September 29th Fall Festival and Evening Train

[Stephen Piwowarski]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to compliment everyone on a really wonderful Fall Festival and Evening Train this year. Everybody pulled together and made some really nice magic happen for our visitors. I thought it would be nice to share some of the comments on the day from Facebook here to highlight how much people appreciate what we are doing. I don't have any photos, but I'm sure someone does, and maybe they could post them here. Both events were incredibly well attended, with the day totaling over 350 riders. Thanks to all who made it happen.

Here are the comments:
"We went to the fall festival today and it was fantastic! My son loved the ride, the conductor and all the friendly staff. What a gem! If you haven’t been go!"
-Samantha De Garmo

"Great experience for the whole family"
-Leah Isaacson

"Tonight we had an amazing time with amazing people. Thank you for making your moonlight event so special to our family. ??"
-Cheryl Partridge

"We were so impressed with our recent visit to your museum for the sunset train ride with general store history presentation. Can’t wait to return with grandkids next year. Volunteer staff so pleasant and knowledgeable even the youngest members."
-Brian-Candice Carrier

"Can we set another date..." -Sherry Beck-Poland

And set another date we shall- we are looking at doing an additional night train with narrow gauge theory as the focus of the talk. More information to follow in another post.

[Alex Harvilchuck]

We need them to put their comments into geosocial media like Yelp and Trip Advisor.......

[Ed Lecuyer]

When I am Conductor (as I was at Fall Festival and Evening Moonlight), during the ride segment from Alna Center to Sheepscot, I always invite all passengers...

"If you like what we do at the WW&F, please like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter and other social media platforms. And, please, write nice things about us on the Internet on places like Yelp and TripAdvisor. This is how YOU can share the story of the treasure of a railroad we have in the Sheepscot Valley, help us to rebuild Maine history, and keep alive the railroad with Big Dreams and Little Wheels."

(I use "Big Dreams and Little Wheels" as a tag line during my standard history talks during the trip and TOM layover. Sometimes I will also reference to keep alive the dream of the little boy or girl inside of us - calling back to the story of Harry, etc.)

I know that we have gotten more than a few reviews thanks to this personal invitation.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

As of today the number of people following our Facebook page is 5,849

[Ed Lecuyer]

As of today the number of people following our Facebook page is 5,849

Now at 5,870 ... but who's counting?

Note that this is up from 4500 on July 24, 2017. In just over a year we've added over 1300 new followers! Congratulations to Stewart, Cindy and the rest of the Facebook/Social Media/Marketing team. I think the success of the Moonlight train, Fall Festival, and other events are directly tied to these efforts.