Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

[trainman7]

I wouldn’t my betting the amount of activations at Marion Rd, made the bells die quicker. Some of the Type 3s have changed around Adelaide. I’ve seen a few dead and dying ones over the years such as Semaphore Rd, Exeter. https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Se ... c8ab9e5dee
I guess it’s only a matter of time before more WCH e-bells begin appearing around Adelaide. I wonder if the high failure rates are why Hawker St, Ovingham and Belford Ave, Devon Park still have their m-bells?

The frequent activations could have played some part in killing the Safetran type 3's at Marion Rd, but it sees the same amount of trams as the other crossings. I wonder if the bells are having problems with water leaks or if they're being fried by lightning strikes or power surges?

Regardless of the cause of the failures, it's no coincidence that we're seing more dying Safetran type 3's across three states, and there is likely some kind of design fault or manufacturing defect. There would already be 5 or 6 crossings around Adelaide that I have seen with WCH e-bells, so maybe they've either given up on the Safetran bells or they're trying an alternative. Wouldn't mind betting that they left the m-bells on those two crossings after seeing the failure rate of the Safetran bells, they probably figured it would be better to leave the m-bells alone while they're still working!

There’s a defect with something in the bell. If there’s issues with them across three states than Siemens really should investigate what’s going on. I had my Type 3 out in the weather for couple of days and it looked like it had water vapour near the circuit board. I guess they aren’t made with the quality of m-bells or WCH e-bells.

[McK&H.Aust]

I wouldn’t my betting the amount of activations at Marion Rd, made the bells die quicker. Some of the Type 3s have changed around Adelaide. I’ve seen a few dead and dying ones over the years such as Semaphore Rd, Exeter. https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Se ... c8ab9e5dee
I guess it’s only a matter of time before more WCH e-bells begin appearing around Adelaide. I wonder if the high failure rates are why Hawker St, Ovingham and Belford Ave, Devon Park still have their m-bells?

The frequent activations could have played some part in killing the Safetran type 3's at Marion Rd, but it sees the same amount of trams as the other crossings. I wonder if the bells are having problems with water leaks or if they're being fried by lightning strikes or power surges?

Regardless of the cause of the failures, it's no coincidence that we're seing more dying Safetran type 3's across three states, and there is likely some kind of design fault or manufacturing defect. There would already be 5 or 6 crossings around Adelaide that I have seen with WCH e-bells, so maybe they've either given up on the Safetran bells or they're trying an alternative. Wouldn't mind betting that they left the m-bells on those two crossings after seeing the failure rate of the Safetran bells, they probably figured it would be better to leave the m-bells alone while they're still working!

There’s a defect with something in the bell. If there’s issues with them across three states than Siemens really should investigate what’s going on. I had my Type 3 out in the weather for couple of days and it looked like it had water vapour near the circuit board. I guess they aren’t made with the quality of m-bells or WCH e-bells.

You're brave leaving an e-bell out in the weather, but it does highlight another potential problem with condensation, specially in locations with big temperature variations between day and night.

You should probably be careful with your Safetran type 3, they are difficult to come by. I have one which came from Ebay in the US, along with a WCH e-bell. Out of all my e-bells, the WCH are the best quality ones in my opinion. The housing is a better quality and design than the others, and the circuit board has a protective coating.

[trainman7]

I wouldn’t my betting the amount of activations at Marion Rd, made the bells die quicker. Some of the Type 3s have changed around Adelaide. I’ve seen a few dead and dying ones over the years such as Semaphore Rd, Exeter. https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Se ... c8ab9e5dee
I guess it’s only a matter of time before more WCH e-bells begin appearing around Adelaide. I wonder if the high failure rates are why Hawker St, Ovingham and Belford Ave, Devon Park still have their m-bells?

The frequent activations could have played some part in killing the Safetran type 3's at Marion Rd, but it sees the same amount of trams as the other crossings. I wonder if the bells are having problems with water leaks or if they're being fried by lightning strikes or power surges?

