A message to our customers,

No doubt many of you are aware of the issues and challenges we face today because of the COVID-19 virus and its economic fallout.  We'd like to bring you up to date on our current situation. We originally wrote a draft of this letter several days ago, but events have been changing daily. Of course, our primary concern is the health and well being of our staff, our customers and our suppliers.

Our office has been closed to the public since March 26th.  When we will be able to open to the public again is dependent on a number of factors beyond our control.  We still have a few staff in the office, so requests for in stock items can be processed. We are allowing local customers to drop by and pick up orders, but this is by appointment only. Please call ahead. The Province of Ontario has ordered all non-essential businesses to close. We expect British Columbia to do the same soon. 

Some product from our suppliers is still moving.  We know that the factories in China shipped all finished products on January 15th in advance of shutting down in February for the Chinese New Year. We received shipments from most of the major manufacturers over the last three weeks. A large shipment left Atlas in New Jersey, and now has been received. In that shipment are our special run of British Columbia Royal Hudson Tank Cars.  Atlas products are shipped first to the US warehouse.  We cannot, however, confirm the date when we will process the shipment and move it north across the border, but we will do so as soon as we can.  We would rather our staff stay safe and stay home.

Currently, the border between Washington State and British Columbia is closed except for trade and commerce.  This may change to essential trade, which may not include model trains.  The combination of an office closure and the possibility of difficulty moving goods across the border means that you may not receive your orders when you expect them.

The factory we use in China for NARC products was cleared of the COVID-19 virus and has reopened.  Our 5077 boxcars are currently being assembled and may be ready to ship by the end of May.  However, we will delay shipping out orders until it is safe for our staff to go back to work.

We received HO Scale paint samples of all the BC Rail 5092 boxcars to review.  As soon as we look them over we will give our factory the go-ahead to begin production. We posted the images on the PWRS website.

While our office phone lines may be down on days when our office staff are not at work, our email remains open to accept orders, PORTERS requests, and to provide customer support.

We are able to update and modify the website from home, so we are able to maintain the information flow on the website. We expect the number of announcements from manufacturers to drop, but we will try to keep you up-to-date as we are sent new product information.

Once our physical offices are allowed to fully reopen, we will work hard to process everyone’s orders and any pending shipments that came in until now.

As of this afternoon, all pending shipments have shipped out. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused customers. We will do our best to get back on track as quickly as possible.

We would like you to know that we are a well-capitalized company with no debt.  We will still be around to service you once this health emergency is over.  Until then, we wish you and your loved ones good health.  

Stay Home and Stay Safe

Best wishes, 

Pacific Western Rail Management