What's Up With The New Bells?

I believe you got a long wait.....

I'm surprised the MU's out there don't have bells. They sure have bells out here and they use 'em all day long. Youtube "metra electric" and it's inevitable, the bells are like a background soundtrack. It's a religion...

NJT4115 wrote:I noticed the M&E Alcos have bells that sound similar to the Comet 1 bells and the U34CHs as well.
Also, I remember watching a YouTube video of a Silverliner IV with a different sounding e-bell

Try again. None of the Silverliners have bells at all, much less E-Bells.

Ken W2KB wrote:

Matt Johnson wrote:Why do they have to sound like bells if they're electronic now? What about fart noises? Ok, maybe that's not high pitched enough, but the possibilities are endless. What about something like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE3PXTDiaEw

The intent is to warn people of train movement. In combination with the horn, the bell sound is quite effective since trains and fire trucks are essentially the only vehicles utilizing such together. I'm sure both the FRA and the railroads' claims departments would mandate an alternate sound if it were more effective to the warning intent.

Don't expect any government regulatory agency to do anything FAST when it comes to safety. OSHA, THE workplace safety agency, is a great example. OSHA was formed circa 1970- at that time they took years old chemical safety data and came up with their Permissible Exposure Limits. Industry has moved on and updated things tons with the ensuing half century of data. OSHA, for the most part, still has the same rules based on the 50 year old data. Its pathetic. (I think that's an extreme example to be fair, but it's not a fluke by any means)

it's been decades but i was a volunteer EMT for several years. Were I volunteered One old rig had the old physical siren. Middle aged rig had electric modern 'normal' siren. Youngest rig had fancy electronic siren with like 10 options for obnoxious noises. People where already used to the "normal" siren sound at that point. You could get up right behind them in traffic and they wouldn't move over to the shoulder- like they didn't even notice you there in this giant truck with a piles of strobe lights (those were new too....). You start spinning the dial on the siren and getting one of the "oddball" crazy sounds and people would wake up and actually move.

I think that strange noises that people done expect probably get the best response. Train horns and bells are all familiar to just about anyone. So familiar that people walk under gates at stations all the time. Toss in some crazy euro siren of funky horn every now and again with an electronic version and you MIGHT get better respect for the noise.

NJT4115 wrote:

nick11a wrote:Oh boy....

Any way, my favorite "real" bell was the one on the Comet Is.... I believe they were also on the U34CHs as well. Alas, no more.

I noticed the M&E Alcos have bells that sound similar to the Comet 1 bells and the U34CHs as well.
Also, I remember watching a YouTube video of a Silverliner IV with a different sounding e-bell

The Comet I cabs, CNJ GP40s, U34CHs and the M&E ALCOs, all have/had nice brass bells. They sound much nicer then the cheap steel bells used on the rest of the stuff out here.

As for the E-Bell, get used to it. It doesn't jam with snow and ice, the air line doesn't freeze and the rate of failure is almost zero.

Besides, the E-Bells don't sound THAT bad.... the quality may not compare in terms of sound to the real thing but they sound fine; they do the trick, and they do it more consistently and accurately than the real ones for the reasons that Sully just described above.

I am actually surprised all the Comet V cabs have the standard steel bells.... You would think they would have been delivered with e-bells.. Were they cheaper???

blockline4180 wrote:I am actually surprised all the Comet V cabs have the standard steel bells.... You would think they would have been delivered with e-bells.. Were they cheaper???

Possibly at the time that the cars where ordered. Seems all equipment delivered since the ML cars arrived are now coming standard with E-Bells.

Also, I'm sure many of you have notice E-Bells popping up at grade crossings across NJT. Replacing the mechanical bells for the same reason as the ones on the locomotives. No moving parts and a very low rate of failure.

Believe it or not, if the bell isn't working, then technically its a crossing activation failure and the train must be flagged over the crossing. If any one of the protections offered fail for any reason, it is considered an activation failure.

sullivan1985 wrote: Believe it or not, if the bell isn't working, then technically its a crossing activation failure and the train must be flagged over the crossing. If any one of the protections offered fail for any reason, it is considered an activation failure.

Correct, Mtr. Sully.

Patrick Boylan wrote:

Head-end View wrote:Why do railroads feel that diesel locomotives and maybe cab-cars need bells, but not electric MU's? If anything the electrics are quieter running and harder to hear approaching, so you'd think they'd need bells more than the diesels. I really don't get it..........

I'm another inquiring mind that wants to know how comes it diesels and locomotives get bells but not MU's?
Among the funniest sounds to me are the Riverline's Camden street running wayside horns which to me sound like ducks quacking. But the Riverline cars' bells and horns sound like real bells and horns. The grade crossing bells, which I think I read are electronic, sound like real bells.

DutchRailnut wrote:Read Code Of federal regulations 49 subchapter 229 I believe

Head-end View wrote:Well Dutch, why don't you just briefly summarize it for us since you obviously know what's in it.

DutchRailnut wrote:I believe you got a long wait.....

Dutch, any idea how much more time you need to be able to summarize what you know about why electric mu's don't need to have bells yet locomotives and cab cars do?

I told you, you got long wait, look it up yourself, its not in FRA rules but in every railroads operating rules, have fun.

Dutch, I did try to look it up, perhaps I used the wrong method, I googled 'Code Of federal regulations 49 subchapter 229', and could not see any results in the first 2 pages that made any sense to me. I have just now googled your subsequent suggestion, and googled 'operating rules', and again see nothing in the first 2 pages that makes any sense.

I'm not sure why you need so much time to summarize something that you know. I must conclude that you don't know the answer, and for some reason think it's funny to imply that you do. It sure makes no sense that you would know the answer, yet decide that you won't tell anyone the answer.

haha! The Cornell CFR site got me through law school... I haven't been there for a while but it's a great resource.

Well in a decade NJT will pretty much be like the railroads out in California, only Multilevels