Recommissioning after Coronavirus

Museums & galleries are essentially spectator attractions, as in you don't touch anything. They are also often publicly owned & funded, so any revenues from shops & cafe's isn't essential.

So, if very carefully organised & operated, the below looks possible.

Essentially it would be a matter of organising an event that doesn't involve actually getting on the trains.
Timed entrance tickets, freight/shunting demonstrations etc.

 

Regardless of what procedures/system etc we might put in place, at the end of the day it's about restoring public confidence that they can have an enjoyable and safe visit to whatever entertainment venue they prefer. Whether that's "we can protect you during your visit" or "the outbreak is over (herd immunity?) back to business as usual", it is going to take a while to rebuild that confidence. Even if all restrictions were lifted tomorrow, we and our railways will be suffering the fallout for a long while yet.

 

As you say, for the visitor, quite a lot is possible. What you aren't addressing is how is this all going to be paid for. Heritage railways, as distinct from heritage centres, need paying passengers to survive. Being a railway enthusiast is generally a cheap hobby* because you largely rely on others paying for you to indulge in it, whether it is watching the main line scene or watching a Terrier climb the grade to Tenterden and, let's face it, most of us prefer to watch what is happening.
* I accept that there are those that go to the other extreme and I'm ever grateful to them.

 

There was a piece in yesterday's Times (can't find it online at the mo) about how mainline trains could be adapted, it involves removing rows of seats to fit a plastic screen so people cannot breathe over the seat in front, removing all tables, removing face to face seating (apart from some requiring pre-booking), coating handrails in antibacterial surfaces, hand sanitiser dispensers onboard, one way systems and swapping door buttons for contact free motion sensors.

 

Here is the link but you have to be a subscriber to read the whole article:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...-and-visors-are-the-future-for-rail-qgsnd6p08

 

That is it in a nutshell. I finally had to relent and make a visit to the local dump today which seems well laid out and controlled. Yet despite understand the science of 2 metres (or 1 depending on which scientist), the low risk of being outdoors the less rational side of my mind looked at everyone else there as a potential killer. Now that may be as I have not left our property for over 8 weeks as we now get everything delivered, but I cannot see myself be convinced to use any form of transport with others for a long time.

 

The loss of commercial income would actually have a significant adverse effect on the SMG/NRM, the public funding would not cover all their costs.

 

Swiss heritage railways have announced this evening they will be reopening from 6th June onwards, though I can't find anything online about what restrictions will be necessary.

 

Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway & Museum of Scottish Railways now closed until October, all special events cancelled up to 1st November.

 

One I'm watching is the Weald and Downland Museum. Apart from the shop and cafe, it is primarily an open-air attraction; it has a very high ratio of space to visitors i.e. a big site, though allowing there are certain focal points where people gather); and my guess is that the additional cost of being open is fairly small relative to the overall costs being incurred whether open or shut.

All of those together suggest to me that the logistics of re-opening are fairly easy; the loss of visitor value by maybe not opening up some houses is a relatively small part of the whole; and the financial risk / reward of re-opening is quite favourable towards opening. So it ought to be a bellwether of the viability of opening a heritage attraction.

Tom

 

I seem to recall that, when all the railways initially closed down, that Bo'ness gave the latest date for an "earliest possible reopening". Because of that, it doesn't surprise me that they are not thinking about reopening nearly as early as some of the others and continute to push the reopening date well into the Autumn.

 

https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/product.php/81/special-return-tickets

 

There has been a lot of talk on the forum about lack of visitors when Heritage Centres reopen but I think there could be actually be a problem with them being overwhelmed with visitors. I am over 70 but as soon as a Heritage Railway within a 100 miles of me reopens I will be there like a shot. I don’t think I’ll be the only one! You only need to look at what happened when the lockdown was relaxed recently. Where I live there are a large number of garden centres at Crews Hill and for a couple of days there were severe traffic jams in the area with people waiting to access them. Also look at the photos of the beaches at Southend and other locations packed with visitors when the distance you could travel was relaxed.
After several weeks of lockdown people are frustrated and desperate to get back to some semblance of normality, and will rush out to resume their normal activities as soon as the measures are relaxed.

 

Having no visitors at one extreme and being overwhelmed at the other are scenarios that would not be good. Whether we like it or not, heritage railways have to put in social distancing measures before they re-open, which in most cases will mean reduced capacity, not just on trains but on platforms, as well. Having to control (say) 100 people when your train can only take 50 is not what anyone wants. In all this, is it worth a railway re-opening until social distancing is relaxed?

 

The only way it could be done will be by pre booking only, but that would mean prebooking both jouneys, and allocating seat numbers but then apart from if you boked different out and return trains you are not able to jump off en route .lets say for example you boked a seat on the first Sheffield Park to East Gristead service, you might not be able to stay on it for the return run, and may have to get the next departure, if East Grinstead passengers have booked all the availible seats on that one. and the same would apply at the other end, passengers might have to spend an hour at Sheffield Park , of course, all other stations would have to be closed to the public, or a shuttle service ran, again with pre booking.

 

That sounds something like a Santa operation - pre-booked, with a break at one end and some organised route around attractions etc, then return and repeat with next group.

That feels doable, though you would be getting something of an "ersatz" experience i.e. no ability to stop at intermediate stations; and the carrying capacity would still be a concern; also the pathing to avoid streams of people meeting at either end.

Tom

 

I cant see that all this stuff will be done, who will organise it and it will put people off going anyway. Easier just not to go.

From my recent visit to Weston Super Mare, the multi story car park had put cones in every other space, let them fill with cars first, then remove them and let cars fill the gaps to keep people apart. Other businesses just had stuff like some signs telling people to keep 2 meters apart, roped lanes to enforce a one way system. Some plastic screens around staff serving customers etc. a few painted lines on the tarmac at 2m spacing etc.

Was on a conference call at work this morning and a colleague informed that a 33 year old Indian friend (in Britain) had died last week of it. First one I have directly heard about.

 

I'd have thought there'd be many - especially at the moment - who'd be glad of a pre-booking system for a visit to a heritage railway; certainly the longer ones. Book and pay online, then turn up and take your reserved (and separated) place for a round trip - intermediate station stops could be more tricky (short platformed stations in particular could be tricky). The logistics could be a bit tricky to avoid mingling flows, and I'd expect the margins to take a hit with both numbers down and it being harder to manage shop spend.

But my hunch is that with some decent communications as to what to expect (facilities, what is or isn't possible for photographs, etc.), and people choosing to go for a day out, it could be a workable model.