Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

[RedhenRailcarSAR]

Mechanical and electronic bells all operate off of similar voltages, usually somewhere around 12VDC. The main advantage of e-bells over mechanical ones is the lack of moving parts that have to be maintained.
Here's what all needs to be checked & maintained in a mechanical bell:

• Gong (rotation every so often, replace as needed)
• Hammer (replace as needed)
• Hammer mechanism (parts oiled and replaced as needed)
• Electromagnets (replace as needed)
• Wiring (replace as needed)

Meanwhile, with an e-bell:

• Does it sound? If not, replace.

If you do all of the above, in theory, you could keep a mechanical bell running forever. However, almost all mechanical bells ain't made anymore, so you'll likely run out of parts eventually.
Also, electronic bells are much lighter and tend to be a bit less bulky than mechanical bells, which makes for a huge difference when trying to lug one up and down a ladder.

That is certainly the theory behind bell maintenance but from speaking to a couple of signal maintainers in the past, I could add the Australian procedures for mechanical bell maintenance (well NSW anyway). I think it really depends on the enthusiasm of the local signal maintainers for the crossing concerned.

1) If it works, leave it alone.
2) Very occasionally, open up the bell door and clean out any dirt from inside. Apply some bug spray around the gong.
3) If it doesn't work, have a play around to see if you can get it going again. Replace if needed.

While on the subject of mechanical bells, I just returned from a weekend away in the Lithgow area and have some good news for a change. It turns out that the crossing at Rydal which I thought was going to be upgraded, hasn't actually been upgraded yet and still has the same m-bells https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.481 ... 312!8i6656

Also discovered that this crossing at Portland actually has a Federal Signal bell https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.357 ... 312!8i6656

It's pleasing to report that none of the other m-bells in the area have been touched and all of these crossings still have the same bells:
Bundarra St, Blackheath https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.635 ... 312!8i6656
Geordie St, Bowenfels https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.478 ... 312!8i6656
Oakey Forest Rd, Marrangaroo https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.451 ... 312!8i6656
Pipers Flat Rd, Wallerawang https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.410 ... 312!8i6656
Portland Cullen Bullen Rd, Cullen Bullen https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.300 ... 312!8i6656

That’s great to hear the m bells have been left alone, especially the teardrops.

Also, going by recent videos and pictures of crossings on the Eyre Peninsula Railway, all Incandescents have been replaced with Westinghouse/Invensys/Siemens 12 inch LEDs, and all Mechanical bells have been replaced with Safetran Type 3 E Bells

Also if you take a look at my Top 10 favourite Ad Met crossings video on YT, a fellow Crossing fan in SA by the name of vacbag recently went to the NRM and they got permission to go to an out of bounds bell pile, which apparently had some very rare bells including a Bryant Zinc co bell, Cast Iron Mck&h Teardrop Bell, Westinghouse Teardrop bell, and a US&S first generation Teardrop. Now that last one is quite something, since there is photo proof of only one US&S Teardrop in Australia (not counting ones that were shipped from the US for collectors), plus first generation teardrops are very rare. I will be visiting the NRM sometime in the next month so I will attempt to get permission to look at this bell pile, and I will take pictures for you guys.

[McK&H.Aust]

Also, going by recent videos and pictures of crossings on the Eyre Peninsula Railway, all Incandescents have been replaced with Westinghouse/Invensys/Siemens 12 inch LEDs, and all Mechanical bells have been replaced with Safetran Type 3 E Bells

Also if you take a look at my Top 10 favourite Ad Met crossings video on YT, a fellow Crossing fan in SA by the name of vacbag recently went to the NRM and they got permission to go to an out of bounds bell pile, which apparently had some very rare bells including a Bryant Zinc co bell, Cast Iron Mck&h Teardrop Bell, Westinghouse Teardrop bell, and a US&S first generation Teardrop. Now that last one is quite something, since there is photo proof of only one US&S Teardrop in Australia (not counting ones that were shipped from the US for collectors), plus first generation teardrops are very rare. I will be visiting the NRM sometime in the next month so I will attempt to get permission to look at this bell pile, and I will take pictures for you guys.

Sounds interesting with those rare bells at the NRM, hopefully you can get a look at them.

Can't figure out the attraction to Safetran Type 3 e-bells that the railways seem to have, they just keep installing them no matter how many end up dying.

[Applehead137]

Interesting about all those different types of bells at the NRM.

