Western Railroad Discussion > UCLA football home game question.

All;

No the title is not a miss-print.

While watching the UCLA vs ASU football game form far away on Saturday I kept hearing what sounded like a locomotive bell ringing.

Was I imagining this or is there a tradition involving a locomotive bell at UCLA football games?

Appreciate any information.

4489 out.

Stafnurd has an Amtrak horn they blast whenever they score.  As a Cal grad, drives me totally crazy!  :-)
C

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

Short answer is YES!!  The Victory Bell is a former Southern Pacific locomotive bell.  It must be in the hands of UCLA this year (The winner of the USC-UCLA game gets the bell for the year).  A link to the wikipedia article doesn't want to work, but serach Victory Bell USC UCLA at wikipedia and it details the history of the bell.

 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/15 19:09 by BNSF6400.

Many thanks.  I will look for more info.  I'm also happy to know that I am not totally crazy!

BNSF6400 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Short answer is YES!!  The Victory Bell is a
> former Southern Pacific locomotive bell.  It must
> be in the hands of UCLA this year (The winner of
> the USC-UCLA game gets the bell for the year).  A
> link to the wikipedia article doesn't want to
> work, but serach Victory Bell USC UCLA at
> wikipedia and it details the history of the bell.
>
And said bell has been in Bruin hands for three years and counting.  The cradle is painted UCLA blue;  when the other guys have it the cradle is red.

I have a conflict when the USC-UCLA games comes up.  My mother was one of the first graduates from the Westwood campus back in the early 1930s, and my  older daughter graduated from USC in 1983.  For her commencement ceremony, the family went over to USC and my mother came along.  When we arrived, she got out of the car, looked around, and said, "I never thought I'd ever set foot on this campus."  But she was proud of her granddaughter anyway.  During the proceedings I hear a locomotive horn and caught a glimpse of an SP SW-1500 going by in the distance, heading west on the old Pacific Electric Santa Monica Air Line.  If someone had said that the rickety old railway would be replaced by a double track light rail line in less than 30 years......

This was over 50 years ago now, but when I went to Monrovia High School, I recall that we had a bell from a retired Santa Fe steam locomotive to be rung when the Wildcats scored in a football game.

I think you probably heard the recording of a bell whenever UCLA is on defense and the opponent is facing a 3rd down.  It's a 'call to arms' of sorts - urging the Bruin faithful to get on their feet and make a lot of noise to unnerve the opponent.  I've been going to games at the Rose Bowl since 2007 and they've done this every year.

Rich



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/15 19:48 by PasadenaSub.

I'm with Rich on this one regarding UCLA.  I think you are probably talking about the 3rd down "Call to Arms" bell ringing. I watched that game (on TV) and heard it knowing what it was for - it helped me at times when I was making a snack or doing something else and was distracted from the game.  I'd hear the bell ring and turn my attention back to the game because I knew it must be a third down play.   A lot of football teams do this (both pro and college).  I watch a lot of Ohio State football (one of my kids goes there) and they play a recording of a large Big Ben type of a bell on third downs (edit - it's from Hells Bells by AC/DC).  That large / Big Ben sound is popular and used by many teams. 

San Bernardino has a minor league single A ball club that plays at what is now called San Manuel Stadium.  The team itself is called the Inland Empire 66ers (ala Route 66 which runs through town).  They blast a diesel horn everytime the 66ers hit a home run.  That horn was donated to the team by the AT&SF (I believe it was donated before the BNSF merger).  There is a BNSF siding or branch that runs very near by the stadium and on the occasions (very rare) when a train is working those tracks during a game, you can hear the train blowing for the crossings.  I heard a horn blast at one of the night games I attended and it confused me because no one had hit a home run at the time.  After then hearing the full crossing sequence of horn blasts I realized it was coming from outside the stadium for real railraod activity. LOL

Greg



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/15 13:27 by SWChief.

When did UCLA quit using their air horn? I recall that from the 1950's on.

CarolVoss Wrote:
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> Stafnurd has an Amtrak horn they blast whenever
> they score.  As a Cal grad, drives me totally
> crazy!  :-)
> C                                                                                                                                                                                              Carol, One would think a graduate from the great University of California would at least know how to spell correctly.  And, for a railroad fan of your repute, to criticize the use of a railroad air horn is, well, something like heresy.  I would recommend ear plugs if you plan to view or attend the Big Game this year, as the sounds in the air are likely to be plenty "horny"!!  GO Big Tree!!  Disclaimer: Big Tree has to be the worst sports logo EVER, same with the 'Cardinal".......so, GO INDIANS!  Because you have the first good Cal team in years, this one could actually be a good game.  And finally, I sentence you to always think of my namesake university whenever you hear a diesel railroad horn, that would be fitting punishment for your crime of heresy.  AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Stanford, my good friend, I would love to know why you were named for the junior college in Palo Alto.  :-) As to the Big Game this year, well, hope springs eternal but we still have to play some of the big boys, starting this Saturday.  GO BEARS!!!!!
C

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

First off I wish to thank the Stanford family for their foresight in naming the University after me a full 50 years prior to my birth, such an honor.  That's my lie, and I'm sticking to it.  Truth be told, so far as I know, Stanford U had nothing to do with my name.....sort of.  My Dad, the actual "agentatascadero", was Samuel White.  My parents wanted a similar name for me,  but not "Junior", something I've always been grateful for.  They liked "Stan", but thought it sounded too much like "Sam", and so chose Stanford.  The objective in naming me was to avoid "Stanley", a name they didn't much like.   I was born close to my Dad's seniority date in 1941, so they certainly knew of Leland Stanford and Leland Stanford Jr University.  Regards your game this week, Utah could be your biggest challenge of the season....where did they COME FROM?  In preseason predictions they were generally picked to finish last in thier division.  And, Carol, you do live close to the tracks, right?  Now you could be fated to forever wonder if Stanford has scored yet again each time a train blows for your crossing!!  Disclosure: I don't care for diesel horns all that much either, as each time I hear one, I'm reminded of the demise of my beloved steam power and their lovely and haunting whistles.  Every time I go to San Lorenzo valley, I feel right at home with the constant whistles echoing everywhere you go.  AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

CarolVoss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Stanford, my good friend, I would love to know why
> you were named for the junior college in Palo
> Alto.  :-) As to the Big Game this year, well,
> hope springs eternal but we still have to play
> some of the big boys, starting this Saturday.  GO
> BEARS!!!!!
> C

Carol,
Love the reference to the J.C. in Palo Alto.  Kind of like Figueroa Tech,  that other institution in Los Angeles.  Actually the name of Stanford is Leland Stanford Junior University,  whatever that refers to.

Master, Leland Stanford, in the late 1800s, wanted to make a large donation to Harvard U, and they refused him.  One can imagine how that would piss off a man of his stature.  So, he made a course correction, and decided to instead start his own University.  Somewhere around that time, his son, Leland Jr, died, can't recall what the illness was, it was a natural to name his new U after his late son, hence Leland Stanford Jr University, founded in the 1890s.   Junior college, indeed.....how revealing of something....attitude, perhaps?  AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/15 20:56 by agentatascadero.