Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

TrickyMario7654 wrote: But anyways, I've found a General Signals E-Bell at nearby Woy Woy. These don't seem to be common in NSW.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.492 ... 312!8i6656

Likely a Type 2 as it replaced a WCH e-bell by May of 2015 (but after 2009), and I don't think the Type 3 started production until the summer or later half of 2015.

This GS e-bell died at Seaford station died sometime between Monday and Thursday this week. It was only a couple years ago that the e-bell on the other side of the Station street crossing died as well.
Also this gate mech likes to slip back down sometimes after rising compleatly, causing the traffic lights to malfunction and start flashing yellow.
It will be interesting to see if the dead e-bell will be replaced by a GS type 3 e bell.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/48 ... 36b1924e66

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:Not sure why they removed the gates, my guess would be that they had some kind of trouble getting them to work, or they decided the gates weren't really needed and wanted to use them on another crossing. I would like to film the crossing but getting to it would probably require some bushwalking, maybe in the coming months when the weather cools down and the rain stops!

In Victoria, the government would of already upgraded it by now to prevent 'horrifying accidents'!

But anyways, I've found a General Signals E-Bell at nearby Woy Woy. These don't seem to be common in NSW.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.492 ... 312!8i6656

freebrickproductions wrote:Likely a Type 2 as it replaced a WCH e-bell by May of 2015 (but after 2009), and I don't think the Type 3 started production until the summer or later half of 2015.

That GS bell was only installed shortly before GSV came by in 2015. It's interesting because the crossing is owned by Sydney Trains who have been loyal WCH customers for many years. It was only a few months earlier in December 2014 that three crossings were closed at Newcastle which all had WCH e-bells, so they would have had plenty of spares if this bell had simply died. I think the GS bell could have been a trial because other new installs around the same time used WCH.

The only other GS e-bell on the Sydney Trains network was this one at Bombo which has since been replaced by a WCH e-bell, so maybe the trial was a flop! The WCH m-bell on the crossing is still there. https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.653 ... 312!8i6656

Username1 wrote:This GS e-bell died at Seaford station died sometime between Monday and Thursday this week. It was only a couple years ago that the e-bell on the other side of the Station street crossing died as well.
Also this gate mech likes to slip back down sometimes after rising compleatly, causing the traffic lights to malfunction and start flashing yellow.
It will be interesting to see if the dead e-bell will be replaced by a GS type 3 e bell.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/48 ... 36b1924e66

That's why mechanical bells are better, they last way longer than e-Bells. Interestingly enough, Connex were the ones that installed those e-Bells!
2007: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.103 ... 64!6m1!1e1
2009: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.103 ... 56!6m1!1e1

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

Username1 wrote:This GS e-bell died at Seaford station died sometime between Monday and Thursday this week. It was only a couple years ago that the e-bell on the other side of the Station street crossing died as well.
Also this gate mech likes to slip back down sometimes after rising compleatly, causing the traffic lights to malfunction and start flashing yellow.
It will be interesting to see if the dead e-bell will be replaced by a GS type 3 e bell.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/48 ... 36b1924e66

That's why mechanical bells are better, they last way longer than e-Bells. Interestingly enough, Connex were the ones that installed those e-Bells!
2007: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.103 ... 64!6m1!1e1
2009: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.103 ... 56!6m1!1e1

A Metro signal maintainer once told me they were having a lot of trouble with E-Bells filling up with water and shorting out. That was a few years ago so I don't know if they have somehow resolved the issue by now. Whatever the case, it clearly hasn't stopped them from ripping out perfectly good M-Bells in favor of E-Bells.

chris96 wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

Username1 wrote:This GS e-bell died at Seaford station died sometime between Monday and Thursday this week. It was only a couple years ago that the e-bell on the other side of the Station street crossing died as well.
Also this gate mech likes to slip back down sometimes after rising compleatly, causing the traffic lights to malfunction and start flashing yellow.
It will be interesting to see if the dead e-bell will be replaced by a GS type 3 e bell.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/48 ... 36b1924e66

That's why mechanical bells are better, they last way longer than e-Bells. Interestingly enough, Connex were the ones that installed those e-Bells!
2007: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.103 ... 64!6m1!1e1
2009: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.103 ... 56!6m1!1e1

A Metro signal maintainer once told me they were having a lot of trouble with E-Bells filling up with water and shorting out. That was a few years ago so I don't know if they have somehow resolved the issue by now. Whatever the case, it clearly hasn't stopped them from ripping out perfectly good M-Bells in favor of E-Bells.

The earlier General Signals e-bells had the bolts holding in the sound-card located on the top of the bell, which allowed water to get in. I think they've since moved them to the side to resolve the issue.

chris96 wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

Username1 wrote:This GS e-bell died at Seaford station died sometime between Monday and Thursday this week. It was only a couple years ago that the e-bell on the other side of the Station street crossing died as well.
Also this gate mech likes to slip back down sometimes after rising compleatly, causing the traffic lights to malfunction and start flashing yellow.
It will be interesting to see if the dead e-bell will be replaced by a GS type 3 e bell.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/48 ... 36b1924e66

That's why mechanical bells are better, they last way longer than e-Bells. Interestingly enough, Connex were the ones that installed those e-Bells!
2007: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.103 ... 64!6m1!1e1
2009: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.103 ... 56!6m1!1e1

A Metro signal maintainer once told me they were having a lot of trouble with E-Bells filling up with water and shorting out. That was a few years ago so I don't know if they have somehow resolved the issue by now. Whatever the case, it clearly hasn't stopped them from ripping out perfectly good M-Bells in favor of E-Bells.