Today I oddly found that the signals at station street Carrum are still in place even though the road is closed.
It’s kinda like what happens on the Gippsland line with Ryan road , one in nilma and one near Trafalgar.


Also I was at Warigul road Mentone today and I found that two of the lights there are some very rare and old Mck&h lights.
There the ones that are usually seen at places for side signals at Alberton in Adelaide, the NRM , and were used in Victoria
There different from the regular Mck&h lights because they have a different shape and logo. Also it looks like the lights used to have other lights on the back. These could be the only ones left in Victoria. I also found out that the crossing there was the first crossing in Victoria to get automated flashing lights. The old lights were probably reused from the originals signals when the crossing was upgraded with gates. I read some where on a website ( not sure what ) that in 1932 March 16 , first flashing light signal for road traffic was installed at Mentone on Moorabbin road ( later warigul road ) .

[RedhenRailcarSAR]

Great find with those lights! It’s great to know some more still exist. Interesting the signals haven’t been removed yet. I’m kinda hoping someone takes those adjusted type 1s so they can’t be reused but that won’t happen
Also I was looking at the online selling and buying website Gumtree, and I found some old crossing signals for sale
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/malmsbu ... 1218741695
And it appears they are the old crossing signals from Pyrenees Hwy, Elmhurst! Take a look at this video https://youtu.be/D6g35Ssi_Pw And they look exactly the same! Looks like somehow you can get old crossing signals off the government and not just the LXRA!

[chris96]

Great find with those lights! It’s great to know some more still exist. Interesting the signals haven’t been removed yet. I’m kinda hoping someone takes those adjusted type 1s so they can’t be reused but that won’t happen
Also I was looking at the online selling and buying website Gumtree, and I found some old crossing signals for sale
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/malmsbu ... 1218741695
And it appears they are the old crossing signals from Pyrenees Hwy, Elmhurst! Take a look at this video https://youtu.be/D6g35Ssi_Pw And they look exactly the same! Looks like somehow you can get old crossing signals off the government and not just the LXRA!

Wow, $385 for all of that is a really good deal! I've seen bells being sold for twice that much!

Also, that's really exiting news about the bell pile at the NRM (especially if they have a US&S Teardrop)! I hope you're able to get some pictures of it!

Great find with those lights Applehead137. I'd say they're probably the last in Victoria as I haven't seen any others around in recent years.

[RedhenRailcarSAR]

Here is the most unusual crossing in South Australia, it has a light combo of Western Australian, United Group/Alstom, and Westinghouse LEDs https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ea ... d?hl=en-au

[chris96]

Here is the most unusual crossing in South Australia, it has a light combo of Western Australian, United Group/Alstom, and Westinghouse LEDs https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ea ... d?hl=en-au

What the heck, Western Australian lights in South Australia? I never thought I'd see that! I wonder what their reasoning for the mix of lights and visors was? I also noticed this nearby crossing is essentially a pure WA setup:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ea ... 5?hl=en-au

Do any other crossings in SA have WA lights?

Edit: I've just found another one, Stirling St in Birkenhead:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.832 ... 6?hl=en-au

[RedhenRailcarSAR]

Here is the most unusual crossing in South Australia, it has a light combo of Western Australian, United Group/Alstom, and Westinghouse LEDs https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ea ... d?hl=en-au

What the heck, Western Australian lights in South Australia? I never thought I'd see that! I wonder what their reasoning for the mix of lights and visors was? I also noticed this nearby crossing is essentially a pure WA setup:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ea ... 5?hl=en-au

Do any other crossings in SA have WA lights?

Edit: I've just found another one, Stirling St in Birkenhead:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.832 ... 6?hl=en-au

I notice that ARTC had been using all different types of lights, it appears they were using WA lights for those crossings and they used to use Westinghouse 12 inch LEDs, but most 12 inch lights have now been replaced with 8 inch lights. I reckon those WA lights may be gone by now.
EDIT: The quote thing appears to have not worked.
ADMIN EDIT: Appears that there was a random bit of HTML code in one of the quote boxes, making it not work right. Not sure how that happened. -freebrickproductions

[McK&H.Aust]

Here is the most unusual crossing in South Australia, it has a light combo of Western Australian, United Group/Alstom, and Westinghouse LEDs https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ea ... d?hl=en-au

What the heck, Western Australian lights in South Australia? I never thought I'd see that! I wonder what their reasoning for the mix of lights and visors was? I also noticed this nearby crossing is essentially a pure WA setup:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ea ... 5?hl=en-au

Do any other crossings in SA have WA lights?

