Reviews, Thank You's, and Messages of Encouragement

[Ed Lecuyer]

Feedback left 5/18:
"Very fun! We’ll be back!"

[James Patten]

From visitor Don Plotkin:

Now that I'm back from my travels, just wanted to again thank you and your staff, and especially the engine crews, for the fine day I had there on Sat. June 8 - even arranging to have ideal weather that day.

As it turned out, I didn't have enough time to go see your new bridge, but I hope to do that on a future visit.

Please relay my appreciation to the rest of the group.

[Ed Lecuyer]

Feedback left 7/7/19:
WWF RR is a wonderful piece of history, educational for all ages, with a volunteer staff who whole-heartedly give of themselves to maintain and share the joy of maintaining this Maine treasure.

[Ed Lecuyer]

Feedback left over the various days when Steam and Sleighs were held:

• Great place
• Very cold sunny day. Wonderful Steam & Sleigh trip! Hot chocolate, sun sparklig on snow, and friendly Belgian horses. What could beat that??
• a great place to have fun!! Relax and enjoy.
• Maine history, excellent collection, and affordable.
• We love visting WW&FR when ever we can. they always have something NEW to see or experience.
• Nice job and what incredible vision and project you've all undertaken and succeeded with!
• Something magical.
• Really cold but a good time nonetheless. Looking forward to our next visit...in warmer weather
• Had very enjoyable experience,, i recommend it and would do it again.
• That day was awesome by the way!
• A beautiful day for a train ride to a sleigh ride.
• This was a magical day. Our company was from Argentina so watching the little 5yr old experience the activities was the best.
• We had the best time today, thank you. We can’t wait to return for a future event!
• Thank you for a fun day on Sat(the 25th). My husband and I really enjoyed our first visit. It won't be our last!!
• We had a great time there today. Our first visit and we will be back. We met a number of very interesting people there including somebody that graduated from my same high school in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. I had met her 2 years ago. It is a small world!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who pulled together over the 4 days (one day was "steam only") and dealt with the cold, shifting schedules, the weather, the prep work, the cold, the ticket sales, the weather, hosting nearly 1000 passengers, and of course the cold.

[Stephen Piwowarski]

I'd like to piggyback on Ed's the comments Ed shared below. Everyone, from Steam & Saws volunteers, to train crew, to SeaLyon Farm crew did a magnificent job of hosting our guests of the course of January and February. Lots of hard work went into making it happen, not the least of which was the weekday crew working hard to keep the line open between storms.

We also had several 'sometimes' volunteers join us with greater frequency during the events, and the word on the street is they had a great time and will be back for more.

Here are a few brief observations of what made the event a success:
*Lots of good media attention on Facebook- one keen observer noted that nearly all interest in the event was derived from people who learned about it on Facebook.
*We learned from Saturday and made tweaks and improvements for a better experience on Sunday.
*Conductors briefed crews at the beginning of each day and again if the plan changed or needed talking through.
*The few complaints we had (2) were promptly addressed and dealt with quickly and thoughtfully.
*Plans are already afoot to discuss how the event could be improved from our experience this year.

Thanks for doing what it took to make the magic happen. Going by what I've read, you all made a lot of people very happy.

[Ed Lecuyer]

5-star Google Review from 2020 Annual Picnic:
An amazing chance to experience a time gone by. The Maine "two-footers" are a unique piece of America's railroading past. It is amazing that there is a group of volunteers who are putting so much effort into presenting it to those who are interested. I had a great visit here, and would absolutely recommend a visit and ride through history.

5-star Google Review for a "Handcar Hop":
We were lucky to be on the maiden handcar tour today!! What a fantastic experience. Our knowledgeable guide Ed, regaled us enthusiastically with tales of the Maine narrow gauge railway as we pumped the handcar through the woods, over streams and up the hills. It was an exhilarating experience.

Private email received:
My grandson Eric  had a great time and so I had a great time too.  Please tell the young woman who organised the egg hunt including
using her own money to finance the golden eggs that we really appreciated what she did, including even helping Eric to find a gold egg
for his doddering grandfather.

[Ed Lecuyer]

"This is awesome!"

Here's a video that a family who booked a Winter Caboose Adventure on Saturday 1/30/2021 did of their trip.
It offers a great perspective from our passenger's eyes.
https://youtu.be/YAesaQ-5znc

[John McNamara]

Fantastic! I'm amazed at the smoothness of the ride (unless the camera had a stabilization system). I gather Brian's caboose now has a gas furnace (such luxury). it looks like a Monitor heater, but the venting is different (no air input).

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Wonderful!  Love the enjoyment expressed in this video. 

Congratulations to Ed for conceiving and executing this idea.  While he certainly had help from Steve and others, the completeness of this package- concept, brand, detail (personalized sign on the door, anyone?)- is pure Ed, who can make a train ride more than just a train ride. 

See ya
Jason

[Bill Baskerville]

How wonderful to share a families fun trip on our railroad.  Well done to Ed for the program and all the volunteers who made it happen.  This is just one more example of how the WW&F and it's great crew of volunteers makes things happen!

[Mike Fox]

It is always great to see people like these. I am guessing it was their first time. And the saw noise in the background at TOM was perfect..music to Freds ears.

[Gordon Cook]

Perfect, just perfect. Excellent idea to make the most out of this crazy time.
Hey, don't we have two cabeese?

[Jeff Schumaker]

I see one brave soul rode in the open car to TOM.

I also heard one of the party say she wants to come back for pumpkin picking.

Jeff S.

[Bill Piche]

I see one brave soul rode in the open car to TOM.

That looks like Brakeman Dan in his WW&F MOW sweatshirt. Good place to be since the open air car has been "reserved" for volunteers and he can get to two brake wheels from there.

[Wayne Laepple]

I hope these folks will consent to our use of a clip from their fun video for advertising. You can't buy this kind of publicity.