As i posted earlier the Wiscasset Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum just finished restoring an 1880 vintage Allan Portable Pneumatic Riveter. The riveter was donated to the museum by Jim Heuber of Mack Brothers Boiler and Sheet Iron Works of Syracuse, New York. Mack Brother's was the original purchaser of the riveter. The museum used the riveter on Monday 5/16/16 for the first time to rivet locomotive number 9's original smokebox and boiler back together for display purposes. The riveter will be used to build a new boiler for locomotive number 10 and a boiler for new build locomotive 11. The museum is currently conducting a capital campaign to fund the two new boilers. Please see the links below.

http://wwfry.org/?page_id=1119

https://fundrazr.com/21campaign

Youtube link below of the riveter in action. This was the shop's first practical use of the riveter. The valve packing in the hammer was a little stiff when we started but by the time we were done the hammer was working without manual assistance. Everyone who was present and who had previous riveting experience with hand held air hammers commented how nice and easy it was to use this riveter over the handheld hammers.

https://youtu.be/-X64d06D1Wc

[quote="b. barry"

https://fundrazr.com/21campaign

https://youtu.be/-X64d06D1Wc

[/quote]

That's amazing. I would guess factories that mass produced steam locomotive boilers such as Baldwin, etc. used riveting devices like this one right up until the end, right?

In later years, the pneumatic riveting machines were replaced by hydraulic devices with enough power to fully drive a rivet in one squeeze with little or no noise.

Hi Everyone,

First, a bit of exciting news to share- we are just shy of one month into our campaign to raise money for new boilers for Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railway locomotives 10 and 11 and we have raised nearly 20% of the amount required to construct the #10's boiler! In fact, as of this moment we are only $1,290.00 away from the 20% mark. Can you help us close this gap?

Tonight on the 21 Campaign Facebook page, we have posted a complete cost breakdown for the construction of #10's boiler. Check it out at: http://www.facebook.com/wwandf21campaign.

We have already restored our two riveters to operation, designed a flanging machine for flanging boiler sheet, and completed the majority of boiler design. We have also raised enough to pay for the flangers construction! Once we raise the additional 1,290.00 the engineering approvals will be funded as well.

Donations can be made at: http://www.fundrazr.com/21campaign. There are many 'perks' here that will be of interest to you, but any contribution will be appreciated and put to good use!

Thank you all for your support in returning WW&F #10 to steam and building a boiler for #11, our reconstruction of WW&F #7.

Sincerely,
Stephen Piwowarski

As of tonight we are just THREE DOLLARS away from hitting the $15,000 mark in the WW&F 21 Campaign.

We're excited about building historically informed boilers for WW&F #10 and #11. Can you help us tonight? A contribution in any amount would be enormously helpful and our record of success indicates it will be well spent. Perhaps you've been thinking our project sounds interesting. Now is a great time to help!
Donate at http://www.fundrazr.com/21campaign or by mail at:
WW&F Railway Museum
21 Campaign
PO Box 242
Alna, ME 04535

Learn more at: http://www.facebook.com/wwandf21campaign

To B. Barry,

Thank you so much for posting the photos and video link. What a wonderful old machine! And what a nice job it does! The rotator mechanism is an interesting feature.

Sincerely,

Randy

Hello All,

As of September 1st the 21 Campaign has raised a total of $24,372 for the construction of new boilers for locomotives 10 and 11. As you can see, we are incredibly close to raising $25,000. Equally incredibly, this amount has been raised by just 88 individual donors.

We have finished the restoration of our two riveting machines and have nearly completed the construction of a boiler sheet flanging machine. Boiler designs for locomotive 10 and locomotive 11 have been completed. The ASME acceptance process for the boiler designs is scheduled to begin on September 22.
More updates and photos can be viewed at http://www.facebook.com/wwandf21campaign.

It is important that we have enough financial resources in hand to purchase raw materials for No. 10's boiler. You can help by donating at either http://www.fundrazr.com/21campaign or by mail at:
WW&F Railway Museum
21 Campaign
PO Box 242
Alna, ME 04535

Thanks,
Stephen Piwowarski

Significant news today regarding fundraising for the WW&F 21 Campaign:

"The Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railway Museum is pleased to announce a significant donation to the Museum’s 21 Campaign by the estate of Dave MacDonald. The $18,000 bequest will be applied to the construction of boilers for locomotives 10 & 11.

