Finding the WW&F on Facebook

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

There's a Special Report on fb tonight with photos showing completion of the fill work at the first washout.

[Ed Lecuyer]

Tonight we start an exciting new idea in our social media presentation. One of our newest volunteers has written an engaging series of stories about the bridge project - it's origins, history, and reconstruction. It is part of our "Narrow Bridge Ahead" campaign to raise money for the placement of the bridge.

The first "introduction" posting is on tonight's Facebook page, and the series will run on Sundays for the next several weeks.

Please "like" it, and (more importantly) share it with your Facebook friends and like-minded enthusiasts. We want to get the word out about our exciting project and give everyone the opportunity to partner with us as we cross Trout Brook with a historic boxed pony truss bridge.

Reminder, our official Facebook Page is:
https://www.facebook.com/Wiscasset-Waterville-and-Farmington-Railway-Museum-147279126870/

[Joe Fox]

One very important piece missing from this story is the National Society and Preservation of Covered bridges has donated the bridge, and contractor to help with the bridge. However, that does not include transportation of the bridge, or site prep.

Please lets not continue to forget this small detail.

[Ed Lecuyer]

There is credit given to the NSPCB at the footer of each episode. The details of their part of the project will be covered as the story unfolds.  We've even uncovered additional interesting connections.

[Joe Fox]

Ok, thank you. I just wanted to be sure every reader understands. The way the first part was written made it seem like we were only working in partnership with them, and overlooked the part where the bridge was donated.

And I know it is mentioned in the fundrazr page, but I think it is worth mentioning any time the bridge is mentioned, in much the same way we refer to Humason being rebuilt by Engineering Core.

[Stephen Piwowarski]

I've made a small wording edit in the post to accommodate Joe's request. It doesn't change the content, but it does add that point of clarification.

Steve

[Alex Harvilchuck]

There are 12 parts to the story, it's not a stand alone post. Today was an intro to the whole concept of the story.

Trust me, there's lots of good credit throughout for everyone helping the Museum, but please, let the story unfold. Don't be the person who jumps to the back of the book.

I will tip my hand with the episode titles so everyone can see what is ahead...

1.   Mr. Howe and his Truss Bridges
2.   Not all Covered Bridges are Fully Covered
3.   The Tale of Mason’s Wreck
4.   B&M Railroad Builds a Bridge
5.   Weak, Wobbly & Frail
6.   Trail of the Presidents
7.   One Man’s Vision of Restoration
8.   Burning Your Bridges
9.   Head Tide or Bust!
10.   Phoenix from the Ashes?
11.   Westward Ho! …Without the Duke
12.   Return of the Bridge 

[Joe Fox]

Not jumping to the back of the book, just trying to make sure credit is given where credit is due as we have already been mentioned for this very thing once already. If it were to happen a second time our gracious donor may think otherwise of our wonderfull organization because of a few minor overlooks. It is key, when a key contributer donates, to make sure they understand fully how appreciative we are of the donation, and get mentioned any time the item is mentioned. Especially in this scenario where without them, we would not have a bridge.

[Alex Harvilchuck]

To fully enjoy the story you need to look across the Museum's presence across Social Media: read the Facebook post, look at the pictures on Instagram and read the Tweets on Twitter.  It is an integrated Social Media marketing campaign.

A lot of effort has been put in by a bunch of people to try something new and modern. What we need is everyone to spread the word through Social Media and have everyone read and contribute to the campaign! We are trying to reach out to people who the Museum normally does not reach.

Even the "big boys of narrow gauge" - C&T, D&S or Tweetsie aren't doing integrated, cross-platform social media campaigns like this. Extra special thanks to the BoD for agreeing to the proposal.

Like Ed said, we thank our partners profusely in each and every episode. They feature highly in the latter episodes.

[Alex Harvilchuck]

On a lighter note, the first episode was originally titled "Mr. Howe and his Truss", but that didn't come out very well when read a second time....   

The story tries to be entertaining to read, with Trout Brook-sized cliff hangers (i.e. small) at the end of each episode. Think of it like an episodic Flash Gordon serial on Facebook coupled with Twitter-based Burma Shave signs. Alas, Ming the Merciless is not included... but we do have an unknown pyromaniac as a convenient villain....   

[Alex Harvilchuck]

Here's the footer text on each of the 12 episodes:

The Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington (WW&F) Railway Museum "Narrow Bridge Ahead!" Campaign (https://fundrazr.com/NarrowBridgeAhead) is asking for $50,000 in donations by 31 December 2017 for site preparation and erection of "Moose Brook" bridge to carry the Museum's reconstruction of the two foot, narrow gauge WW&F Railway across Trout Brook in Alna, Maine. The bridge, originally constructed near Gorham, New Hampshire (NH) in 1918 on the Berlin Branch of the Boston & Maine Railroad, is a historically-significant example of a Howe Boxed Pony Truss bridge, one of only five surviving examples of such a design. This effort is being performed in conjunction with the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges and the National Park Service, Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) program.

[John McNamara]

Don't forget us old fogies in the printed media. A two-page spread on the bridge appears in the September/October WW&F Newsletter, now available to members in the Newsletters section of this forum, and eventually to be in your US Mail box.

[Bob Holmes]

When I was a child and our family was driving across the US from Denver to points east (Ohio, Delaware, etc.) on single lane roads in Iowa, the Burma Shave signs were the most eagerly anticipated sights in an otherwise boring slow drive.  We even memorized a lot of them!

[Bob Holmes]

Alex, might I suggest you change the footer slightly as follows:

...in conjunction with (and with generous support from) the National...

[Ira Schreiber]

Train wrecks few
Reason is clear
Fireman never hugs
The engineer
Buy Burma Shave