Why do EMUs have bells and DMUs have buzzers?

[Mutant Lemming]

Is there any particular reason why the signal to start from the guard tends to be a bell on an EMU and a buzzer on a DMU ?

 

[Monty]

Is there any particular reason why the signal to start from the guard tends to be a bell on an EMU and a buzzer on a DMU ?

I would say it has more to do with the age/generation of the units which would dictate if a bell or buzzer is used (older units using bells). SWT's 455's still very much use bells (although you could argue it's a hybrid system as the units have buzzers on them if you are dispatching from the passenger saloons), what units in particular did you have in mind?

 

[TEW]

377s have bells, and they're pretty modern. I guess its just tradition, EMUs had bells while DMUs had buzzers. I'm not aware of any other new EMUs apart from 377s which have bells mind.

 

[Monty]

Ah well bang goes my theory then! I honestly had no idea that 377s had bells.

 

[Starmill]

Does 377s and 455s have a proper bell noise, like a 507/8 or more of a 'beep' like a 350 or a 323?

 

[AlexS]

It's just tradition really I think - it was always traditional for Southern stock to have bells, whereas going back to the 50s etc the 1st gen DMUs that everyone ended up with have always had buzzers.

377s and 455s have proper clanging bells in the cabs

 

[tom1649]

Does 377s and 455s have a proper bell noise, like a 507/8 or more of a 'beep' like a 350 or a 323?

Thought 323s had buzzers. They certainly used to.

 

[gnolife]

Thought 323s had buzzers. They certainly used to.

I know the Northern 323s are buzzers, I don't know about the London Midland ones

I don't think we'll have any luck trying to come up with a set of rules for why some are buzzers and some are bells - there always seems to be some class that breaks any rule that I've tried coming up with.

 

[ChampsRacing]

I think im right in saying that the 185s being desiro's have beeps too.

 

[IanXC]

Just to add to the mix.. the 321/9 and 322s both have bells as I recall

 

[edwin_m]

It may originally have been that the buzzer was more audible above the noise of a diesel engine. But from the examples quoted above there is obviously no hard and fast rule.

 

[142056]

Isn't the bell thing more of a 3rd rail area tradition, than an EMU thing? I remember reading something about that before.

 

[plastictaffy]

Of all the stock I sign, 350's have a beep, which I think is supposed to sound like a bell.
321's have a bell.
Both the 150's and 153's have buzzers - which can also vary in pitch from end to end on units, too!!!

 

[Eagle]

Isn't the bell thing more of a 3rd rail area tradition, than an EMU thing? I remember reading something about that before.

Maybe, but SWT Desiros and 15xs use a buzzer. (455s as mentioned previously still have a bell. Not sure about 458s.)

 

[eastwestdivide]

Isn't the bell thing more of a 3rd rail area tradition, than an EMU thing? I remember reading something about that before.

The old Great Eastern/Tilbury line EMUs (302, 305, 308 etc) had bells.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Ah well bing goes my theory then! I honestly had no idea that 377s had bells.

Minor correction inserted!

 

[Sir_Clagalot]

the 321s on the GE have bells, and the 317s that we had for a few months at the end of NXEA had bells, though they tended to go DUNK rather than DING!

 

[Starmill]

Ah yes, bad example with the 323. What do the 333s have?

What's the newest stock to have been built with a buzzer? Aforementioned 450s?

 

[Eagle]

What's the newest stock to have been built with a buzzer? Aforementioned 450s?

Brand-new 377s. (450s don't have a bell, they have a buzzer, same as all other Desiros.)

 

[Scotrail84]

Just to add to the mix.. the 321/9 and 322s both have bells as I recall

322s definitely have bells. I used to work them.

 

[Scotrail84]

380s have computerised keyboard beep sound.

Our 158s have beeps in the cabs now but retain buzzers in the middle of the units. Our 156s now have beepers in the cabs and intermediate door control panels.

 

[High Dyke]

As a slight aside some signalling panels have a DMU type buzzer as the 'test' alarm. I'm talking about the type of panels that were built in the 1970s by BR York.

 

[spacehopper]

I dislike the high pitched "peep peep" buzzers that are fitted to some 2nd Gen DMU especially the ScotRail 156s.

Not to keen on other "pee pee peep" multiple code sounds on Voyagers.

Favourite is the two ducks mating sound on 158s.

Always found on turbostars they have a very wheezing buzz, quite unique

I did like the very reassuring "ting ting" on an EMU but it would just sound out of place on a DMU.

 

[Scotrail84]

I dislike the high pitched "peep peep" buzzers that are fitted to some 2nd Gen DMU especially the ScotRail 156s.

Not to keen on other "pee pee peep" multiple code sounds on Voyagers.

Favourite is the two ducks mating sound on 158s.

Always found on turbostars they have a very wheezing buzz, quite unique

I did like the very reassuring "ting ting" on an EMU but it would just sound out of place on a DMU.

170 401-424 and 470+471 have the same beeps in the cabs that the 156/158s have. No idea why Scotrail done this. Prefer buzzers personally.

 

[spacehopper]

170 401-424 and 470+471 have the same beeps in the cabs that the 156/158s have. No idea why Scotrail done this. Prefer buzzers personally.

It's been a few years since I last worked one and I do agree buzzers are better than beeps much clearer and easier to understand.

Then again ScotRail do seem to like to fiddle and change things around for whatever reason. The changing position of internal passenger open and close buttons off top of my head was another random thing I noticed.

 

[bronzeonion]

As 375/377 and 378 have bells, do the 357's and 379's have bells too?

 

[Starmill]

Brand-new 377s. (450s don't have a bell, they have a buzzer, same as all other Desiros.)

Have you read that backwards? I just said 450s have buzzers on the basis of a previous post which received assent - and AlexS just told me that 377s have bells... or do they have both/some have one some the other?

 

[Muzer]

Favourite is the two ducks mating sound on 158s.

Hah, I love that description. Back before I knew much about trains and I commuted to school on a 159, because it just sounds so mechanical rather than, I dunno, obviously a notification/communication noise, I always assumed it was just some part of the door mechanism making a weird noise for some reason (Only usually heard it if I was sitting in the vestibule or if the pneumatic door was malfunctioning, which seems to happen a lot less nowadays).

 

[Galvanize]

Went on the GWR Railcar at Didcot the other week, was quite surprised to hear a bell signal given to the driver by the guard!
"Riiiing riiiing"

 

[Wikipedia]

CEPs had a bell in the cab and more of a buzz in the van, possibly with the fact that the loudaphone is used to reply to the 'ding ding'.

Thumpers had a bell in the cab and a bell that tends to just buzz in the van.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

I often wondered why the signal to start on an EMU on the mainline was two bells while on the Underground it was one.