News
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Merging Technologies Ovation Media Server get’s a head of steam
Portland Maine April 1st: The Merging Technologies Ovation Media Server and Sequencer has found a home in many diverse locations but this is one of the more unexpected to date. A narrow gauge railway in Portland, Maine would usually celebrate technology of the past but in this case, Ovation helps to illustrate the history of the areas former railroad network.
Founded in 1992, the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum is a non-profit educational organization with 100+ volunteers who educate the public, operate trains, restore historic equipment and curate museum exhibits related to Maine’s two-foot narrow gauge railroad history. The organization’s mission is to both educate the public and preserve historic equipment related to the state’s two-foot gauge railways, which served as an important part of the economic development of the interior of Maine from 1870s–1940s. The museum has become an important visitor attraction for the greater Portland area drawing over 25,000 visitors on an annual basis, including tourists and area residents, to experience this remarkable piece of history, unique to the state of Maine.
In 2011 the museum began a project to improve its educational mission. A grant from the Maine Humanities Council helped fund an exhibit that would explain to visitors what a narrow gauge railroad is; why five narrow gauge lines were built in Maine and how those five lines impacted life. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a 6’ x 4.5’ map of Maine showing all the standard and narrow gauge railroads in operation in 1908. Fraser Jones of Independent Audio suggested using Ovation software for an interactive feature to illuminate the narrow gauge lines on the map and to have a brief audio clip for each line. “The Ovation part of the exhibit has been a huge success.” says Nancy Hall, project coordinator for the exhibit. “There are always people gathered at the map to find the railroads and listen to the audios which end with ‘All aboard!’ In fact, we had to lower the volume on the audio. The quality is so good that visitors in other sections of the museum will often think they are being called to board our train.”
Fraser Jones remarked: “All boys love a train set and this is a bit of a passion of mine so when Nancy asked for some help, it just struck us how easy this would be to do with Ovation. We have made some significant sales into broadcast and theme parks but it is easy to forget that this is a cost effective solution for the smaller museum and attraction.”