Regardless of the cause of the failures, it's no coincidence that we're seing more dying Safetran type 3's across three states, and there is likely some kind of design fault or manufacturing defect. There would already be 5 or 6 crossings around Adelaide that I have seen with WCH e-bells, so maybe they've either given up on the Safetran bells or they're trying an alternative. Wouldn't mind betting that they left the m-bells on those two crossings after seeing the failure rate of the Safetran bells, they probably figured it would be better to leave the m-bells alone while they're still working!

There’s a defect with something in the bell. If there’s issues with them across three states than Siemens really should investigate what’s going on. I had my Type 3 out in the weather for couple of days and it looked like it had water vapour near the circuit board. I guess they aren’t made with the quality of m-bells or WCH e-bells.

You're brave leaving an e-bell out in the weather, but it does highlight another potential problem with condensation, specially in locations with big temperature variations between day and night.

You should probably be careful with your Safetran type 3, they are difficult to come by. I have one which came from Ebay in the US, along with a WCH e-bell. Out of all my e-bells, the WCH are the best quality ones in my opinion. The housing is a better quality and design than the others, and the circuit board has a protective coating.

I had my Type 3 outside because it was on my gate-less signal I have setup. After two days, I took it back inside and put a WCH e-bell on. The WCH bell has performed fine over the three years it’s been there. Just shows WCH e-bells handle the weather much better.

[McK&H.Aust]

I had my Type 3 outside because it was on my gate-less signal I have setup. After two days, I took it back inside and put a WCH e-bell on. The WCH bell has performed fine over the three years it’s been there. Just shows WCH e-bells handle the weather much better.

Sounds like a nice setup, what lights does it have?

It's no wonder that ARTC went with WCH e-bells, don't think there's much price difference from the Safetran type 3 so they may as well go with the better quality bell. It's probably just a matter of time before the WCH bells are approved for use in Victoria, then maybe Siemens will take notice, although the Australian market would be tiny compared to the US, so maybe not!

[trainman7]

I had my Type 3 outside because it was on my gate-less signal I have setup. After two days, I took it back inside and put a WCH e-bell on. The WCH bell has performed fine over the three years it’s been there. Just shows WCH e-bells handle the weather much better.

Sounds like a nice setup, what lights does it have?

It's no wonder that ARTC went with WCH e-bells, don't think there's much price difference from the Safetran type 3 so they may as well go with the better quality bell. It's probably just a matter of time before the WCH bells are approved for use in Victoria, then maybe Siemens will take notice, although the Australian market would be tiny compared to the US, so maybe not!

The signal I have has Alstom lights with Alstom brackets. Hopefully in the next week, I’ll be able to take photos of all my collection as it’s quite large! Siemens might take notice if Victoria stops using them in favour of WCH (I hope!) Unless a major US operator ditches them such as CN, they probably won’t bother as where pretty small compared to the US!

[freebrickproductions]

I had my Type 3 outside because it was on my gate-less signal I have setup. After two days, I took it back inside and put a WCH e-bell on. The WCH bell has performed fine over the three years it’s been there. Just shows WCH e-bells handle the weather much better.

Sounds like a nice setup, what lights does it have?

It's no wonder that ARTC went with WCH e-bells, don't think there's much price difference from the Safetran type 3 so they may as well go with the better quality bell. It's probably just a matter of time before the WCH bells are approved for use in Victoria, then maybe Siemens will take notice, although the Australian market would be tiny compared to the US, so maybe not!

The signal I have has Alstom lights with Alstom brackets. Hopefully in the next week, I’ll be able to take photos of all my collection as it’s quite large! Siemens might take notice if Victoria stops using them in favour of WCH (I hope!) Unless a major US operator ditches them such as CN, they probably won’t bother as where pretty small compared to the US!

Ironically enough, there's a signal maintainer here in the US who's in a few Facebook groups I'm on who swears by Safetran/Siemens stuff as he thinks WCH equipment is "junk", especially the gate mechanisms and bells. While I won't doubt him on the gate mechs (I'm not a maintainer, lol) the main reason he dislikes WCH e-bells seems to be due to the sound WCH uses on them, which is a bit unusual compared to other bells (though I will admit I kinda like it sometimes).

