Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

chris96 wrote:I found a crossing in Toowoomba, Queensland that appears to use fire alarm bells. They were still there earlier this year!:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-27.551 ... 56!6m1!1e1
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-27.551 ... 56!6m1!1e1
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-27.551 ... 56!6m1!1e1

This sign even mentions the use of a bell at this location:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-27.551 ... 56!6m1!1e1

It's got wishbone gates too!

Here's something I've never seen before. A WCH M-Bell on a Metro track!
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.659 ... 312!8i6656
Sadly, it was replaced with an E-Bell when they duplicated the track beyond Keon Park Station.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.659 ... 312!8i6656

I literally have no comment...
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.205 ... 312!8i6656

TrickyMario7654 wrote:I literally have no comment...
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.205 ... 312!8i6656

Shoddy installation it looks like to me. If I had to guess, they were mounted too close to the gate originally and got hit.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.205 ... 312!8i6656

Anyone know why they stuck a pedestrian crossing boom gate onto the actual road boom barrier?
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.898 ... 312!8i6656

TrickyMario7654 wrote:Anyone know why they stuck a pedestrian crossing boom gate onto the actual road boom barrier?
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.898 ... 312!8i6656

Maybe a crack formed and that was done to help hold it together longer?

freebrickproductions wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote:Anyone know why they stuck a pedestrian crossing boom gate onto the actual road boom barrier?
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.898 ... 312!8i6656

Maybe a crack formed and that was done to help hold it together longer?

Seems strange that they would do that. You think that they would just replace the gate?

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

freebrickproductions wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote:Anyone know why they stuck a pedestrian crossing boom gate onto the actual road boom barrier?
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.898 ... 312!8i6656

Maybe a crack formed and that was done to help hold it together longer?

Seems strange that they would do that. You think that they would just replace the gate?

Probably depends on two things:
1. The size of the crack.
2. How much budget they have at the time.

I visited the V.R Workshops today (an antique store in Albert Park that sells a lot of old railway infrastructure) and I was speaking to the owner who is a serious railway collector and is really interested in the preservation of vintage equipment. He worked on the railways for many years and still has some connections with people working there today. He was telling me that Metro have this stupid policy where no one is allowed to benefit from used equipment and all retired infrastructure must be destroyed! God knows why this is a thing, but almost all of the removed mechanical bells and other crossing equipment have been smashed up and sold as scrap metal! Apparently, Metro employees have even destroyed things right in front of him just to spite the poor guy. For example, once their was a pile of Teadrop and Hybrid bells in the yards at Newport that had been marked as scrap. When he approached the workmen at the site asking if they would part with them so they could be preserved, a nasty employee basiclly told him to "F off" and lit all of the bells on fire, burning them to ruble. At first this seemed really far-fetched and I couldn't believe that such a thing would happen within such a huge organisation as Metro, but apparently, this is the attitude of many people working for the company. He told me "most don't care about their job or the equipment they work with and there are a few (immature d-heads with an anti-authority attitude) who just enjoy smashing old stuff". But again, it is written within Metro's company policy that all old equipment must have a hammer taken to them and be completely destroyed. That is the most ridiculous policy I have ever heard of and have no idea why they don't want a little extra cash from enthusiasts instead of going out of their way to ensure they can never lay a finger on their old stuff. Sorry about this long rant, but I just can't believe the amount of stupid here! At least I managed to save two Hybrid bells from the Level Crossing Removal Authority (I have no idea why/how they gave them to me after hearing all of the horrible stuff Metro are doing). I was told that within the next couple of years, all remaining M-Bells an suburban Melbourne will be replaced.

Anyway, moving onto more positive stuff, I highly recommend visiting the V.R Workshops and checking out all of the old railway relics that are on offer. There were heaps of signaling parts for sale including a Safetran M-Bell! It's located in the old Albert Park railway station building. Here's the place on google maps:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.840 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.841 ... 312!8i6656

I made a couple of purchases while I was there, a teardrop bell and a WABCO bell!:

Here's the teardrop. I was told this was taken out of service in 1993 and has since been in storage:
DSC09397 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09399 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09402 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09403 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09404 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09407 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09410 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09415 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

I tried my best to re-assemble the original instruction page for the bell, but unfortunately some parts are missing:
DSC09421 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

