Please review and consider making a donation to New England Steam's campaign to purchase, move, and restore, Maine Central 470. NESCO is presently 80% of the way towards the purchase price. Each donation goes towards the purchase or moving of the locomotive to complete Phase 1.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rebui ... /x/5487183

It's neat to see a campaign like this. I took part in a CrowdTilt fundraiser that never "tilted" so I didn't need to pay my pledge. However, I know some Kickstarters that have been very successful.

Just as a side note, I saw they had raised $4 of the $100,000 needed. I hope this is a test pledge, and that no one is willing to give only $4 to the project. :)
Dig deeper folks.

I think you are going ot be seeing more of these type of things happening in the near future.

The campaign site looks, professional and is well thought out, including the "premiums" for higher donations. It looks like a very professional approach is being taken.

Other organizations, take note!

Per private request, here is a sample copy of the original pencil sketch, print on the Indiegogo site. This is a one time printing of fifty copies, signed and numbered by railroad artist Richard Symmes. The original is in the archives of New England Steam Corporation. The image is appearing on note cards and other small items, but will not be reproduced as a signed print again.
The image is of 470 awaiting departure from Bangor Union Station, June 13, 1954, on her last service run for Maine Central.

Fellow preservationists: May I make a plea that your club, museum, affiliation, and teenage daughters please post this Indiegogo link on their social media? We need it to go "viral", and the best way is to get it posted to as many recipients as possible.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rebui ... /x/5341817

Your support is always appreciated and brings us closer to a small miracle in locomotive restoration.

Thanks, everyone!

Folks, after getting off to a great start, this campaign has bogged down rather dramatically. May I make a personal request that if your preservation group or museum has an electronic newsletter or "hotline" to get out news flashes, please consider posting our link:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rebu ... /x/5341817 .

There are some really good perks and incentives in this campaign, and if your vacation plans include Maine, it would be a shame to see them go unused.

BTW, this campaign will not make or break our project, but it will help move us along towards completion of Phase 1, the purchase and moving of 470.

Richard,

I believe your cause is a worthy one. But in my humble opionion you guys going at it the wrong way. I spend my time fixing businesses that "go the wrong way" and I see you guys (and nearly every other tourist operation and steam rebuild) doing the same.

Most groups focus on the what or how you are going to do it. Society (Donors) really doesn't care how or what you are going to do. They care about WHY! If you focus on that you will succeed. Get people to buy in and fundraising will be easy. There are sadly very few tourist operations that do this well. (Strasburg is the only one that comes to mind right off hand, I am sure there are others)

Before everyone starts questioning my thought process I suggest you to take 15 minutes and watch this video and keep an open mind. It doesn't matter what business you are in, this applies to you as a leader. https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

I watch this once a month to remind myself it is the Why that is important. Don't loose sight of that. This goes out to anyone running a tourist line or trying to restore old number 1234.

IMHO
Jason Johnson

Jason, I appreciate your candor on the subject. I think we may have to agree to disagree, but I will review the link you've cited. In the meeantime, I'd sincerely appreciate circulating the URL to help us get the locomotive purchased and moved.

Richard,

I am rooting for you guys and anyone else out there trying to bring these Iron Horses back. I have worked on 7 steam restorations from start to finish and know what goes into it.

I have yet to see any crowdfunding campaign work for a steam restoration. The truth is the money is out there. Just look at some of the Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns. Most if not all of the successfully funded campaigns are selling the WHY. You can't force a campaign to go viral by sharing a web address and get funded, it will only do it if people believe in message. Change the message to something people can get behind and funding will flow. (I am not saying your message is bad, it may need tweaked if you are not getting results, that is marketing 101)

I hope you guys can get the funding together and make this happen. Your project can be a model for many others out there. I am rooting for you guys!

~Jason

Jason: We have numerous support funding avenues in the works, and crowd-funding is something we wished to try as it is new to us (most of us are not from the smart-phone age) and something we felt should not be ignored. You're absolutely right, we are a model for the rest of the groups that have undertaken an effort to preserve some neglected locomotive, we are keenly aware of it! We do appreciate your support for our project. I would suggest interested parties check out our website (newenglandsteam.org) to get the latest on our funding level. Phase 1 is moving along quite well, but everyone who wants to see us succeed can assist by sharing the information and promoting the mission.


Potentiae vobiscum!

I just finished watching the TED speech that Jason referenced. He is absolutely right in that any project, and there are many steam engine restoration funds (I am heavily involved in one of them) needs more than just a funding source. To the average person out there, steam locomotives are noisy, dangerous, dirty machines. Selling a restoration by a number is not going to open anyone's wallet.

We each need to find the "soul" of our project, or else it is a stillborn affair.

Neither Jason nor I can tell you what your soul is, but I hope we each find one. I like the line that the speaker makes that Dr. King would not have attracted so many people if he titled his speech, "I have a plan." Most of us get caught up in the details of a steam locomotive that we miss the "idea," the "dream" behind it.

Let's get out there and dream a bit. Just don't get lost in your dream.

I must agree with what Jason and Tim have been saying about selling your project. Perhaps the most overlooked yet most tangible angle to sell the general public is the human aspect of railroading. It seems those of us on the inside of preservation get so wrapped up in the mechanics of something and seeing the object come back to life. Yet we forget that to the average person, even with a passing interest in railways, it is just another train.

We always talk about how steam can be a living link to the past and sure, in some ways it is. But what is that past? Without people, nothing happened. There are plenty of folks who have family that have worked in railroading for generations and that is their connection. The human element in railway preservation is so often overlooked. Yet when I've been to museums or tourist railroads all over the country and get the chance to chat with common everyday visitors the often reoccurring pattern is hearing tales of how their fathers or grandfathers worked for such and such railroad. So how do we blend our current projects with the human interest theme to help tell the story that captivates the general public? Sadly, its too late in most cases for an oral history angle on a steam restoration.

One organization who used this approach rather well in crowd funding campaigns was the Erie Lackawanna Dining Car group. They were able to tie in the lives of the men who worked in the kitchens and on the sleepers to bring that tangible human element that is otherwise lacking when trying to sell people on helping to save cold lifeless iron objects.

I am sorry if this is coming off preachy but I too have watched time and time again where groups have tried for crowd funding only to be disappointed after donations fall off one week into the project. After all of the rail buffs have emptied their wallets and you're left trying to reach out to people who don't quite understand the reasons for the project you must find that unique angle that gets the general public to relate themselves to what it is we are trying to do.

Kevin O

Some months ago I challenged the readers here to post reasons why what we do is important and deserving of the support of the general public. I got two responses - and the second reflected much of the first. If we don't know why our projects are important, how can we convince people who aren't warped the way we are that they are?

If there isn't enough structure in the approach in the TED presentation, you might think about writing the story you are going to tell with your project as if it were a script or a novel. If there's no story, you need to find one fast.

dave

Ok, So I watched the TED video and I get it, Richard (and we) need to tell people the "why" we are doing it, get them emotionally attracted to the cause, right?

Now I'm asking, Richard might say in some ad or promotion:
"I have a passion for a living, breathing machine that my grandfather used to build our communities and our way of life in the 20th century. A machine that his grandfather designed and built from the raw elements in our ground. A magnificent collection of steel and iron, that breathe fire and vapor, and work together in a majestic symphony of power. My dream is to revive this iron horse, engine 470, to live again, as she was always built to do! Come and join me this spectacular dream!"

Is that it, is that the Why? Is it that we just have to articulate why each one of us stops to admire a steam locomotive thunder by, or as its waiting to take the next block?