I'm hoping this thread may stay open for a while but if it goes too far afield then may it be moderated quickly. mld....

Received today from the Mid-Continent Rwy Museum:

Durango & Silverton sent out an email to its past customers, etc. today (March 23) that said:

Southern California Railroad Museum (formerly Orange Empire) sent this email to members and volunteers this morning (3-23-20):

Public statement from the Delaware & Ulster Railroad:

"Dear Delaware & Ulster Railroad Community:

In these days . . . we are all on a journey . . . that is taking us down a railway line, that we may not know how long it will take us, once again to reach our familiar surroundings along the East Branch of the Delaware River valley. In the meantime, our focus is on supporting the health and safety of our employees, volunteers, passengers and communities along our lines.

We are all navigating uncharted territory with no preexisting route or familiar way for how we do business: nothing matters more than the safety and health of everyone at the Catskill Revitalization Corporation, our passengers and communities.

With all that we now know about federal, state, and county mandates, as well as the information the medical community has provided evidence urging everyone to reduce non-essential social contact. We will not be operating any trains for the next few weeks. We all look forward to hopefully the prospects of returning to operation later this Spring. In the interest is keeping all well, we will delay our opening, until we can rest in comfort in knowing that this time of caution has passed. However, in the meantime, we will work on keeping our staff and employees safe, as we continue to work on the tracks, locomotives and equipment of our railroad. Our hope; is that as better days soon return, we will be prepared to once again operate our trains in the valleys of the Western Catskills.

This journey will reach its end at some point and we will have to wait until we can safely run our trains again for the public. We will be relying upon our country’s and state’s leadership to guide us through these difficult times. In the meantime, we will practice safety for our staff and employees, and will endeavor to have our railroad in the strongest possible position to pick up where we left off providing our passenger with memorable train rides.

Take care & keep well . . .

from your friends at the Delaware & Ulster Railroad"
https://durr.org/covid-19-statement/

It would be legitimately faster and easier to simply presume EVERYONE is shuttered for the duration.

EVERYONE.

Even Amtrak is down to a skeleton operation with cancellation of all Acela trains, the entire Keystone and Pere Marquette corridors, and dramatic reductions on all other corridors. Most commuter and rail transit operations are down to minimal operations at best.

At the absolute best, you MIGHT have some of these operations, such as the Strasburg, still scheduling freight trains or doing track or equipment maintenance work. But given current freight traffic levels nationwide and the shutdown of shippers, even that's a far-fetched proposition for some. (But chickens, cattle, etc. still have to eat, and fruit ripens and cows keep producing milk, so.....)

Airlines are now discussing possible suspension of domestic air services or reduction to absolute minimum service.

The Keystone and Pennsylvanian shutdowns are at the request of the Commonwealth of PA.
The Amtrak NEC retrenchment (including Acela) is based on there being very little traffic.

SEPTA is still running Enhanced Saturday Service on its Regional Rail Lines, and Saturday Service on its Transit Lines. They are discouraging riders so those who MUST travel can sit at least 6 feet apart.

Phil Mulligan

And the latest notice and update:


Mid-Continent Railway Museum
COVID-19 UPDATE
Mid-Continent to Remain Closed Through May
Dear Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society Members,


For the safety of our visitors, volunteers and employees during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Mid-Continent Railway Museum has taken the proactive step of delaying the start of its 2020 operating season. Previously, Mid-Continent was to open to the public on weekends starting May 9th. The new season opening date is Saturday, June 6th. This too may be subject to change as the situation develops.
What this Means

All scheduled trains during the month of May are canceled, including Coach/Caboose trains, the May 9th Pizza Train and Elegant Dinner Train, and the May 10th Mother’s Day Brunch Trains. Any persons with reservations for trains in May will be contacted within the next few days.
The museum property, including all displays and gift shop will be closed to the public through June 5th.
Our seasonal staff are being contacted to inform them of the delay in rehiring.
The State of Wisconsin’s “Safer at Home” order is currently set to expire at 8:00 AM on April 24th but may be extended. During the time the order is in effect no departments will be allowed to work on projects on Mid-Continent property. This order includes staying in private rail cars.

If You Need to Contact Mid-Continent Staff

As long as the State of Wisconsin’s “Safer at Home” order is in effect and possibly longer, the museum administrative office will remain closed. Phones will not be staffed; however, voicemail messages will be checked regularly and responded to within 2 business days. To leave a voice message for museum staff, call 608-522-4261.
Museum email addresses will continue to be monitored and responded to, including the museum’s general email address: inquiries@midcontinent.org. Email is the best method of communication during this time.
All U.S. Postal Service mail sent to Mid-Continent goes to a secure post office box. It continues to be checked and processed as usual.

Additional Impacts on 2020 Schedule

Further changes to the 2020 schedule including additional cancellations may be required as the timeline of the pandemic and its impact on tourism to our region are made more clear.


Sincerely,

The Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society President & Office Staff


Copyright © 2020 Mid-Continent Railway Museum, All rights reserved.
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Our mailing address is:
Mid-Continent Railway Museum
P.O. Box 358
E8948 Museum Rd.
North Freedom, WI 53951

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It's real simple. Everyone is closed until further notice. If you listen to Dr.Fauci and the other scientists we will not be able to begin to lift the social isolation drill until we can rapid test ( results in 15 minutes or less) millions and millions so we know who is clean and who is dirty. He further says that it will be at least 4-6 months before we have produced enough test machines and have them distributed to every Walmart, Target, Walgreen, CVS etc. so that mass testing can happen. Until then we'll continue to be flying blind.

Therefore unless you listen to Trumps bs it will be until at least August until we even BEGIN to emerge and no doubt on a very conservative slow schedule.

IMHO-Ross Rowland

“Therefore unless you listen to Trumps bs it will be until at least August until we even BEGIN to emerge and no doubt on a very conservative slow schedule.”

How would a person like myself, with little more than a high school education, and limited social skills, learn how to tell the difference between bs and optimism ?

The virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease is the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

There is no vaccine.

There is no accredited treatment for the disease.

Do you believe the Mayo Clinic? See the following:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con ... c-20479963

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con ... c-20479976

Phil Mulligan

It would be great if this thread could remain open. Seeing what various operations are doing and announcing is very helpful and informative.

SEPTA has suspended service on 73 bus lines, 2 trolley lines and 6 regional rail lines. Several Subway and Elevated stations are closed.

On surface transit, entrance and exit is by the center or rear doors; there is no fare collection.

Three SEPTA employees have died from COVID-19 according to TWU Local 234.

SEPTA MUST operate a core service as many health care and other essential workers rely on the service to get them to work. There is a cap on how many riders may be on board each vehicle.

http://septa.org/covid-19/service-information.html

Phil Mulligan

Valid and important point rmne1887. Very straight forward. Listen to and follow the advice of the legitimate scientists like Dr. Anthony Fauci and not the politicos, especially not POTUS.

Plan for the worst....pray for the best.

Ross Rowland

How would a person like myself, with little more than a high school education, and limited social skills, learn how to tell the difference between bs and optimism ?[/quote]

Optimism is usually BS. Until, of course, proven otherwise through experience. You only trust optimism if it is borne out through the rear view mirror.