Recommissioning after Coronavirus

The SVR is in the West Midlands, many people can visit it within a 2 hour drive -

Birmingham (massive population)
West Midlands
East Midlands
Shropshire
Herefordshire
Warwickshire
Bristol/Cheltenham/Gloucester areas
South and north eastern/mid Wales.

 

Misleading headline. For Britons see English!

 

The Statesman Rail website now says the rail tours are postponed till September

 

July 18 tour quoted as being their restart in the article still shows available for booking and no mention of delay until September. Mind you the website does show two tours before that date still.

 

Thanks only saw the first page.

 

Posted yesterday on the GCR website

"Added on Friday 22nd May...

Today we have taken the first very careful steps towards our eventual return. Although the railway remains closed to the public for now, and majority of departments remain closed to all for the time being, a very small number of the team have returned to work in a carefully-controlled way as we begin to restart our operations.

With precautions in place, including Driver and Fireman wearing face coverings, and Guard alone in the coaches, BR Standard Class 2 78018 completed some important test runs along the line today to confirm the success of repair works."

This seems the very sensible first step towards recommissioning after coronavirus.......I would quite happily pay to park my car in Quorn station yard and watch the (empty) trains go by for a couple of hours!

 

This seems to be the way forward for some public transport.
I doubt heritage lines would manage to survive with such low numbers.
https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/18470262.social-distancing-looks-like-york-buses/

 

I think it will be a long time before some people will be happy to be close to others and operators are correct to try to maintain Social Distancing by limiting access and altering seating plans. Many others may well accept the slight element of added risk and gather together regardless, that is the choice of individuals. However lots of people enjoy just seeing trains running and have been able to just turn up at many locations and see them. I expect many of these locations will now have some element of payment to benefit the railway. Also, there are different income streams which do not require large numbers of people travelling i.e. photo charters, carriage hire for a day, testing, filming, donations, share purchase, bequests etc.
Therefore I hope and expect that most heritage lines WILL survive....somehow.

 

The GCR have had 78018 in steam and on test this week. The NYMR have similarly had No.29 in steam. on VE 75 day, Schools 926 was also in steam on test. Are these the only occurrences so far, or have there been others? In particular, did any loco steam during April or was it a totally steam free month for the first time since (probably) June 1812?

 

Buckinghamshire Railway Centre had a couple of locos in steam for annual tests, a couple of days ago https://www.facebook.com/BucksRailC...m0iOCwN5zceUzD185Meb2peE-1R3O6auHnQ&__tn__=-R

 

On many modern service trains you *could* operate the doors/lock button with an elbow. Or course this doesn't apply to e.g. MK3 and earlier stock unless converted like the XC HSTs.
On such stock you could potentially have hand sanitiser mounted on the outside of the toilet.

The other thing is that recent advice has downgraded the chance of contact infection, saying that the evidence is most infections are via breath etc.

 

I recently had a conversation which re-emphasized what I think several other people have pointed out; what the government will allow isn't as crucial as whether the passengers will show up - and my recent conversation makes me think they might not.

So my son and his wife were scheduled to fly to Ireland in August, to visit her parents - but they now are probably going to cancel. Why? Well, his response was sort of 'why take a chance'. My guess is that with the level of public concern about getting COVID, a lot of potential vintage rail passengers will probably have the same reaction. Of course, that's just a guess; to know for sure, we'll probably have to just try it and see.

But if so, vintage rail as a viable attraction may not work; it does (or used to) bring in a lot of cash, to pay for trains and infrastructure, but lines may have to cut back on all that - whether 'back' or 'out', we shall have to see. Maybe we'll be back to the age of 1'=12" scale train sets for the enthusiasts only; lines may want to have a plan prepared for that if the passengers don't re-appear..

Noel

 

It seems to me that those lines who have class 116 or 117 type carriages may find it easier to maintain social distancing of their passengers. Each set of seats has, as I recall, its own doorway to and from the platform. Guidance (marshalling) for passengers can be achieved at platform level and I believe seating restrictions could be maintained in each small bay - 4 passengers instead of 8 with no access to other parts of the train allowed. Quite a few lines have these type of carriages, DSR/SDR/G&WSR etc. Of course the crux would be whether, or not, those passenger numbers would be enough to maintain the service: the downside is that to maintain the required distancing a more intensive service might have to be operated even in the quieter times of the year. Tickets could be checked before boarding which would restrict movements of TTI's/Guards ensuring their social distancing. Most of the time this would be satisfactory, as far as I can see. Times when things go wrong should, hopefully, be few.
Maybe those longer lines, such as the WSR might have to consider shortened journeys. Shorter journeys cut down the need to use toilets and also less time on the train. Families will find some of the arrangements - such as children wearing masks (and keeping them on) and staying still - difficult, in fact almost impossible, to maintain. Shorter journeys would be at an distinct advantage in such instances. The idea of a day out on a steam train is usually an enjoyable event; but that might be something that could appear a hardship and therefore a factor that could deter visitors.
Shorter lines also have the advantage - less maintenance and less operating costs.
Churches are mooted to be open to worshippers in July, (they are already open in France) but that is an environment that can be far more easily controlled with services duplicated to overcome crowding. Duplicated train timetables are, as far as I see it, not an easy option.

 

That might be possible, but I'm struggling to get any kind of enthusiasm for such an operation. As a member of the public I certainly wouldn't bother, as a volunteer to staff it possibly out of a sense of duty to help the railway, but I doubt I'd enjoy it in the same way I normally enjoy my turns. The model railway is more appealing. Certainly the GWSR only has one DMU anyway, so any service would be terrible frequency. I just don't see why anyone would bother to turn up to be herded into a DMU to spend an hour going in one direction and then come back again. Yes it would be cheap to run, but so's a bus - it would be about as exciting.

 

This is starting to rear its head. We did a survey of our volunteers and the majority said they would re-start as soon as they could. Now that we've opened the doors to volunteers in a controlled way, with work zones, social distancing and restricted numbers in the mess room, several of those who said they were willing to return are now saying that they won't with these restrictions in place as it would spoil their enjoyment and being with friends, a main reason for volunteering.

 

I would agree that some railways may find this as bit easier than others.

We have (optimistically) got a week booked on the Isle of Wight in August, and the thought of being in a compartment on the IOWSR just for my family, and paying a premium for this privilege is fairly appealing. No on train toilets, no other people you could get the virus from (though I suspect I would remain anxious about whether any residue from previous occupants had been removed).

Being in a TSO would make me much more anxious at the moment.

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A TSO can be managed fairly easy with opposite bays closed off creating the distancing required. You can also instruct people within each saloon of the TSO to exit from a certain door thus reducing the contact points.
A compartment coach will be just as challenging because of the contact points with the door handles unless you can somehow prevent the compartment doors being used.
In past experience a DMU is not what the general public want to travel on. This is not a dig at DMU's but observations on platforms and not all railways have class 116/7 units or Mk1 suburbans to maintain a compartment only service.
I myself would be happy to travel in a TSO with the opposite bay closed off.

 

There may be an opportunity here for places like Didcot and the the Bucks Railway Centre, where the train ride is only one element of the day. What chance of converting a couple of wagons into open carriages, like those at the Bristol Harbour Railway, to facilitate post-pandemic steam haulage?

 

If you can safely run a DMU, I dont see why you cannot run a steam hauled train. The only difference with a diesel is that you would need fewer people to break even.

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