I think CN might also be the only Class I here in the US to still be installing Safetran Type 3s as well, as I haven't seen any new Safetran Type 3s go up on NS in a while, just all General Signals e-bells for the newer bells around here lately, for the most part. Though even if CN is the only Class I here in the US to be using the Safetran Type 3s, there's still gonna be plenty of regional railroads and shortlines that are probably still using them. I know they've been cropping up on Metra and Amtrak-owned lines lately, mostly the higher-pitched version as well.

[trainman7]

I had my Type 3 outside because it was on my gate-less signal I have setup. After two days, I took it back inside and put a WCH e-bell on. The WCH bell has performed fine over the three years it’s been there. Just shows WCH e-bells handle the weather much better.

Sounds like a nice setup, what lights does it have?

It's no wonder that ARTC went with WCH e-bells, don't think there's much price difference from the Safetran type 3 so they may as well go with the better quality bell. It's probably just a matter of time before the WCH bells are approved for use in Victoria, then maybe Siemens will take notice, although the Australian market would be tiny compared to the US, so maybe not!

The signal I have has Alstom lights with Alstom brackets. Hopefully in the next week, I’ll be able to take photos of all my collection as it’s quite large! Siemens might take notice if Victoria stops using them in favour of WCH (I hope!) Unless a major US operator ditches them such as CN, they probably won’t bother as where pretty small compared to the US!

Ironically enough, there's a signal maintainer here in the US who's in a few Facebook groups I'm on who swears by Safetran/Siemens stuff as he thinks WCH equipment is "junk", especially the gate mechanisms and bells. While I won't doubt him on the gate mechs (I'm not a maintainer, lol) the main reason he dislikes WCH e-bells seems to be due to the sound WCH uses on them, which is a bit unusual compared to other bells (though I will admit I kinda like it sometimes).

I think CN might also be the only Class I here in the US to still be installing Safetran Type 3s as well, as I haven't seen any new Safetran Type 3s go up on NS in a while, just all General Signals e-bells for the newer bells around here lately, for the most part. Though even if CN is the only Class I here in the US to be using the Safetran Type 3s, there's still gonna be plenty of regional railroads and shortlines that are probably still using them. I know they've been cropping up on Metra and Amtrak-owned lines lately, mostly the higher-pitched version as well.

It’s ironic that I know a signal maintainer here who says anything Siemens/Safetran is “cheap rubbish”! Apparently their gate mechs have a tendency to fail and completely stop working! I personally prefer WCH over Safetran/Siemens except for their gate mechs (I am not a fan of how they look!) High pitched Type 3s sound really odd in my opinion and I am glad we don’t have any in Australia.

Some recently upgraded crossings in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on what I think is CN trackage (I’m probably wrong!) appears to have WCH equipment. This includes e-bells, bases, gates mechs and lights with GE Fading LEDs.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlwestra ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlwestra ... ateposted/
If it is CN trackage, I wonder if they ditched Siemens. Sorry for getting a bit of topic!!

[freebrickproductions]

I had my Type 3 outside because it was on my gate-less signal I have setup. After two days, I took it back inside and put a WCH e-bell on. The WCH bell has performed fine over the three years it’s been there. Just shows WCH e-bells handle the weather much better.

Sounds like a nice setup, what lights does it have?

It's no wonder that ARTC went with WCH e-bells, don't think there's much price difference from the Safetran type 3 so they may as well go with the better quality bell. It's probably just a matter of time before the WCH bells are approved for use in Victoria, then maybe Siemens will take notice, although the Australian market would be tiny compared to the US, so maybe not!

The signal I have has Alstom lights with Alstom brackets. Hopefully in the next week, I’ll be able to take photos of all my collection as it’s quite large! Siemens might take notice if Victoria stops using them in favour of WCH (I hope!) Unless a major US operator ditches them such as CN, they probably won’t bother as where pretty small compared to the US!

Ironically enough, there's a signal maintainer here in the US who's in a few Facebook groups I'm on who swears by Safetran/Siemens stuff as he thinks WCH equipment is "junk", especially the gate mechanisms and bells. While I won't doubt him on the gate mechs (I'm not a maintainer, lol) the main reason he dislikes WCH e-bells seems to be due to the sound WCH uses on them, which is a bit unusual compared to other bells (though I will admit I kinda like it sometimes).

