Mystic ― The Mystic-based T.W. Lane, an 1883 hand-pumped fire engine, recently won a 2024 championship from the New England States Veteran Fireman’s League.

The engine participated in seven musters this summer across New England, including in Mystic, said Jack Hilbert, mechanic with the T.W. Lane Muster Crew. Antique fire engines compete against each other, with crews pumping the fire engines to see how far they can shoot water. The winner of the competition is based on the average of the engine’s best three streams.

The T.W. Lane had an average stream of 221 feet, Jack Hilbert said.

“It’s the most physically exerting thing you can do out there that exists,” said Joey Hilbert, who is Jack Hilbert’s son, about competing. “The camaraderie is amazing.”

Tommy Bibeau, a volunteer, said it’s cool to touch a piece of history and use something that was once used to put out fires.

“It’s just fun,” added Arnold Bellamy, a crew member whose first muster was in 1976.

The New England States Veteran Fireman’s League was formed in 1890 to “encourage and perpetuate the oldest sport in the Country, assist outside interests in the promotion of Musters and serve as arbitrator in settling the questions,” according to the league’s website. New London was a charter member, said Jack Hilbert.

The T.W. Lane, which carries the message “THEN, NOW AND FOREVER,” has oak wheels, mahogany moldings, and a brass pressure dome. It takes about 50 people to pump it, Jack Hilbert said.

The engine was built in Waterford, N.Y. and then shipped to Greenville, S.C. where it was the first new piece of equipment a Black fire department there received, Jack Hilbert said. Firefighters used it to fight fires for 20 years.

In 1903, the engine was sold to Manchester, N.H., and it became part of the muster league. The fire chief, Thomas W. Lane, was the foreman and the inventor of the double spring steam gauge.

The engine came to Mystic in 1967 when several men, including Dick Woolworth, and Frank Hilbert, Jack Hilbert’s father, bought it. The engine was then sold to the B.F. Hoxie Engine Co., said Jack Hilbert.

The T.W. Lane was housed at the B.F. Hoxie Engine Co., which owns the engine, until July 1 when the Mystic fire companies merged. It is now being stored at Jack Hilbert’s house and will be stored over the winter at his son Kyle Hilbert’s barn. Jack Hilbert said he is looking for a permanent home for the engine and a new way to raise funds for its upkeep.

The T.W. Lane last won the award in 1993. Jack Hilbert said that he had a tear in his eye, when he received the Edward A. Brennan Sr. Memorial Trophy in early October in Bath, Maine. He said everybody was so supportive and the crew was so happy.

The T.W. Lane will be at Mystic Seaport Museum on Saturday for photos, and a celebration will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Mystic VFW.

k.drelich@theday.com