After 125 years on the road, Neptune No. 3 is coming back home.

Built in 1883 by Button & Son of Waterford, Neptune No. 3 is a hand-pumping, fire-fighting machine from the Victorian era, one of many 19th century fire engines that will be on display this weekend at the sixth annual Waterford Heritage Day. It is owned by the B.F. Hoxie Engine Company No. 1 of Mystic, Conn., and these days goes by the name of the T.W. Lane.

“The hand pumper days were on the wane in 1883 — so ours is one of the last ones produced,” said B.F. Hoxie fire chief Fritz Hilbert. “They were already building steamers well before that, and even smaller communities began using them around then because everyone was realizing the advantage of steam power.”

The T.W. Lane is one of about 20 antique engines that will be on display Friday night and Saturday throughout the day, and one of a dozen or so that will participate in a muster competition at noon at Garrett Field. The event is a part of the New England States Veteran Fireman’s League, a series of contests held throughout New England and New York each summer.

“When the steam pumpers first started being used, the firemen realized they loved their old hand pumpers and didn’t want to give up on them,” said Hilbert. “So we’ve had this handtub league that has been in continuous existence since the 1890s, with the exception of a few war years, and it’s become a great tradition.”

The league does dispense some prize money to the winners of its events, but it’s the love of the engines that keeps the tradition strong.

“We take the competition seriously, but over the years we’ve all become friends, and it’s really more about the camaraderie and the history of fire departments and their engines,” said Hilbert. “This league was so popular that they started producing hand pumpers just for the competition. So eventually they ruled that any machine built after 1895 was not eligible.”

The winner of the competition is the engine that produces the longest stream of water.

“There’s a little bit of skill involved, particularly from the man handling the nozzle, but it’s mostly luck because you’re at the mercy of the wind,” said Hilbert. “We’ll have between a dozen and 20 people doing the pumping, and we actually allow and encourage spectator assistance. The learning curve is relatively flat. You have to have brains and brawn, but more brawn than brains.”

‘Our pride and joy’

In Stillwater, chief Shane Mahar and his crew at the Newland-Wood Fire Company don’t have a hand pumper, but they do have a steam version built at the Button factory in Waterford in 1871. It obviously doesn’t qualify for Saturday’s competition, but it, too, will be on display in Waterford this weekend,

“We just call it the steamer, and it really is our pride and joy,” said Mahar. “It reminds us of our roots, and it’s a symbol of days gone by. It’s all about what the fire company was about 100 years ago, and it really helps us keep that history and heritage alive.”

Stillwater’s steamer hasn’t actually flowed water since the 1950s, and the machine was falling into disrepair before the fire company received a $25,000 grant to restore it in 2000. With $25,000 more coming in in donations, the machine was saved.

“They had taken it apart and put it — in pieces in boxes — in an old garage because they didn’t have room for it,” said Mahar. “We almost lost it way back in 1896 when the fire house caught fire. So we feel great about having it today and seeing it restored to its present-day beauty. It cost just shy of $50,000, and we would have needed another $50,000 if we wanted to actually flow water through it. So it’s just a display model, but we love showing it off. It’s a wonderful link to our history, and tells us how the fire service has evolved — from the bucket brigade, to hand pumpers and steamers, and to today’s modern machines.”

The Waterford Heritage Day is a joint effort of the Waterford Historical Museum and Cultural Center, situated at 2 Museum Lane just off Route 32, and the town and village of Waterford. The weekend’s activities will include a fireworks display and a concert with Kevin and Katie McKrell at 7 p.m. Friday, sponsored by the Waterford Public Library. A parade at 10 a.m. will kick off Saturday’s festivities.

Brad Utter, executive director at the Waterford Historical Museum and Cultural Center, said that Waterford’s Heritage Day will continue to have a theme focusing on antique fire engines.

“It’s tough to re-invent something every year, which we tried to do the first two years, but now we have a model that has worked very well the last three years,” said Utter. “The engines are very popular and the Button Fire Engine Company is a huge part of Waterford’s history.”

Button’s history

Lysander Button had been a machinist working at a small fire engine shop in Waterford when in 1834 he purchased controlling interests in the firm and eventually owned the entire business. Originally situated on King’s Canal in the village, the Button Fire Engine Works moved in 1850 to a factory on Third Street along the fourth branch of the Mohawk River.

“It employed hundreds of people from the community, and in 1891 the Button family sold out to a larger manufacturer,” said Utter. “There were other mergers, and today the American Le France company in Virginia claims its lineage back to Button.”

Utter has written a booklet on the history of the Button Fire Engine Works, and an exhibit focusing on that history is currently on display at the Waterford Museum. The building is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m., and Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“Button had numerous inventions, and he made a number of improvements to the hand pumpers and the steam engines,” said Utter. “Not all the fire engines here over the weekend will be Buttons, but many of them will be. He sold his fire engines to communities from all over the country.”

The Neptune No. 3, which still bears the Button serial number 688, was sold and delivered in 1883 to Greenville, S.C. In 1903, the East Manchester, N.H., fire department bought the machine and changed the name to T.W. Lane in honor of former fire chief Thomas W. Lane.

By that time it was being used strictly for competitions. In 1920, the engine was sold to Waltham, Mass., and in 1922 to Troy, N.H.

Then B.X. Hoxie came along and purchased the machine in 1967 and ever since has been one of the most prolific pumpers in the New England Muster League, once breaking its own record with a stream of 280 feet.

“It was sitting in someone’s barn when we bought it and fixed it up a little bit,” said Hilbert. “It’s mostly wood with wooden wheels and a wooden water box. There’s some red to it, but most of the parts are shiny brass and painted steel. It’s quite an attractive machine, a real eye catcher.”