Now on to the WABCO bell:
DSC09381 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09384 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09386 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09387 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09389 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09390 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
DSC09394 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

Also, I found out why WABCO bells are so rare. It turns out they have a major manufacturing defect! The hammer that hits the gong is prone to breaking off, meaning the mechanics miss the bell, resulting in no sound! The man at the workshop told me he has another two WABCO bells in storage and both of them had the hammer snap off. As you can see in this image, the hammer is supposed to sit inside the small gap at the top of this mechanism, but it's not there!:
DSC09396 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
I'll attach something to the end of this piece to make it ring again! Apparently, many of these bells were quickly taken out of service (many soon after initial installation) due to this major design flaw.

Finally, I thought I might as well quickly show my bell collection thus far. I also have another Hybrid bell that's currently located outside:
DSC09380 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

Sorry for this super long post btw!

chris96 wrote:I visited the V.R Workshops today (an antique store in Albert Park that sells a lot of old railway infrastructure) and I was speaking to the owner who is a serious railway collector and is really interested in the preservation of vintage equipment. He worked on the railways for many years and still has some connections with people working there today. He was telling me that Metro have this stupid policy where no one is allowed to benefit from used equipment and all retired infrastructure must be destroyed! God knows why this is a thing, but almost all of the removed mechanical bells and other crossing equipment have been smashed up and sold as scrap metal! Apparently, Metro employees have even destroyed things right in front of him just to spite the poor guy. For example, once their was a pile of Teadrop and Hybrid bells in the yards at Newport that had been marked as scrap. When he approached the workmen at the site asking if they would part with them so they could be preserved, a nasty employee basiclly told him to "F off" and lit all of the bells on fire, burning them to ruble. At first this seemed really far-fetched and I couldn't believe that such a thing would happen within such a huge organisation as Metro, but apparently, this is the attitude of many people working for the company. He told me "most don't care about their job or the equipment they work with and there are a few (immature d-heads with an anti-authority attitude) who just enjoy smashing old stuff". But again, it is written within Metro's company policy that all old equipment must have a hammer taken to them and be completely destroyed. That is the most ridiculous policy I have ever heard of and have no idea why they don't want a little extra cash from enthusiasts instead of going out of their way to ensure they can never lay a finger on their old stuff. Sorry about this long rant, but I just can't believe the amount of stupid here! At least I managed to save two Hybrid bells from the Level Crossing Removal Authority (I have no idea why/how they gave them to me after hearing all of the horrible stuff Metro are doing). I was told that within the next couple of years, all remaining M-Bells an suburban Melbourne will be replaced.

Wow, that is horrible! At least the Level Crossing Removal Authority understands the passions of some people (I may not like what they're doing, but still...), so I presume that the 21 crossings on the list with mechanical bells will likely have them donated to enthusiasts. Still, shame on you Metro.

By the way, someone by the name of Rod Greenwood at Vicsig has a picture of Albert Park station before they converted it to a light rail line. Love the old Hitachi Train, the Harris 'gray ghost', the semaphore signal, and most importantly, the level crossing in the foreground with the Teardrop bell!


BTW, when you said 'all retired infrastructure must be destroyed!'. You're not kidding, take a look at what happened to the equipment at the Mitcham crossings when they were grade separated! (Again, this picture is from Vicsig. Also, this must be the third time I've posted this!)


One more thing, I can't forgive the LXRA for this...

TrickyMario7654 wrote:By the way, someone by the name of Rod Greenwood at Vicsig has a picture of Albert Park station before they converted it to a light rail line. Love the old Hitachi Train, the Harris 'gray ghost', the semaphore signal, and most importantly, the level crossing in the foreground with the Teardrop bell!

Great find with that image! It looks a lot different there today. At least they left the original railway fence posts in place:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.839 ... 312!8i6656

I know I've posted this before, but when the light rail first opened, the crossing had a hybrid bell:


I think the current E-Bells replaced it in the late 90's.

The traffic lights were upgraded to LED sometime between 2009 and 2014:
2009:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.839 ... 312!8i6656
2014:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.839 ... 312!8i6656

At Ingles St on the Port Melbourne light rail, you can still see a marking in the pavement from where the original railway signals once stood:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.832 ... 312!8i6656
A close up:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.832 ... 312!8i6656