Attaching those little ladders to Alco diesels

They look like rivets because they are: (similar shown)

They're called dome twist rivets and the way to put them in is with a small hammer or arbor press.  If they won't go through the holes, you'll have to enlarge the holes on the ladder pieces with a small file.

Rusty

Another method is to place the rivet in the hole, heat the head with a soldering iron until hot and then push in with the flat sided blade of a screwdriver.  Works for removal also. Just takes a little practice.

The method I use is a small set of pliers.After you get rivet thru hole in ladder place one rivet over pre-drilled hole in the shell.Adjust pliers so one half is behind the Alco shell and other other the rivet.Slowly press pliers halves together...rivet goes right in.You can place masking tape on pliers so doesn't scratch the shell....

thanks everyone

I keep a clean tip, no tinning, just for heating drive pins. I heat them for both removal and insertion.

In the past I would push them in with no heat, but found that the plastic would crack around the pin.

Hi -

Of the excellent suggestions, I pursued the solder-less solder iron.  I had 3 ladders to attach, the remaining one was wobbly. So the biggest issue was getting the little pins thru the holes, I used a very small drill bit and worked on the edges a bit, it wouldn't go thru and drilling is out of the question - their's only a sliver of metal above the hole at the  top of the ladder.  Once the pin starts, I twisted them with my fingernails and eventually worked them in, sometimes putting them flat on the table top and gently pushing to seat them.  Heated up the iron, wiped off solder, and it only took seconds for them to sink in and hold - after one gives quickly did the other.  THIS WORKED GREAT - even re-seated the wobbly one ladder on the the thing.

As always, thanks to those who weighed in, I'd a never thought of this

Tom