I agree with you, but the hoax proposition should have been deleted immediately in the first place, and I'm flagging the posts in question for removal. (Seriously, we're supposed to believe a YouTube video with only 17 views?!?!)

MEANWHILE, back to relevant stories:

https://www.wdio.com/neighborhood/lake- ... s/5678731/

All UK closures here: https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2020/03/co ... -2020.html

Engine 557 Restoration Company has suspended tours and visitation to the 557 Engine House in Wasilla, Alaska until further notice.

You weren't reading carefully what I wrote.

Museums and organizations can shut down their public presence, and go back to being repositories and 'content generation' groups, for the duration. Better suspend your volunteer efforts, too.

Or you can take careful steps toward PPE for both dispensing and receiving virus in the breath, conduct effective and systematic surface sanitation, and perhaps most significantly segregate visitors 'at risk' at proper distancing, and in proper ways, from 'the general' more infected population. Offer them PPE if they didn't arrive with it, inform all visitors of procedures to cut down airborne transmission, limit congregation 'outside the gate' or multiple people inside equipment spaces during tours.

And get ready to do this systematically, because the worst thing about this is how particularly effective at infection and induction this virus is. The whole course 'otherwise' is precisely in the hands of those that can design systematic responses that people will trust and then follow. All else, ultimately and probably in less rather than more time, is only marking time and pretending individuals can stave off all the different means of spread.

The Governor of Illinois announced this afternoon that he is imposing a stay at home order, effective 5 pm CDT Saturday into the first week of April. Guess that settles what any railroad-oriented sites in that state will be doing.

I would not be surprised if Ohio decides to do something similar by early next week. Gov. DeWine has been very much on the cutting edge of restrictive decisions, being one of the first to order bars, restaurants, barber and beauty salons, and tattoo parlors closed. Wherever you live, have a mental list of things you absolutely have to get done or purchase if such a deadline to stay home comes to your state. You might only have hours to take action.

Tomorrow will be two weeks since the open house for the PRR T-1 Trust in New Philadelphia, and having not heard of anyone who was there coming down with COVID-19 I guess we dodged a bullet. Stay safe to all.

That's not a realistic option given that there is not enough PPE for the hospitals.

An excellent 5 minute video from Science Insider:
What Coronavirus Symptoms Look Like, Day By Day

ORHS is now closed to the public. There will be limited volunteer projects but with restrictions in place.

Oh, yes, I was.



With all due respect, this sounds like it was written by someone who's been stuck at the South Pole.

We are at a stage where hundreds of thousands, if not millions, will be losing work due to imposed restrictions. In EVERY state/region that I pay attention to in my newsfeed, from Arizona to Scotland, downright Draconian restrictions are being imposed by government leaders. NO restaurants, NO pubs, NO museums, NO libraries (except all by takeout service only), NO groups larger than ten. Many, many businesses are poised to close forever.

Groups trying to decide whether or not to proceed with monthly meetings, conventions, festivals, train shows, or the like are having the decisions made FOR them by the venues telling them that it's been cancelled on their behalf.

We're not even going to have any PPE for volunteers, let alone the public, unless we start sewing our own facemasks. The visitors aren't going to be coming even if we DO get work parties set up. Grocery stores are being stripped bare of just about anything "affordable" on a daily basis.

When the Grand Canyon Railway and Hotel--arguably THE most "secure" market for a tourist railroad in the world--is forced to shut down for two months, you have to concede that this is a sea change of epic proportions. We all normally rest somewhat secure that, whatever the crisis--Pearl Harbor, a stock market crash, 9-11-2001--change will occur gradually and we will go more or less back to the way things were before. For the first time in quite a long time, people aren't thinking that way anymore.

One example of how people's perspectives have been rattled:
The local feed stores and chicken raisers are reporting that, rather than their weekly shipments of baby chicks stretching out over a couple weeks, people are flooding their stores looking for chicks and coops and feeders and chick feed to buy, spurred on by the (very temporary) shortages of eggs and poultry meat in supermarkets. One store reported getting cleaned out of 400 chicks in ONE HOUR (that would normally last them a week or so) and several pallets of feed in a couple hours. And not hardy mass-process chicks like leghorns or Rhode Island Reds, either, but many more "exotic" breeds like Ameraucanas, Welsummers, Bantams, English game hens, Sussex, and even endangered Crevecoeurs. This is like buying up poodles, Great Danes, Daschunds, greyhounds, and beagles to pull a dogsled or be police dogs--or, in our lexicon, hundreds of places buying steam locomotives because they all want to set up a "Thomas" attraction. The store owners and chicken breeders and serious hobbyists are starting to panic, because they know darn well that these are people that don't know what they're getting themselves into, long-term (crowing roosters, caring for sick birds, coops in freezing weather, etc.) and are just seeking a "quick fix." This will not end well for the poor chicks, sorry to say.

