Re: PC: Check out eBay: Brass Bell Old Penn Central R.R.

["Craig E. Hatter" <ns4610@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>     I don't think it's a locomotive bell. It's only 10 inches tall.
> Looks like one of the retirement bells they gave to those who were about
> to leave the job.
>
> Dave

It's not thick enough at the base to have been a locmotive bell, also all 
those ridges on the exterior and of course the lack of air fittings. Having 
owned, sold, and brokered a few of these, unless you were there when 
they/you removed it from the locomotive and can document such event, these 
are very generic and extremely heavy. This goes for diesels, steam is 
another story of course. IIRC EMD last used brass circa 1966.
The ex-K&ITRR FM switcher bells were very large with an approximate diameter 
of 16" and at least that tall. Employees removed them, turned yokes in the 
wood shop to mount them and took them home as trophies.  Saw one removed 
from a YankeeTown Dock FM once. It was hidden under the front engineers side 
pilot step, took the RR employees a couple of days to discover it. Cutting 
torch took about 2 minutes, while moving the dead in tow switcher to an 
appropriate location took about an hour.