Dave was a lifelong resident of Weymouth, Massachusetts where he owned South Shore Hobby. In addition, he was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and life member of the South Shore Model Railway Club in Hingham, Massachusetts. He passed away on June 9th of 2015.

Dave had a keen interest in Maine’s narrow gauge railways and was an enthusiastic supporter of the WW&F. He was a life member of the WW&F, having been a member since 1998. Dave was also an active volunteer with the museum. According to his sister "He took delight in being a part of the Museum' s progress. In particular he enjoyed coming up for work weekends when he loved to sleep in one of the boxcars." Thus, it is fitting that Dave's contribution will help to ensure the museum's progress going forward."

You can learn more at http://www.facebook.com/wwandf21campaign.
Donations can be made online at http://www.fundrazr.com/21campaign.

In case anyone is wondering, the $18,000 bequest brings us to a total of $43,515 for the 21 Campaign.

Your help in the next several steps is crucial to the success of the campaign, which aims to build a new boiler for WW&F locomotive No. 10 and a new boiler for WW&F No. 11, a new-build reconstruction of WW&F No. 7, an 1907 Baldwin 2-4-4T.

If we reach $50,000 in contributions in the next month or so we will be able to order materials for both No. 10 and No. 11's boiler at the same time, which will save us considerable costs by buying in bulk.

We need to raise $6,500 to make this possible. You can donate online at http://www.fundrazr.com/21campaign. If you'd prefer to donate by mail, you can send checks to:
WW&F Railway Museum
21 Campaign
PO Box 242
Alna, ME 04535

Thanks,
Stephen Piwowarski
WW&F Railway Museum

Just in case anyone was wondering, the Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railway Museum is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, which means your donations are tax deductible.

Tonight at 5:30PM EST there will be some very exciting news posted on the 21 Campaign's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/wwandf21campaign). It will be posted here later this evening. Make sure to check it out!

Stephen Piwowarski

I have donated previously to the project so i received the news in an email, the WW&F Ry. Museum has purchased the steel plate for BOTH boilers, the replacement for #10's Edaville-built boiler and also for new-build #11, a replica of original WW&F Ry. #7. #7 was by accounts the most popular engine with crews back in the day. I believe that they have about half the patterns already completed for #11.

Very impressive.

PMC, thanks for the kind words and news regarding the museum. We will indeed be purchasing the boilerplate for both boilers. This means that within the year we could see the very first boiler built for a recreation of a 20th century steam locomotive in the U.S. Naturally, the support of many will make its construction possible.

Yet again we have exciting news regarding boiler construction. The details are below! Meanwhile, our fundraising efforts are progressing steadily with $46,756 in the bank. Donate at http://www.fundrazr.com/21campaign and help to ensure we have money on hand for the work ahead of us!

On September 22 our Master Mechanic Jason Lamontagne met with representatives from Boothbay Railway Village and the ASME inspector to review designs for the boilers for No. 10 and No. 11. Both designs were accepted paving the way for Boothbay's construction of the boilers!

Yesterday, September 26, Jason met with representatives from Mack Brothers Boiler and Sheet Iron Works in Syracuse, NY. Mack Brothers will be rolling the plate for both boilers. Now, nearly everything is in place to begin the construction of boilers for No. 10 and 11.

Your contribution today will ensure that Boothbay can begin assembly of No. 11's boiler as soon as No. 10's is complete! With 154 contributions of $21.00 each we will reach the $50,000 mark! If you have yet to donate we need your help now more than ever! Contribute at http://www.fundrazr.com/21campaign or by mail at:
WW&F Railway Museum
21 Campaign
PO Box 242
Alna, ME 04535

This is a great observation. Through advertising materials from Allen Co. (manufacturer of the riveter) we learned that Portland Company (builder of our #9 and 627 other steam locomotives) owned several of these riveters.

Thus, he we are re-riveting #9's smokebox to its original boiler using the same machine that was likely used for the job over 100 years ago.

Sometimes the way history repeats itself can put a smile on your face.

Steve Piwowarski

Part of the reason the WW&F RY museum attracts such an interested group of members out on the periphery far away from Maine sometimes (myself included) is that the core group (of which you are one) that actually does the planning and work is so organized, and has such a wide variety of skills, that when you say you are going to do something you do it.