Coronavirus, galas and your attendance

I would have thought this statement on their website is clear.

"The situation the world is in right now will not last forever; whilst we have no timescale we as a company have taken action.
In light of the UK Governments announcement to limit personal travel within the UK and to observe social distancing, resulting from the Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak, we have today cancelled all upcoming holidays and tours up to and including the 2nd May.
The safety and well being of our customers along with our staff is of great importance to us and we thank you for your continued support during this time.
We will be working hard behind the scenes and continuing to monitor the situation and will make any necessary adjustments as required.
In accordance with government advice we will be limiting our time in the office but it is still very much business as usual."

Tours may reappear at a later date in some guise but up until May 2nd are cancelled. GB may be an exception as from this thread I understand passengers may have been given some information regarding September as a possible date.
However as the situation changes daily and current thinking is that for us in the over 70 at risk group there may only be a couple of months of relief from isolation before it licks off again next winter, I would suggest wait a while and see what happens.

 

From the RTC website "
Corona Virus (Covid-19)
Mar 17, 2020
Latest Update - 17/3/2020
The situation the world is in right now will not last forever; whilst we have no timescale we as a company have taken action.

In light of the UK Governments announcement to limit personal travel within the UK and to observe social distancing, resulting from the Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak, we have today cancelled all upcoming holidays and tours up to and including the 2nd May.

The safety and well being of our customers along with our staff is of great importance to us and we thank you for your continued support during this time.

We will be working hard behind the scenes and continuing to monitor the situation and will make any necessary adjustments as required.

In accordance with government advice we will be limiting our time in the office but it is still very much business as usual."

 

WSR Spring Gala cancelled.

 

Several railways are still intending to hold their galas so anyone who is happy to ignore the official advice to avoid unnecessary travel and mingle with crowds of other people will still be able to do so.

 

Socially irresponsible. We’ve all got to pull together for the common good in these difficult times.

 

Completely agree. I see some enthusiasts on Facebook posting on heritage railway pages things along the lines of 'I'm going anyway', 'I've had worse', 'we all have our opinion of the virus..' - well great. But the virus doesn't care if you chose to ignore the scientific evidence and don't think it's serious. It'll infect you, be spread by you, and potentially affect the elderly and immuno-compromised with devastating effect regardless.

 

Right gladiator its just cos i dident do enough googling to find this statement until ive seen it put on nat pres by your good self R.T.C. have wrote i only read the message attatched to my cancellation/rescheduling notice for the wensleydale tour R.T.C. sent me via email today.

 

The problem is, if you think you can self isolate, and come back out in 3 months time and never see the virus again, then sorry mush I have some bad news for you, its going nowhere and will still be there waiting for you, next month, in 6 months, next year. Many more people are carrying it, and have been for a while than you can ever imagine. People need to get it, survive it, and gain some immunity, which should help when it mutates (and it will).

Given that you need to make a risk assessment, are you fit, will you survive it no problem, do you not have family or close friends at risk that you will meet and be in contact with. If you can tick all those boxes, and be sensible with hygiene and social space requirements, there is no reason to cancel your life for weeks on end, and in doing so you are not being anti social.

Alas however at least 51% of the population have already proven they are not sensible.

 

If people have pre-booked tickets for galas and those galas end up being pulled, I would hope that we as enthusiasts do not go around demanding our money back. Sure it's disappointing but if we want these railways to still be here in 1 / 2 / 5 / 10 years time we also need to make sure they have some money right now to cover their lost earnings.

Obviously some people may not have an option, but if you do then you should consider making a financial contribution if you can to help get them through.

 

However, an awful lot of people are genuinely unaware of the potential damage they can cause. Certainly I've spoken to plenty of people who think they'd be fine if they caught the virus (and they probably would be) and don't think they come into contact with anyone vulnerable. A couple of probing questions later and they often realise how wrong they are on that latter point. There are a lot of people with hidden conditions; 5 million with asthma, 4 million with diabetes, 100k living with HIV, 23K on immunosuppressant drugs, the list goes on and on. Even if you're absolutely certain you don't come into contact with anyone with a hidden condition putting them at risk, can you be sure that all those healthy people who you may infect don't have any contact at all with any vulnerable people either?
As @Eric Tyler says, it really is socially irresponsible unless you literally don't leave the house for anything except the gala and don't see anyone else.

 

Exactly. I know >10 people who immediately fit those categories that I interact with a lot. We need to remember that social distancing is not about panicking or 'hiding away so you don't catch it', but simply 'flattening the curve' so that the pressure on the health service is spread out and eased. That way more people who need it can receive necessary treatment and recover to enjoy rescheduled galas!

 

agreed, but the second part of being sensible, is the vulnerable self isolating. Everyone who is vulnerable know they are, or they should by now and should be the ones taking the most precautions. If I am a carrier, and I may be, if I infect anyone despite my precautions, its their fault not mine. If everyone self isolates, the vulnerable get no support, how anti social is that?

As I said the 51% who are not sensible include the vulnerable

Anyway, its academic, galas will be postponed, for insurance and economic reasons if nothing else

 

British Belmond Pullman and UK Railtours have postponed or cancelled all workings up to the end of April.
https://mailchi.mp/68463d3f2135/newsletter261-247853?e=4ed39a06df
https://www.belmond.com/legal/coronavirus

Frustrating times, but peoples health and safety comes first.

Cheers, Neil

 

Very wise words i agree there after the death toll in our country has tripled since yesterday to 71 including 3 in my county up in N Yorks which is worrying 2000+ in italy and 7500 globally deaths and plus the French introducing strict measures of their citizens having to have written permits to go out like in italy and the 27 leaders of the E.U. ordering all Europes borders closed for a month its most certainly like a sci fi horror movie literally has come true we are battling mother nature in unknown territory against a deadly new virus and the only way out to stop it is for the boffins to find a vaccine and slowing it down by stopping crowds congregating by the worlds goverments is buying us time to stop covid 19 rapidly wiping thousands of people out.
Davo 56F

 

You only have to read threads on other forums to see that isn't happening sadly. Even on the model railway forums, when exhibitions are being cancelled you can guarantee that people will be straight in there asking can they get a refund on their advance ticket. It's eight quid! Give them a chance to get things sorted out rather than worrying about a few pounds.

 

Hope people do club together and support their local lines - only one way out of this and that is together!

 

At the end of the day. Our health has to come first. I'm going to miss film steam locos on heritage railways and on the mainline for my YouTube channel, hopefully the virus will calm down. Might concentrate on my model railway which I'm getting soon?