I think CN might also be the only Class I here in the US to still be installing Safetran Type 3s as well, as I haven't seen any new Safetran Type 3s go up on NS in a while, just all General Signals e-bells for the newer bells around here lately, for the most part. Though even if CN is the only Class I here in the US to be using the Safetran Type 3s, there's still gonna be plenty of regional railroads and shortlines that are probably still using them. I know they've been cropping up on Metra and Amtrak-owned lines lately, mostly the higher-pitched version as well.

It’s ironic that I know a signal maintainer here who says anything Siemens/Safetran is “cheap rubbish”! Apparently their gate mechs have a tendency to fail and completely stop working! I personally prefer WCH over Safetran/Siemens except for their gate mechs (I am not a fan of how they look!) High pitched Type 3s sound really odd in my opinion and I am glad we don’t have any in Australia.

Some recently upgraded crossings in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on what I think is CN trackage (I’m probably wrong!) appears to have WCH equipment. This includes e-bells, bases, gates mechs and lights with GE Fading LEDs.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlwestra ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlwestra ... ateposted/
If it is CN trackage, I wonder if they ditched Siemens. Sorry for getting a bit of topic!!

Doesn't look like a CN line. Looks more like a Canadian shortline based on the power in that one picture. Could even be a CP line. Also, it seems like Canada (or at least some of the provinces up there) have tighter control on the equipment that railroads there can use, as I've noticed CN, CP, and CSX all using the same lights and LEDs on crossing upgrades in Quebec (WCH 12x20s with GE Uniform Look LEDs).

[McK&H.Aust]

I had my Type 3 outside because it was on my gate-less signal I have setup. After two days, I took it back inside and put a WCH e-bell on. The WCH bell has performed fine over the three years it’s been there. Just shows WCH e-bells handle the weather much better.

Sounds like a nice setup, what lights does it have?

It's no wonder that ARTC went with WCH e-bells, don't think there's much price difference from the Safetran type 3 so they may as well go with the better quality bell. It's probably just a matter of time before the WCH bells are approved for use in Victoria, then maybe Siemens will take notice, although the Australian market would be tiny compared to the US, so maybe not!

The signal I have has Alstom lights with Alstom brackets. Hopefully in the next week, I’ll be able to take photos of all my collection as it’s quite large! Siemens might take notice if Victoria stops using them in favour of WCH (I hope!) Unless a major US operator ditches them such as CN, they probably won’t bother as where pretty small compared to the US!

Ironically enough, there's a signal maintainer here in the US who's in a few Facebook groups I'm on who swears by Safetran/Siemens stuff as he thinks WCH equipment is "junk", especially the gate mechanisms and bells. While I won't doubt him on the gate mechs (I'm not a maintainer, lol) the main reason he dislikes WCH e-bells seems to be due to the sound WCH uses on them, which is a bit unusual compared to other bells (though I will admit I kinda like it sometimes).

I think CN might also be the only Class I here in the US to still be installing Safetran Type 3s as well, as I haven't seen any new Safetran Type 3s go up on NS in a while, just all General Signals e-bells for the newer bells around here lately, for the most part. Though even if CN is the only Class I here in the US to be using the Safetran Type 3s, there's still gonna be plenty of regional railroads and shortlines that are probably still using them. I know they've been cropping up on Metra and Amtrak-owned lines lately, mostly the higher-pitched version as well.

It’s ironic that I know a signal maintainer here who says anything Siemens/Safetran is “cheap rubbish”! Apparently their gate mechs have a tendency to fail and completely stop working! I personally prefer WCH over Safetran/Siemens except for their gate mechs (I am not a fan of how they look!) High pitched Type 3s sound really odd in my opinion and I am glad we don’t have any in Australia.

Some recently upgraded crossings in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on what I think is CN trackage (I’m probably wrong!) appears to have WCH equipment. This includes e-bells, bases, gates mechs and lights with GE Fading LEDs.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlwestra ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlwestra ... ateposted/
If it is CN trackage, I wonder if they ditched Siemens. Sorry for getting a bit of topic!!

