Re: [Syd] Why do trains sound horn when leaving platform?

["Ted Gay" <tedgay@bigpond.com>]

"Mark Bau" <markbau@earthlink.net> wrote in message
B6AAE9B4.1114%markbau@earthlink.net">news:B6AAE9B4.1114%markbau@earthlink.net...
<snip>
> Trams usually don't make a sound when they move off and there are lots
more
> people/vehicles in close proximity to a tram compared to a train. Also
> pilots (shunters) don't whistle prior to every move.
>
I grew up with trams on the Red Lines (Sydney's western suburbs).  As a
child I soon learnt that after the conductor gave the driver two bells or
buzzes the driver would reply with two rings of the tram bell before moving.

Sydney Tramway Museum's Operation Handbook follows the original practice and
at paragraph 414 "Warning Gong To Be Sounded.  Before starting a tram
stopped for any purpose, the Driver must sound the warning gong twice."

At S/MLR drivers were taught, although not documented, to give two rings
about a tram length out from stops and two rings before moving off any time
the tram had stopped, on the right-of-way and on street.  An instruction was
issued prior to test running on the Westex, restricting bell use on the
right-of-way to two rings on approach to a stop and one ring on departure,
unrestricted use on street. <damn> I'm sticking with two rings, that way I
will be doing the same thing on both the STM & MLR systems.

The MLR trams also have a very good twin horn set-up.  Often the only way to
alert a pedestrian ignoring the bell is a beep on the horn (and occasionaly
a blast is needed).

Had a joke with a driver I relieved yesterday.  The week before I relieved
him at 22:00 and he said keep a lookout at Rozelle Bay, a local had
threatened to chain
himself to the rail in protest about the noise, had shown the driver a
length of chain and padlock!

Ted

> Having worked on Australian and US railways I am a firm believer in bells,
> they get your attention but are not intrusive like a whistle/horn is. True
> they can't be heard at the back of a train but then neither can a suburban
> whistle.
>
> Mark
>