locomotive bell

[swany]

In what situations and circumstances was the bell on a steam loco used?  Search on internet didn't turn up much in the way of info.

[swany]

Thx for the reply.  Good stuff!

[Doneldon]

swany-

It's not enough to merely sound the bell. Your locos also have whistles or horns which must be sounded in specific patterns of long and short blasts to signal what the locomotive is about to do, whether starting out forward or reverse, stopping, approaching to a grade crossing, sending messages to other members of the train's crew, and so forth. Playing the whistle can add alot to the sense of really operating a train.
                                                                                                                                                                               -- D

[swany]

doneldon-

I look forward to you expanding on the topic of "playing the whistle"

[richg]

In what situations and circumstances was the bell on a steam loco used?  Search on internet didn't turn up much in the way of info.

Some horn/whistle links.

http://tinyurl.com/2fekx9j

Some bell links.

http://tinyurl.com/2av3tme

Railroad Operating Rules links.

http://tinyurl.com/29nwxuf

Rich

[Doneldon]

swany-

Actually, they call it "quilling" the whistle. Railroad employees and regulars could identify the engineer of a given loco by the way he blew the whistle, how long he held a note, whether he tapered the whistle on and off and how quickly. This was true even though every engineer used the same code to communicate with on-train and off-train employees. There's less to this now; the horns are either on or off so the only variation possible is in the relative lengths of long and short blasts. Plus, everyone is connected by radio now so the horns are superflous.

As you look at sound systems for your locos, be sure to check whether a sound board you are considering allows you to quill the whistle, assuming that's important to you. More and more sound boards allow this all of the time but there are still many which do not, that is, they are just on or off like real modern day horns. If you have quillable whistles you can even establish your own style and your MR friends will know it's you tooting!

Have fun with this.

                                               -- D

[Woody Elmore]

Did anybody ever wonder why engines here in America used bells and they're not found in Europe? The story goes that the first engines (we're talking the 1830s) were so quiet that livestock on the tracks were being killed. The original solution was to have a rider in front of the train ringing a a bell to warn people that a train was coming. LAter the bell was put on the locomotive. The engines also had a device attached to the front of the locomotive that could push livestock out of the way - thus the word "cow catcher!

Happy New Year to everyone.

[railsider]

Except that the "cow-catcher" is really an American innovation, not found on European trains (of the 19th century when the industry was developing). That's because British and some European trains had fenced rights-of-way. Cows didn't get on the tracks, so there was no need to push them off.

In the USA, on the other hand, "open range" was the paradigm. That's why, for example, the "John Bull" (still available in a Bachmann model set, by the way) had to have a cow-catcher added when it was imported from a British manufacturer, Robert Stephenson, in 1832. The 1837 Lafayette, however, built for B&O in Philadelphia by William Norris (also a Bachmann set), however, has no cow-catcher. Was one added later, or what???

Railsider

[rogertra]

It's a "pilot"  NOT a "cowcatcher".

No self respecting railroader would call a "pilot" anything other than a "pilot" as that's the official engineering name for the device.

"Cowcatcher" is used by the media and the uninformed masses who don't know any better.

Anyone who knows anything about railroads uses "pilot".