Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

At first, I almost thought the gates were pumping. Bells seem to ring on gate up and gate down.
I think this is a solid example why I agree with Elton that the bell should NEVER ring on gate up. Good thing nobody smacked into the gates while this was going on.

SirKrunch wrote: At first, I almost thought the gates were pumping. Bells seem to ring on gate up and gate down.
I think this is a solid example why I agree with Elton that the bell should NEVER ring on gate up. Good thing nobody smacked into the gates while this was going on.

Damn, If that were my crossing, I think some major fix in's would be in order, starting with finding out the cause of the tail ring and ending with fixing that stupid bell to ring from start up till the gates rise.

Sighhhh.... You foamers and the "Bell ringing until gates rise" ...I can't for the life of me understand how that is in any way useful. When the gates are down, the trains horn will be plenty louder than the bell, and when the train is going over the crossing, the bell certianally isn't useful. If it is a malfunction, the bell won't add to the irritation of others if it is set to silence at gates down.

And Kighty, how do you propose to fix the tail ringing? I don't know of any Railroads that will spend $7000 plus for a PMD-3 or GCP just to help over come that. Lots of time and labor to install an AC/DC track circuit, etc.

There is no easy fix

MD2020 wrote:Sighhhh.... You foamers and the "Bell ringing until gates rise" ...I can't for the life of me understand how that is in any way useful. When the gates are down, the trains horn will be plenty louder than the bell, and when the train is going over the crossing, the bell certianally isn't useful. If it is a malfunction, the bell won't add to the irritation of others if it is set to silence at gates down.

And Kighty, how do you propose to fix the tail ringing? I don't know of any Railroads that will spend $7000 plus for a PMD-3 or GCP just to help over come that. Lots of time and labor to install an AC/DC track circuit, etc.

There is no easy fix

Well you and I agree on one thing, the bell should never ring while the gates are going up. I spent a lot of my time around quiet zone crossings and they fall under completely different standards then a regular crossing, so I've become used to bells ringing while the gates are down. Its also nice when your walking a track and placing shunts down to know when your signals pick back up, bell shuts off = crossing recovered.

Now as far as tailrings there a few ways to correct the problem, unfortunately a PMD-3 is one of the ways to fix a tailring but its costly and a pain.
I however know a few railroads that would pay for better equipment.

"Quiet zone" crossings are BS, and I don't consider those, I am of course referring to conventional crossings.

And a PMD-3 will in fact tailring under certian conditions. I have 3 of them that will do it on occasion. Only thing I have found that almost eliminates tailrings is a ac/dc type circuit.

...But then you have to deal with insulated joints, wire runs, etc. etc......