Edit: I've just found another one, Stirling St in Birkenhead:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.832 ... 6?hl=en-au

Yes certainly some odd combinations of equipment on those crossings, I think Adelaide must take out the Australian prize for the biggest variety of crossing equipment and the most mixed up combinations on a single crossing.

There are also some which use the Western Australian type brackets for the lights but without the rectangular backgrounds, such as this one which appears to have a private gate-less crossing next to a public gated one https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.837 ... 312!8i6656

And another https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.841 ... 312!8i6656

I really like this setup with two separate crossings beneath an overpass. The first crossing is a narrow one-way installation with traffic signals and a searchlight signal nearby. https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.838 ... 312!8i6656
The second one https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.838 ... 312!8i6656

Moving to a slightly different topic in NSW, went past a couple of crossings yesterday and can report a couple of bell changes, sadly I couldn't get any pictures as I was traveling for work and it was nearly dark. First is the crossing at Woy Woy which recently had it's GS type 2 e-bell replaced by a WCH e-bell. It really comes as no surprise because the GS bell had been dead for quite some time.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.492 ... 312!8i6656

Second and very strange is the crossing at Clyde St, Islington. It wasn't much more than six months ago when the Safetran type 3 e-bell shown on this signal was replaced by a WCH e-bell https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-32.911 ... 312!8i6656 but something strange has happened and the WCH e-bell has just been replaced by another Safetran type 3 (the newer version with a shorter base). I really can't think why unless ARTC wanted both bells to be the same type for some reason, or the WCH bell suffered a very premature death. Perhaps there is a wiring problem?

[RedhenRailcarSAR]

Here is the most unusual crossing in South Australia, it has a light combo of Western Australian, United Group/Alstom, and Westinghouse LEDs https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ea ... d?hl=en-au

What the heck, Western Australian lights in South Australia? I never thought I'd see that! I wonder what their reasoning for the mix of lights and visors was? I also noticed this nearby crossing is essentially a pure WA setup:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ea ... 5?hl=en-au

Do any other crossings in SA have WA lights?

Edit: I've just found another one, Stirling St in Birkenhead:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.832 ... 6?hl=en-au

Yes certainly some odd combinations of equipment on those crossings, I think Adelaide must take out the Australian prize for the biggest variety of crossing equipment and the most mixed up combinations on a single crossing.

There are also some which use the Western Australian type brackets for the lights but without the rectangular backgrounds, such as this one which appears to have a private gate-less crossing next to a public gated one https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.837 ... 312!8i6656

And another https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.841 ... 312!8i6656

I really like this setup with two separate crossings beneath an overpass. The first crossing is a narrow one-way installation with traffic signals and a searchlight signal nearby. https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.838 ... 312!8i6656
The second one https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.838 ... 312!8i6656

Moving to a slightly different topic in NSW, went past a couple of crossings yesterday and can report a couple of bell changes, sadly I couldn't get any pictures as I was traveling for work and it was nearly dark. First is the crossing at Woy Woy which recently had it's GS type 2 e-bell replaced by a WCH e-bell. It really comes as no surprise because the GS bell had been dead for quite some time.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.492 ... 312!8i6656

Second and very strange is the crossing at Clyde St, Islington. It wasn't much more than six months ago when the Safetran type 3 e-bell shown on this signal was replaced by a WCH e-bell https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-32.911 ... 312!8i6656 but something strange has happened and the WCH e-bell has just been replaced by another Safetran type 3 (the newer version with a shorter base). I really can't think why unless ARTC wanted both bells to be the same type for some reason, or the WCH bell suffered a very premature death. Perhaps there is a wiring problem?

Safetran Type 3s seem to appeal to the Railways in Oz more than any other bell, must be because both Safetran and Westinghouse eventually became Siemens, so Siemens has some Aussie heritage technically. I don’t mind the Type 3s but they are starting to get boring and they fail constantly.
Speaking of Safetran Type 3 replacements, A recent video by Victorian Rail Heritage shows that Peak School Rd, Lara still has the dead replacement hybrid. Chris96 reported this to ARTC a few weeks ago but it appears they aren’t doing anything about it. I also heard somewhere that ARTC is going to avoid using Safetran Type 3s in Victoria but then they replaced a bell with another type 3.... though I reckon the replacement hybrid was an excuse to avoid using Type 3s.