I literally had smoke coming out of this bell danger signal. I’m not sure if it was the magnet wire or the tape over the solenoid, but luckily I caught it in time. The bell and lights still worked. I’ll bet Gilbert repair stations were working on these type of repairs a lot.
I don't recall ever seeing one with the short contact. I think I have seven installed on my current layout and they are all the long version. The long contact on one of them does not sit parallels to the rail, so it either doesn't activate, it it sticks with the lights on. It is the closest to my control center, so it is the easiest to correct.
I honestly just found a few of these in a box from my Uncles collection I inherited and had never seen them before either. I thought it might be useful for operators if there are issues with the long contacts which seem to be more common. Hopefully it’s a useful video.
Just wanted to clarify something, the small contact is the earliest version. The plastic longer one came out later.. The first track trip was a 695 that was activated by brass buttons on the early 1946 engines. However that turned out to be a costly mistake as they could only work on a 587 block signal or 588 semaphore. Those signals were never made in 1946.
Thank you Lonny! I guess I assumed the small button trips were made later, but I got it reversed. Thanks for filling me in on those early small button trips. That’s probably the reason they don’t show up too often. Oh well, I’m going to keep my eyes out for more of the small ones. They just seem to work better.
Great video Richard, always interesting information.
Good information and demonstration. I had the points arc and get stuck once and nearly had a fire in a Sam the Semaphore accessorie.
I literally had smoke coming out of this bell danger signal. I’m not sure if it was the magnet wire or the tape over the solenoid, but luckily I caught it in time. The bell and lights still worked. I’ll bet Gilbert repair stations were working on these type of repairs a lot.
I don't recall ever seeing one with the short contact. I think I have seven installed on my current layout and they are all the long version. The long contact on one of them does not sit parallels to the rail, so it either doesn't activate, it it sticks with the lights on. It is the closest to my control center, so it is the easiest to correct.
I honestly just found a few of these in a box from my Uncles collection I inherited and had never seen them before either. I thought it might be useful for operators if there are issues with the long contacts which seem to be more common. Hopefully it’s a useful video.
Just wanted to clarify something, the small contact is the earliest version. The plastic longer one came out later.. The first track trip was a 695 that was activated by brass buttons on the early 1946 engines. However that turned out to be a costly mistake as they could only work on a 587 block signal or 588 semaphore. Those signals were never made in 1946.
Thank you Lonny! I guess I assumed the small button trips were made later, but I got it reversed. Thanks for filling me in on those early small button trips. That’s probably the reason they don’t show up too often. Oh well, I’m going to keep my eyes out for more of the small ones. They just seem to work better.