WW&F boiler project

The WW&F Railway Museum in Maine this week reached the halfway point in its crowd-funding effort to raise $130,000 to build new boilers for two locomotives. With about $66,000 in donations available, the steel for both boilers was ordered, and in fact, the plates had holes for rivets, flues, etc. water-jet cut in December, and in early January, the plates will be rolled to form the boiler barrels. Buying and cutting the steel for both boilers provided economies, saving money since multiple parts could be produced from the same sheets with less wasted material.

Museum volunteers have nearly completed construction of a flanging machine patterned after the Beatty Hydraulic Flanger, which was patented in the late 1930's. Dies have been produced to form the flue sheets and firebox throat sheets for the first boiler, a replacement for WW&F No. 10's boiler. Assembling this boiler will proceed as soon as possible, with the goal of returning No. 10 to service by the end of 2017. WW&F volunteers will do much of the assembly work, with assistance from the certified boilermakers at the nearby Boothbay Railway Village. The museum's Allen deep-throat riveter will be utilized extensively.

The second boiler will be built for No. 11, a brand new locomotive that will be a reproduction of WW&F No. 7, a 1907 Baldwin 2-4-4 Forney. The boiler will be the first major component of the locomotive to be produced, although a number of patterns for new parts, and even a few smaller components, have been produced.

Fund-raising will continue apace, so that as soon as No. 10 is back in service, volunteers can transition to building No. 11's boiler in 2018. For more information, go to www.wwfry.org and click on the link to the 21 Campaign, or go to www.fundrazr.com/21campaign.

Photo is the flanging machine