Cars in service only 2 years.
https://wtop.com/dc/2018/02/dc-considers-scrapping-current-crop-streetcars-still-no-plans-make-riders-pay/
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
And they bought two types of streetcar for a 2.2 mile long line...
They purchased and received the first type many years ago, in 2007, which were designed in 2005. These cars sat in storage in a couple of outdoor locations in a few countries for many years while the idiots at DDOT tried to manage this obvious boondoggle.
The second type were built in 2013 and were based on the same obsolete 2005 design, which was another obvious boondoggle.
The cars have only been "in service" for two years. The first trainsets are the very old and dry-rotted 2007 fleet, and the second trainsets are not that old, but they are also built to the same obsolete 2005 design.
When I ride on the 2007 trainsets, I chuckle when I hear the mechanical bell ringers. It's almost like I'm visiting East Germany after the Berlin Wall fell when I ride the H Street Streetcar (and, also, for no charge, for some weird reason).
what is wrong with a mechanical bell ? IMO they are more easily heard for some persons . Many persons have higher frequency hearing problems that E bells produce.
Jerusalem's Alstom LRVs have digital simulation of the classic USA mechanical foot-slammer ding-dong streetcar bell. I thought at first that it was an actual mechanical bell. They also have a much louder horn duplicating the classic IRT subway whaa-whaa. They try to avoid the use of the latter, but it is handy when a cyclist or pedestrian seems about to cross in front of the uncoming LRV train. Both sounds obviously contribute to my moral.
In Clevelands "Rapid" I have only heard a faint whoo whoo but never a ding.
If the LRVs digital simulation needs updating, they are welcome to come record my TAR (Third Ave. Railway) bell. My understanding is TAR had two bells, a foot operated ding-ding, and a roof mounted "get out of the way" hand pull bell. It's the hand pull bell I have. Nice to get the neighboors up on New Years when I start ringing. It has a nice mellow after-tone afterwards.
But 551-625, the Broadway-42nd Street Huffliners, the double-end Peter-Witt door cars, replaced the roof bell with an automobile-like horn.
626-685, the last cars built, only had the foot bell, but louder.
If you pull up the old thread with my photographs, Third Avenue Transit home-built lightweight cars, you can see this. The roof bell was mounted on all 101-200 and 301-400 lightweights, on the second-hand 1200's, on the Convertables, and at-least some earlier cars. And all had the foot stomper.
Can you put a recording of your bell on line? I'd appreciate your sending it to me as an attachment to ddaveklepper1@gmail. (Easier to download from gmail than from yahoo for me.) Thanks!
blue streak 1 what is wrong with a mechanical bell ? IMO they are more easily heard for some persons . Many persons have higher frequency hearing problems that E bells produce.
On the DC Streetcar that has the mechanical bell, it's not a "ding-ding" like on a locomotive. It's a continuously-ringing bell like a school bell. It starts slow, gets up to speed quickly, and after a second or two it slows down quickly. It's rather funny because it also sounds like it's loose and rattling against the carbody.
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