A friend of mine who is responsible for the upkeep of Soo Line 2442, the 2-8-0 in the park in Marshfield, WI reports that they nearly lost the bell over the last couple of weeks. Persons unknown were able to gain access to the fenced enclosure and unbolt the clapper, but the bell itself refused to budge out of the hanger. When it gets put back together, the nuts will be tack welded. However, I’d like to suggest that the bell, hanger, and clapper be engraved STOLEN FROM CITY OF MARSHFIELD, to make the piece less desirable to collectors, and to allow positive identification if the worst should happen. In order to be a deterrent, however, this engraving would need to be visible. My thoughts are that engraving the top outside surface of the bell around the mount would not be visible from the ground, but would be visible to someone bent on removing it. One concern, however, is that if the engraving is deep enough to not be easily polished out, it will remove enough metal to change the tone. Does anyone have any experience with this? What would be the recommended way to mark a bell?

I marked a number of the bells at the Museum of Transport (St. Louis) with steel stamps. Stamped the engine no. and the initials M.O.T. on top of the bell and in another location that is normally unseen. I think the stamps were about 3/8ths and were stamped pretty deep. As far as I can tell the tone wasn't affected.

I wonder if more sites could not investigate using smallweb cams to keep things secure. I was looking atsome for work recently and they go for about agrand installed. Amazingly, they can see quite wellin very low light.If some thugs were ID'ed and arrested, it mightserve to deter others.

Is there a reason for keeping the original bell on the locomotive? For example, are people occasionally allowed to ring the bell? If not, why not have a plastic or composite replica made and installed on the locomotive and keep the actual bell in the local historical society, city hall or some other more secure location. This way the orignal bell wouldn't have to be altered with the "Stolen From" engraving and the locomotive would look complete. Are there stand-in plastic or composite bells available any where now? I would imagine there would be a good market for them among both railfans and locomotive owners.Tom Cornillie

Wow Tom,I may be off base here, but that sounds like a fantastic idea! For a park engine subject to vandalism this makes perfect sense! Retain historically significant aspects in a safe location and make the display look correct.Scott

Thanks for all the comments on the bell theft prevention measures. It looks like steel stamps are a better way to go than engraving anything into the bell, since the stamps simply displace material rather than removing it.The suggestion to cast a plaster or urethane replica bell is interesting. I'm aware that museums do this with builder's plates to prevent theft of the originals, but I've never heard of doing it for a non-operating bell. However, I'm not sure it would be an option here, for a couple of reasons; lack of budget to cover the cost, and local politics.Like many park engines, the City of Marshfield as an institution has little love for this one. Indeed, the engine was sprouting grass and small trees when the need to do some research for a model project brought a local resident into close contact with the engine a number of years ago, and he was appalled. When he complained to the city, they basically said, "Well, what should we do?" Luckily Keith had obtained a copy of J. David Conrad's "Care and Preservation of Displayed Locomotives", and had a ready answer. Keith and some members of the local model railroad club agreed to do the work, and the city agreed to fund it. The locomotive was stripped of it's lagging (before abatement became a big deal) and now sits under a roof the city constructed, illuminated at night.However, separating the bell and whistle from the locomotive may not be in the best interests of preservation. As long as they are together, it's pretty obvious that the hardware belongs on the locomotive. Once removed, the hardware stands as good a chance of ending up in the municipal garage sale as anywhere else. Not everyone in city government can be counted on to be as sensitive to preservation as these dedicated fans are.

Dennis,Putting the artifacts on display at the local library or historical society would probably keep them safe.The West Side Shay on display outside the offices of the Georgetown Loop RR looked very complete. When I commented on this to one of the engineers, he laughed and said "Fooled you, didn't we?" The whistle was painted PVC pipe and the bell had been turned from a stack of wooden disks, then sealed and painted! From the ground, you couldn't tell. The Huckleberry RR has a locomotive on display along the line that has a headlight made from sheet metal with the reflector from an aluminum salad bowl. Class lights can be made from coffee cans! The visual effect can be near perfect, if the person making the replicas takes a bit of time to do it right, but when a thief gets up close, he'll give it up!Michael Allen