WW&F boiler fund-raiser update

The Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum's crowd-funding effort to raise $130,000 for new boilers for two steam locomotives has hit the 75 percent mark, a few months shy of two years since it began. The "21 Campaign" on the fundrazr.com web site stands at $97,065 as of January 1, 2018.

Since the campaign began in May 2016, over 360 people have contributed, including a number of recurring monthly donors. The campaign does not have a closing date, but will continue until the $130,000 goal is reached. At the current rate of contributions, that should happen in mid-2018. Donations are cheerfully accepted at [fundrazr.com]

While the campaign continues toward its goal, the project has continued to move ahead. The museum has purchased boiler plate, rivets and other materials needed to construct boilers, rolled both boiler shells and fireboxes and has entered into a contract with Boothbay Railway Museum for specific services. In addition, museum volunteers built a hydraulic flanging machine to form critical parts for the new boilers and restored an 1880's-vintage Allen deep-throat riveter to assemble the components of the boilers.

The first boiler will be for WW&F No. 10, a small Vulcan 0-4-4 built in 1904. No. 10 was the museum's first operating steam locomotive, purchased from the Edaville Railroad in 1999. It needed a new boiler after an inspection in 2015 revealed multiple serious defects. The new boiler will be slightly larger than the 1958-built one it replaces, giving the locomotive greater steaming capacity more suited to the profile of the original WW&F Railway.

The second boiler is part of a more ambitious project, the construction of a replica of WW&F No. 7, a Baldwin 2-4-4 Forney of 1907. The locomotive, to be No. 11, will be new from the ground up. Already, some funds have been donated for this locomotive, a few new parts have been cast, and volunteers continue to make patterns for castings. Work on this second boiler will begin after No. 10's boiler has been completed and the locomotive is returned to service.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2018 01:59PM by Wayne Laepple.