Re: Mechanical or hand rung bells?

I can tell you that the swinging yoke type is way better sounding. When I was a kid in Aberdeen Wa. at the end of the steam era, all of the locomotives used there (NP, UP, Milw) had this kind of ringer and they sounded very natural. I particularly remember the Northern Pacific, which had a stiff climb from the Aberdeen yards to the Wishkah River bridge. The bell and the exhaust had the same cadence; chug clang chug clang chug clang.

When Sumpter Valley's No. 19 was restored a piston type ringer was added. This thing sounded so bad that no one was unhappy when it was removed due to maintenance problems.