I guess that even among signal maintainers it comes down to personal preferences and whether they've had good or bad experiences with certain gate mechs.
Must admit I haven't spoken to many signal maintainers over here (just ARTC ones) but they seem to like WCH gate mechs. They also don't mind the Safetran gate mechs (with the actual Safetran branding) but don't like the newer Siemens ones. One maintainer told me it was easier to work on the WCH mechs compared to Safetran ones, and was easier to change the brushes on the motor (he said it was a fiddly job to change brushes on a Safetran motor).

Another thing which probably goes against Siemens in Australia is the apparently poor customer service from their Australian office. A signal maintainer told me that one of the reasons they dumped Siemens gate mechs was their poor response when dealing with issues raised about the newer mechs malfunctioning, he said that Siemens didn't do enough to address the problems. But there is no doubt that plenty of Siemens e-bells have been failing lately.

Personally, I prefer the look of the Safetran gate mechs, but have never seen either malfunction. I prefer the WCH e-bells over Safetran type 3's, nothing wrong with the sound of the Safetran e-bells, but it gets boring after a while and I like the variety of sounds among WCH e-bells.

[trainman7]

I had my Type 3 outside because it was on my gate-less signal I have setup. After two days, I took it back inside and put a WCH e-bell on. The WCH bell has performed fine over the three years it’s been there. Just shows WCH e-bells handle the weather much better.

Sounds like a nice setup, what lights does it have?

It's no wonder that ARTC went with WCH e-bells, don't think there's much price difference from the Safetran type 3 so they may as well go with the better quality bell. It's probably just a matter of time before the WCH bells are approved for use in Victoria, then maybe Siemens will take notice, although the Australian market would be tiny compared to the US, so maybe not!

The signal I have has Alstom lights with Alstom brackets. Hopefully in the next week, I’ll be able to take photos of all my collection as it’s quite large! Siemens might take notice if Victoria stops using them in favour of WCH (I hope!) Unless a major US operator ditches them such as CN, they probably won’t bother as where pretty small compared to the US!

Ironically enough, there's a signal maintainer here in the US who's in a few Facebook groups I'm on who swears by Safetran/Siemens stuff as he thinks WCH equipment is "junk", especially the gate mechanisms and bells. While I won't doubt him on the gate mechs (I'm not a maintainer, lol) the main reason he dislikes WCH e-bells seems to be due to the sound WCH uses on them, which is a bit unusual compared to other bells (though I will admit I kinda like it sometimes).

I think CN might also be the only Class I here in the US to still be installing Safetran Type 3s as well, as I haven't seen any new Safetran Type 3s go up on NS in a while, just all General Signals e-bells for the newer bells around here lately, for the most part. Though even if CN is the only Class I here in the US to be using the Safetran Type 3s, there's still gonna be plenty of regional railroads and shortlines that are probably still using them. I know they've been cropping up on Metra and Amtrak-owned lines lately, mostly the higher-pitched version as well.

It’s ironic that I know a signal maintainer here who says anything Siemens/Safetran is “cheap rubbish”! Apparently their gate mechs have a tendency to fail and completely stop working! I personally prefer WCH over Safetran/Siemens except for their gate mechs (I am not a fan of how they look!) High pitched Type 3s sound really odd in my opinion and I am glad we don’t have any in Australia.

Some recently upgraded crossings in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on what I think is CN trackage (I’m probably wrong!) appears to have WCH equipment. This includes e-bells, bases, gates mechs and lights with GE Fading LEDs.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlwestra ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlwestra ... ateposted/
If it is CN trackage, I wonder if they ditched Siemens. Sorry for getting a bit of topic!!

Doesn't look like a CN line. Looks more like a Canadian shortline based on the power in that one picture. Could even be a CP line. Also, it seems like Canada (or at least some of the provinces up there) have tighter control on the equipment that railroads there can use, as I've noticed CN, CP, and CSX all using the same lights and LEDs on crossing upgrades in Quebec (WCH 12x20s with GE Uniform Look LEDs).

Thanks for the info about the line. I don’t know a great deal about who owns different lines and Trackage Rights in Canada. It’s interesting that provinces probably control what equipment can be used on new installations.