Wednesday morning tourist and museum news in brief:
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad says it will be capable of turning a profit while running trains at 50% of capacity and now hopes to resume full trips by late June. The Durango Herald reports that the railroad has come up with an operating plan and needs permission to operate at 50% of capacity from San Juan Basin Public Health; a spokeswoman for the health agency said the state’s latest public health order does not define how to evaluate a reopening plan or how to provide approval. The agency is working with the state’s department of health, the governor’s office, and the railroad, spokeswoman Claire Ninde said, and aims to allow it to operate while preventing the spread of COVID-19. Durango & Silverton had previously estimated it needed to operate at 75% of capacity to be profitable [see “Durango & Silverton pushes back opening …,” News Wire Digest, May 11, 2020] but general manager Jeff Johnson said it determined it could make 50% occupancy work with “a lot of hard work on how we’re spending and handling overhead … We’ll continue to be as lean as we can.”
Northern Ohio Railway Museum to remain closed, seeks financial support
The Northern Ohio Railway Museum in Seville, Ohio, which features historic trolley, interurban and rapid transit equipment and operates on a mile of track, will remain closed for the remainder of 2020. The museum has also cancelled its annual meeting, Members’ Day Picnic and other scheduled events through November. In a press release, the museum said the decision reflected challenges in meeting Ohio Department of Health directives regarding COVID-19, based on the physical layout of the facility and its trolley cars, the desire not to alter those trolley cars, and, primarily, the health and safety of volunteers and visitors. To meet the resulting financial hardship, the museum is seeking support through donations, memberships, and online purchases from the museum’s store. More information is available here or on the museum’s Facebook page.
Galloping Goose No. 5 operations cancelled; museum open by appointment only
The Galloping Goose Historical Society has cancelled all excursions involving Goose No. 5 for 2020 and closed the Galloping Goose Museum and gift shop in Dolores, Colo., except by appointment. The Journal of southwest Colorado reports the society’s board of directors “has decided to hunker down and regroup to try to survive 2020,” according to board president Joe Becker, because reducing passengers for Goose trips to accommodate social distancing is not feasible. The railcar had been scheduled to run on the Durango & Silverton in March and May, and on the Cumbres & Toltec in July. The organization will have to rely on fundraising and its endowment fund to see it through the year, Becker said. For more information, visit the organization’s Facebook page.
