I know Canterbury West used to have a station cat, well, one from the houses which backed onto the line, used to come onto the station foraging for food from the buffet... The station staff used to make a fuss, providing Tiddles [that was his name, NOT his nature-led idealism] with milk and some food!!!
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