Again, THIS is the hand we're being dealt--people now in "survivalist" mindset for real, not for TV.

Status in Denmark:

All activities with group gatherings closed: restaurants, gyms, schools, most large offices closed and working from home, services with close contact closed - hair salons, massage, tattoo

Still open: restaurants for take out, small shops - bookstores, hardware stores, grocery, bicycle shops, some shops have posted rules limiting number of customers in building at same time, grocery has marked lines on floor and asked customers in checkout line to stand apart, construction sites are still working, we had a plumber do some work at our house yesterday, some shops have stopped accepting cash (contactless credit cards are common), some shops are on reduced hours

Transport: reduced service schedules. Seat reservations are now free, and trains are running with extra coaches to allow customers to sit apart. Buses are now enter through the rear, and you are not to approach the driver.

Our railway museum: trains are canceled through May. Members over 60 are now prohibiited from the workshop. Cooking in the kitchen is prohibited, and only 6 persons at a time in the eating room - bring your own food and do not share. Wear gloves at all times in workshop (we have a supply of light auto repair gloves). We have also had a few deep cleaning days where all surfaces were sanitized.

Netflix has disabled high density streaming in Europe because of the pressure on the internet.

On positive side, I am sure many of you have seen the news that Wuhan, China, has recorded multiple days without any new infections. Many of their temporary hospitals are closed, and medical staff are returning to their home cities. My colleagues in Bejing are returning to work.

There is hope that with social distancing and strict sanitation, we can be returning to regular activities in 2 months.

In response to the current Coronavirus epidemic, Australia's Puffing Billy Railway announced today it will be shut down for three months effective March 23.

Something I sort of expected to see coming, the online fundraiser. In this case, one of the first I found was for the Talyllyn Raliway in Wales. They already have nearly 4,000 pounds raised from this: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/talyllyn-appeal2020

I did donate a few weeks ago a few dollars towards the Friends of the EBT via their online store when I realized how this was going to affect the historic railroad scene. This is about to become a real case of putting your money where your mouth is I think. If you want to help a railroad survive, make sure to help spread the word and get the donations rolling.

Right now, I’m about 0% interested in donating to a railroad. I have to plan to stretch out my money for quite some time.

I received this notice today.

ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM

NOTICE TO MEMBERS AND EMPLOYEES

In compliance with Governor Pritzker’s Order of Friday afternoon, March
20, 2020, the Museum has decided to close its property to all volunteers,
members and staff effective 3:00 PM, Saturday, March 21, 2020 until
further notice.

No one may enter or remain on Museum property (the Museum Campus, the
demonstration railway, Pullman and Strahorn Libraries) without specific
authorization of the General Manager – Facilities.

Department heads are instructed that all projects in progress must be
secured by 3:00 PM, Saturday, March 21, 2020 in a way that will permit
work to cease for an indefinite period of time.

Had been out Thursday to tidy up my projects and bring back some “homework”. My wife has some health issues and we already decided to hunker down as much as we can.
This is a very necessary move to slow the progress of its spread, so that the hospitals don’t get overloaded. The smaller suburban area that we live in has a hospital with only about 10 ER beds and maybe a couple dozen respirators. If even 2% of the 50,000 people in this area need help, we are in deep Do-Do.

Keep washing your hands.

Dissidents within China are reporting that this is blatant lying and "data manipulation". For example, if you don't "admit" someone to the hospital and leave them to die (supposedly going on big-time now), they don't count it as a "new case." Or counting new cases as "imported from elsewhere."

We'd check, except the Chinese have thrown out all the Western reporters covering the story, allegedly for "their own safety." You know, like they did before the slaughter at Tianamen Square in 1989.

Considering the source of the disease and their blatant efforts to cry "racism" for calling the disease "Wuhan" or "Chinese," I wouldn't trust anything the Chinese government says, about this or anything else, for a microsecond.

Relevance to this topic: Don't get complacent on the basis of Chinese statements.