This is probably the reason beacuse heaps of storms passed through the area on Tuesday, which is most likely when the bell died.

V/Line trains to Echuca have been suspended indefinitely because of a level crossing fault north of Bendigo.

http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/sto ... ice/?cs=80

Seems a bit silly to cancel trains, the crossing did activate but just later than it should have. Surely they could issue instructions to the train crew to stop at the crossing and check that it has activated before proceeding. Even sending out a signal maintainer to manually activate the crossing would be much cheaper than paying for a fleet of replacement busses.

McK&H.Aust wrote:V/Line trains to Echuca have been suspended indefinitely because of a level crossing fault north of Bendigo.

http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/sto ... ice/?cs=80

Seems a bit silly to cancel trains, the crossing did activate but just later than it should have. Surely they could issue instructions to the train crew to stop at the crossing and check that it has activated before proceeding. Even sending out a signal maintainer to manually activate the crossing would be much cheaper than paying for a fleet of replacement buses.

It seems that V/Line is running into that issue a lot lately. Early last year, a V/line V/locity train went through the Progress Street crossing in Dandenong South without activating it. As a result, V/Line trains were banned from the suburban network.

You can read more about it here.
https://wongm.com/2016/04/photo-essay-v ... in-issues/

The article mentions that on the Sunbury line, safeworking staff were posted at the crossings in St Albans (Furlong Road & Main Road, both since removed) in order to manually activate the warning devices.

There's been a long history of level crossings in Victoria failing to active when a train's approaching, all of which involving V/line trains.
https://wongm.com/2016/01/history-level ... -victoria/

Hey everyone

So I don’t normally post here, but I’ve got a couple of interesting things to talk about

Firstly, I’ve got footage of the Bank St level crossing in Avenel (along with a couple of others, like Palmerston St Baddaginnie when it had a Westinghouse hybrid bell and no boom gates, Faithful St Benalla and High St Seymour). It is a beautiful crossing, and I will upload it to YouTube as soon as I finish uploading footage of the Dandenong corridor.

Secondly, I have started volunteering at Puffing Billy. I’m currently training to become a conductor, and I love it. I love giving a commentary to passengers on the sights to see, and, of course, I never get sick of riding past the various crossings with teardrop bells.

I thought I might just point out a number of highlights of the railway, in terms of level crossing infrastructure. I don't know if you guys already know about this stuff, so I thought I'd post it anyway. And as I'm just a conductor, I don't know a great deal about what happens behind the scenes, but I plan to one day fish out as much info as possible:

At Menzies Creek station, they’ve just upgraded the pedestrian crossing to have automatic gates. I think it was operational in January of this year. They’ve done a good job, designing the gates to the style of railway, with a ‘white picket fences’ look. They’ve also added 2 bells to the crossing. One is a nicely restored McKenzie & Holland teardrop bell on the southern end and the other is a General Signals e-bell on the northern end. Yeah, it’s a bit upsetting that Puffing Billy now has an e-bell, but given they also just installed a teardrop bell, I guess we can live in hope! The teardrop bell sounds out when the gates close and the e-bell sounds continuously until the gates open.This is where the new crossing is, although the street view is out of date:

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.920 ... 312!8i6656

Just before Emerald station, the Pinnocks Rd level crossing has the worst sounding teardrop bell on the railway. It’s got a quiet blunt gong that skips every couple of dings:

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.930 ... 312!8i6656

At Emerald station, there is a scrap yard with lots of random bits of rail infrastructure. In one section, closest to the train line, there is a HUGE stockpile of crossing bits. There are lots of McKenzie & Holland teardrop bells and Westinghouse hybrids. There is even a Westinghouse teardrop. It’s really quite a pot of gold. I learnt from one of the conductors that they get most of this stuff from the metropolitan network to be used as spare parts. This is where it is:

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.934 ... 312!8i6656

Here are some close-up pictures of the collection:

The collection of bells


They are all very rusty


Westinghouse Hybrid


Westinghouse teardrop


Teardrop bell gongs, I think


And finally, there is a Westinghouse teardrop at Lakeside station. It’s used as a warning bell for the pedestrian crossing there. It has quite a slow ring rate for a teardrop bell, but it’s still nice to listen to:

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.930 ... 312!8i6656

I heard from this forum that 3 of the crossings will be upgraded with boom gates. I’m pretty confident they will just update them with Westinghouse hybrids, as they did with the other boom gate upgrades from about 3 years ago. However, I’m not sure they can use the boom gates from crossings already removed in Melbourne, as the roads are so small (and barely hold up any traffic, I might add) you wouldn’t be able to squeeze them in.