Yesterday, I was able to acquire a RACO mechanical bell that had been at the crossing on Pratt Avenue here in Huntsville, AL that hadn't been working for about three years when it was removed, with the intent of seeing if I could get it working again. When I got home today after recording the replacement electronic bell at the crossing, I found out that is hammer wasn't moving when I applied power, so after adjusting it so that it would move under its own power, I found out that the hammer itself was broken! The part of the hammer that strikes the gong has a sizable chunk of it missing, and I think I may have recorded it breaking back in November of 2014 when I heard it ring twice before clicking the rest of the time the crossing was active. Hopefully I can get a replacement hammer for the bell or just rotate the hammer so the non-damaged part is striking the gong instead, but we'll have to see. It'll likely be the former one though, but either way, I'm gonna have to get the rain shield and gong off first if I want to do anything with it. However, as the bolts holding those pieces on are frozen solid, I'm letting them soak in WD-40 for a while before I attempt to get them off again. Overall though, this bell is in much better shape than my other RACO bell which is rather corroded on the inside, likely due to it originally having been near the ocean for most of its service life (as I believe it came from the SCL).
A bit blurry, but if you look closely, you can just make out where it says "Griswold Signal Company" underneath where RACO is stamped: My RACO Mechanical Bell by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
ZachL wrote:Congrats on the acquisition! Did you just ask HMCR for it and they gave it to you?
Either way, nice to finally know why it hadn't rung in so long.
Actually, it came from the NS. Thanks!
Also, I was able to get the front taken apart, so here's some more photos of it (before and after cleaning some of the parts):
First off, here's the bolts from the front side of the bell. One of the washers broke, but that's not a major issue as I can probably easily get a replacement one: Bolts from my RACO Bell by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
ZachL wrote:Congrats on the acquisition! Did you just ask HMCR for it and they gave it to you?
Either way, nice to finally know why it hadn't rung in so long.
Actually, it came from the NS. Thanks!
Even more surprising!
Too bad there aren't any more rare bells in my area*, although I have my doubts that CSX would just give a bell to a railfan too.
If I had to be honest, I may or may not have had to dumpster dive for it, though the maintainer I chatted with said that anything that goes in the dumpster is being tossed out and isn't of use.
It's also been suggested over on Facebook that I take the hammer to a welding shop and have them build it back up, so that's another option that I can consider.
Got the bell finished today, and it lives again! I replaced the damaged hammer with the one from my other RACO bell since it was less damaged, and I also replaced another piece inside the bell that was starting to get worn out in the process. Here's the photos I took of the process (some of the pictures have descriptions on Flickr if you want some more information): Old & "New" Hammers by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
And here's a video showing the process in slightly more detail, along with a quick test of the bell once I got it reassembled:
I must say though, for my first time trying to restore something, it turned out quite well! I may see about getting an AC to DC transformer that produces more current so I could run the bell at a slower speed, but it'd also help if I knew how much current this transformer produces so I could figure out which ones produce more.
My RACO Mechanical Bell by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
My RACO Mechanical Bell by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
My RACO Mechanical Bell by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
My RACO Mechanical Bell by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
My RACO Mechanical Bell by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
My RACO Mechanical Bell by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Damaged Hammer by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Damaged Hammer by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
I may see about getting an AC to DC transformer that produces more current so I could run the bell at a slower speed, but it'd also help if I knew how much current this transformer produces so I could figure out which ones produce more.
