Trying to restore this bell ringer to operating condition. Do not know how the get the bell to ring. Is there something that originally interrupted the current to get it to cycle and ring?
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Best that I can come up with is try Olsen Toy Train Parts website, and search their Library section. Look for the 203 locomotive, and it shows a diagram for the bell ringer assembly. Maybe you can make sense of it, and it appears to get its power from the locos through a jack/plug connection.
Thanks. I do not have a tender with connections to the engine. Its lionel number is 2203T
A 2203T tender does not have a bell. It might have an operating light on the back of the tender. The bell tenders should be 2203B, 2403B, and 6403B. The jacks are for the collector pick-up and operating coupler on the engine. Open the tender up and see if it has a bell in it.
Old Fart, You are asking about restoring the bell operation in your first post, THEN contradict yourself saying that you have a 2203T. The "T" designates NO BELL, where any tender (exclusive to Slopeback's) with the "B" designation, indicates having a bell. The list of "Bell" equipped tenders is more than Dan65 has posted. The Slopeback's are part of the Semi-scale group of locos.
The Prewar Bell ringing tenders (all 0 gauge semi scale slopeback tenders) are the 2201B, 2203B, 2227B, 2228B, 2230B, 2231B, 2232B, & 2233B.
Their Postwar counterparts are the 2403B and 6403B.
Thanks. I just figured that out but, I don't have all the connections, relays and thermal unit depicted in the old drawings of that mechanism. I need to find these parts or do a work around,
The tender does have a bell and the number 2203 T is stamped on the inside of the casing. But, it has a bell and a coil, but none of the other components I am told make the bell ring cyclically
The tender bell consist of two components. The bell assembly, 2227B-7, and the lamp plate, 2227B-23. On the lamp plate there is a bi metallic strip with a contact heated with a ni chrome heating wire. The bi metal strip contact opens the heater wire and bell operating coil, which are in parallel. The bell rings once for each thermal cycle of the bi metallic strip contact. The tender back up light lamp is also mounted on lamp plate.
The bell assemblies come up for sale regularly, the the lamp plate is much less common. You might want to look for an electronic timer to ring the bell if you do not already have the lamp plate.
Very helpful. I do not have the lamp plate so the search will begin for an electronic timer
Thanks very much. The connection to the engine (which I do not have) and the other components I saw pictured were very confusing to me.
The plugs from the tender to the locomotive have nothing to do with the bell. The bell gets its power from the roller on the tender and grounds thru the tender wheels. The tender plugs do different things depending on which variation of the switcher you have. They operate the front coupler from the tender accessory shoe, operate the front coupler from a slug relay located in the tender, operate the e-unit from a slug relay in the tender, and operate the back up light.
Thanks. None of those functions need to work in this case. So I guess I am still looking for a way to time the bell. Since I do not have the engine, I am mostly concerned with the operation of the tender. I have already added a back-up light to the mix and now are left with the remaining problem of bell operation.
By the way, how did you find the earlier string. I had trouble seeing where it was
