AIR BELL On The Sugar Express? US Sugar Steam Engine 148 On The Clewiston Comet 11-11-23 

They decided to install a frickin air bell right next to the bell ringer

Air-operated bell ringers (to swing the bell) on steam engines are nothing new, and were standard equipment on most locomotives. FEC's Pacifics all had them as original equipment. I used to operate #113 in Miami, and it had its original 1913 air bell ringer, which still worked beautifully. The engineer has a control for this, and the fireman can still always hand-ring the bell using the rope. The #148 has had this air-operated bell ringer since the day she was built in the 1920s. It is NOT new!

I hope every restored steam locomotive have boilers that are welded instead of riveted. I also hope they modernize the accessories.

Awesome video. I also like the narrative commentary 😊

I think they modified the bell to stop swinging. It was like this since the Christmas train last year.

148 is also equipped with an automatic bell ringer rod which sits on the right side of the bell opposite of the rope rod normally known as a pneumatic bell ringer it automatically swings the bell back-and-forth and when the fireman rings it by hand often at times the rod causes the bell to get stuck offset here’s a link to the use of a locomotive bell ringer ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-axNKBHrR7m0.htmlsi=rUnG72Q_HmZbEol-

7:30 Highball!

15:27 15:28 15:29 15:30