Of course. Besides, I know most shortline owners would go nuts before they put an e-dinger on some old alco.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
well sure some will have E-bells. but i think they'll take longer to replace the mechanical bells because those smaller roads dont have so much money to fork out. so i bet they'll keep the mech bells up till they break. then they should replace them
and you're right. as far as i know. all mechanical bells are discontinued. but then again, so are GP7s etc and you still see them work on the smaller roads. so dont count the mechanical bells out just yet on shortlines
I'm sure there's plenty of regionals and shortlines with electronic crossing bells. Does anyone even make the mechanial bells anymore? If they still do - I wouldn't count on it being made much longer.
As far as locomotives - many shortlines don't abuse their power like class-1s. Therefore, the bells are not as big as a problem.
Ya, I see what you mean about the more metal the less the sound. No need to be sorry Zug, just had a few ideas.
Alec
wctransfer wrote:Ya, but I mean just put that design on a normal cast iron bell and there ya go.Alec
Ya, but I mean just put that design on a normal cast iron bell and there ya go.
That won't work. No matter how much you shroud the bell - it will still get gunked and frozen up. Plus you will cut down on sound if you add more metal around it. Both EMD and GE are putting electronic bells on their engines. Sorry, but the good ol' days of the mechanical bell are fading.
i only dread the day crossings will have those horns built onto them around here as they do nothing but annoy people
Maybe we are onto something here. Could it be that people are just annoyed at the sound of a locomotive's horn blowing and thus, pay no attention to it and just keep driving right into the path of an oncoming train?
I haven't heard of these horns on the crossing thing before. An interesting idea though. Place the horns on the crossings. That way they blow directly at the oncoming traffic and I wouldn't have to listen to it. Alas, it wouldn't work as people would just get annoyed at the sound!
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wctransfer wrote:Sorry, I didnt specify more clearly Zug. I saw a shot of a fresh CP GP38-2 with a funky looking bell. It was totally covered, except for 4 holes around the bell. Thats the design Im talking about, and maybe put some type of mesh in there and there ya go. No snow,or Ice to clog it up.Alec
Sorry, I didnt specify more clearly Zug. I saw a shot of a fresh CP GP38-2 with a funky looking bell. It was totally covered, except for 4 holes around the bell. Thats the design Im talking about, and maybe put some type of mesh in there and there ya go. No snow,or Ice to clog it up.
That would be the electronic bell Alec.
magicman710 wrote: zugmann wrote: I haven't seen anyone complaining about using LED lights on crossings yet... Ok, who hates the new LED lights on crossings!!!!!
zugmann wrote: I haven't seen anyone complaining about using LED lights on crossings yet...
I haven't seen anyone complaining about using LED lights on crossings yet...
Ok, who hates the new LED lights on crossings!!!!!
Me! I prefer the character of Wig/Wags.
"Lionel trains are the standard of the world" - Jousha Lionel Cowen
Have to look at it this way:
What happens when that old mechanical bell breaks? And someone gets hit at the crossing? Electronics are the present and future. They can direct sound better - will probably last longer, and pretty soon it will be hard to get parts for mechanical bells.
EJE818 wrote:I don't mind the electronic bells on the engines at all. I really hate the electroniic bells on the crossings, like the one in this video. The engine also has a electronic bell (and a very nice and loud SD70ACe horn). http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/CNW8575/video/x2lm7x_up-8603_travel
Man, if you're going to do all that (and it will STILL freeze and clog up), might as well just put the electronic dinger on.
It really doesn't bother me either way.
The only good thing about electronic bells is that they are heard more clearly and louder than traditional bells.
wctransfer wrote:I just see it as the usual "lets mess with something that works" crap that people love to do. If they get frozen, make the bottom like the new electronic bells, covered. That would keep the ice and snow out. Hmm, why didnt they think of that.Alec
I just see it as the usual "lets mess with something that works" crap that people love to do. If they get frozen, make the bottom like the new electronic bells, covered. That would keep the ice and snow out. Hmm, why didnt they think of that.
You can't really cover a mechanical bell. It also has moving parts that feeze or get clogged up. So, the old way didn't exactly work as well as you would think. A bell is a very important part of a locomotive. I would like it to work.
If you heard some of the old SP mechanical gong bells that are in use, those WC Hayes electronic bells don't sound so bad. There's one crossing here (Dobson) which has one of those WC Hayes electronic bells for the northbound side, and one of the old gong bells for the southbound side. The southbound starts out strong, within 15-20 seconds you start hearing 'ding-ding-click-ding-click-click-click-ding-click-click' and then silence for the duration of activation. That's typical of a lot of them out here.
UP is replacing them but not quick enough. With those electronic bells, which again, are here to stay. They don't care about how one thinks of their sound, just that they do their job which is warn traffic. Pedestrian moreso than vehicular traffic.
i dont mind the electronic locomotive bells. they dont sound too different to me.
now those electronic CROSSING bells are another story. especially those damn western cullen hayes bells.
and let's not forget the crossings with virtual horns. those sound HORRIBLE. ugh
Here is a gound sounding bell! HAHA THIS VIDEO WAS DEDICATED TO ME!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1MMvCntFIE
magicman710 wrote:Zugmann, that doesnt really sound like a good reenactment of a electronic bell.... Heres a better one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB0YszgD2FA
Zugmann, that doesnt really sound like a good reenactment of a electronic bell.... Heres a better one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB0YszgD2FA
That was the reenactment of the few mechinical bells I had lately. Now the EMDs with their 30 second cycle is annoying... but at least they work. The locomotive electronic bells aren't too bad sounding either... not too much of a difference, really.
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