As the title says, what are the standard American railroad Horn and Bell procedures used today? When do trains sound their horns and bells, and in what fashion do they do so, in long streaks or short bursts? Is there any difference in procedure between frieght and pasenger/commuter railroads?
After a quick google search I found this pdf online: https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/26193/Required-Train-Horn-Signals?bidId= I think it covers most if not all use of the horn on US trains.
Hopefully that Google search gives you what you want, but I can say that here in the US and, Canada as well, railroad procedures use the horn and bell a lot more then other locations around the world.
It answers the horn part but not the bell one though i'm afraid. Still a really good and succinct resource!
That resource is definitely helpful, although I very very rarely hear 14(m) actually used in practice - usually I only hear them use the bell when passing stations. I think that might depend on the actual railroad involved. As I understand it, the bell is generally used in all the situations described in that resource (thus why using American horns typically applies the bell automatically too) and any other case where there may be people around who need to be aware of where your train is.
Engineers use the bell when approaching grade crossings, approaching and leaving stations and during slow speed sections where workers may be around, for instance.
The bell is also sounded when you are passing a standing train or cut of cars on an adjacent track and sometimes going through a tunnel. Some grade crossings have a noise ordinance indicted by a whistle board with a strike through the "W". You don't sound the horn at these crossings. The Kingston Sub where I live in Canada has such an ordinance.
There are many whistle codes on the books, but most are obsolete and are rarely used today, in modern contexts there's three that are heavily used. 1: You sound the horn twice when going forward, and three if you're going backward. Worth noting that officially you're supposed to do two long blasts, and three short blasts. However that part isn't strictly enforced, it's pretty common to hear two short blasts of the horn when going forward in particular, so amount of times matter a lot, but how long you sound the horn doesn't matter that much. 2: At crossings you're always supposed to do what is called a Number 7. Which is two long blasts of the horn, then a short, followed by a final long blast of the horn. While you do have some engineers that will wait right up until their right upon the crossing you should start sounding the horn about 15 seconds (although up to 30 is perfectly fine) before you reach the crossing. Generally speaking most, if not all engineers will prolong the set of four blasts to last until you reach the crossing. But it's worth noting that it's on the books (at least if I remember correctly) that you can repeat the set again if you need to for some reason. So you can do two or more number sevens in a row before a single crossing, although from what I can tell you almost never hear locomotives do that. 3: This pretty much will never happen in a train sim context, but I'll note it anyway. The other major application is when someone is close to or on the tracks. In which case you do a series of blasts (generally short ones), there's no nessicary order for these, you can do a orderly short blast every second, or frantically tapping the horn like a madman. Generally speaking though unless something completely catches you off guard you'll see something like the former example in most scenarios. As for the bell I'm not sure about the exact rules for its use, but the best rule of thumb is that you'll use it anywhere that people can reasonable be assumed to be near the tracks. So places like crossings, stations, or yards are all reasonable bets, especially those in urban areas, exact rules vary though from place to place.
On most North American locomotives now the bell actually is hooked into the horn so when you blow it the bell rings.
For the most part, you will be sounding the - - o - sequence of horns at grade crossings and tunnels unless marked as a quiet zone. Bells are usually set off at the same time as the horn (With most modern trains doing this automatically) Approaching stations is the other common use for horns, as well as bells. I know I have some footage of some Caltrain and ACE trains at Santa Clara which would help horn and bell use.
Ppl pretty much got the horn covered Bell differs place to place, crew to crew. Passenger wise if a train is approaching and stopping, the bell is sounded until full stop. Activated again when departing up to about 10mph departing then off. Freight it can be sounded during slow movements in a yard or otherwise as to make ppl on the ground aware etc. As someone else noted, newer equipment have the bell tied to the horn itself so itll activate upon a level crossing and will typically be shut off once the head end is beyond the crossing Also to reiterate what others have said, 2 longs 1 short when nearing the xing then 1 long blast at the beginning of the crossing itself as you roll thru it I think most whistle boards are about a 1/4 mile from the x'ing or some such
Ok so was able to gather up some railfanning clips with Horns and Bells (Apologies for the wind noise) 0:00 Caltrain passing thru Santa Clara, 1 horn blast plus bell use. 0:26 ACE train departing Santa Clara, Bell Only. 1:22 Caltrain departing Santa Clara, Bell Only as well. 1:58 Amtrak Coast Starlight, passing thru Morgan Hill Station, since the station has a pedestrian crossing, it gets treated as a road crossing. So - - o - plus bell. 2:14 Union Pacific, road crossing, standard - - o - plus bell. 2:36 Amtrak California San Joaquin, road crossing, standard - - o - plus bell. 2:55 Union Pacific, road crossing, now this one is odd, as the Engineer gave 3 short horn blasts plus no bell, not sure why. Could of been a warning for something I didn't see. 3:14 Union Pacific, road crossing, standard - - o - plus bell 3:36 Union Pacific, road crossing, standard - - o - plus bell, you can hear the bell shut off after the lead loco passes the crossing
In regards to the bell use in the US, I've found here that you're supposed to start the bell sound when you pass the W sign. Not sure if it's correct, but that's how I do it in the game. One question I have is, how you're supposed to sound the horn if there are multiple crossings in a short distance? Does the first set of horn blasts works for multiple crossings? Sometimes there's just not enough time to do the "long long short long" set before the next crossing arrives... I just do single long blasts between the crossings, but I wonder what is the norm in real life.
