Twin City Model Railroad Museum Reopens to the Public July
18
The Twin City Model Railroad Museum will reopen to the public on Saturday, July 18. In response to COVID-19 and to proactively protect the entire community, the museum temporarily closed on March 14. Four months later, the museum is ready to welcome visitors back this month. We have made various safety changes and will
continue to take every precaution for the care of all visitors and members.
To begin with, the museum will only be open on Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm. To ensure a safe environment all admissions must be bought in advance to help limit the number of people in the museum.
Health and safety requirements
Visitors over the age of 2 are required to wear masks, keep a distance of 6 feet from others outside their household and wash or sanitize hands frequently. Since some museum exhibits do require a hands-on aspect there be frequent sanitization of all buttons. Families should know that for the short term all wooden train layouts in children’s play area have been removed. Guests will be encouraged to follow a consistent route through the museum to help with social
distancing. Signage with these reminders will be posted around the museum.
Advanced Tickets Requirement
To ensure limited capacity and space for social distancing, the museum is moving to a system of timed tickets sold online. Tickets can be purchased at tcmrm.eventbrite.com now. All visitors, including kids and members, will need to get a ticket before a visit, paid or free. Tickets can be acquired on hourly increments for entry and will have limited capacity. Once
admission has been acquired, the visitor will receive a ticket that can be scanned digitally or physically at the front desk. After entering, visitors can stay as long as the museum is open. Building visitation is limited to 25% capacity at all times.
To be clear: While most time slots are one hour long we are not going to require you to leave after your time has ended, we just ask for your sensitivity to traffic flow. We are simply limiting ticket sales during our busiest times to ensure a safe experience for all visitors and volunteers.
That said, we will allow walk-up ticket sales at the museum as long as we are not at our COVID capacity limit.
The past four months have been unprecedented in all of our lives and for every organization and business worldwide. The Twin City Model Railroad is no exception as our members, volunteers, and supportive friends have done much to demonstrate that “We are all in this together!”.
Members providing Matching Funds to encourage greater giving, the GIVEMN “Giving From Home” Fundraising effort, Member Volunteers stepping up to chair and support a Task Force to Create a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan, a supportive Landlord that has allowed a partial rent deferral during these closed days, some financial help received from SBA disaster funds in partnering with our community Bank, and literally hundreds
of expression of support from the larger community in so many ways.
Now begins the process of slowly reopening in a thoughtful way that will demonstrate our commitment to providing a safe and healthy place for our guests, members, and staff volunteers. Our appeal for continuing financial support from members and friends has never been more important. We welcome your return and continuing participation in the future of this 85-Year-old Saint Paul Railroad Icon!
Respectfully
Oscar Lund
President
Twin City Model Railroad Museum
