Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Ain't never seen this before! The gate on the far side got stuck about half-way down while lowering. Video was taken by DaKineGator on YouTube.

Sounds like that Safetran bell is dying.

ZachL wrote:Sounds like that Safetran bell is dying.

Other an being somewhat flat, it doesn't sound too bad to me. I've heard several perfectly healthy Safetran bells that are flat like that one.

Seems like it got stuck at the point where they usually slow down a bit before stopping. Not sure what that is called, but is there something in the mechanism that does this?

cabman701 wrote:Seems like it got stuck at the point where they usually slow down a bit before stopping. Not sure what that is called, but is there something in the mechanism that does this?

IIRC, I think that's where gravity takes over from the motor inside the gate mech. Maybe there aren't enough counterweights on the arm?

freebrickproductions wrote:

ZachL wrote:Sounds like that Safetran bell is dying.

Other an being somewhat flat, it doesn't sound too bad to me. I've heard several perfectly healthy Safetran bells that are flat like that one.

Well, I came to that conclusion because most Safetran bells I've heard aren't as soft as that one and tend to have a longer pulse to their ring as well.

ZachL wrote:

freebrickproductions wrote:

ZachL wrote:Sounds like that Safetran bell is dying.

Other an being somewhat flat, it doesn't sound too bad to me. I've heard several perfectly healthy Safetran bells that are flat like that one.

Well, I came to that conclusion because most Safetran bells I've heard aren't as soft as that one and tend to have a longer pulse to their ring as well.

IDK, these all sound pretty similar:










These two sound pretty bad though, IMO:


Second was taken by Pacific Zone Railfan on YouTube.

With the exception of the last three videos, all those other bells definitely sound much stronger than the video in the OP.