Some old step by step switches...I think some of them were probably 50 years when they were taken out of service by Ma bell. Don't laugh at them...these switches were very reliable...newer switches of course needed less maintenance and fewer workers to maintain them.
Watching this video reminds me of a Kraftwerk song I heard recently on the radio, the song is called Telephone Call, I absolutely love it. The song came out in 1987, was this telephone exchange still in operation by then?
Glad you liked it,l know l did.Very nostalgic sounds,and it even had the old dial tone like a purring cat.The installation's at the Amberley Chalkpits Museum,in West Sussex.
l can thoroughly recommend that place,there's all sorts of telephonic equipment in a permanent exhibition too,in another building.Also much old electronic stuff in yet another place,and an exhibition of all sorts of electrically driven and generators in ANOTHER place!
That's a strowger type exchange. The grey selectors are pre-war, and the straw-coloured ones post-war.
When I was v. young in 1994 on holiday with my parents, I got to play with one of the very last of these exchanges, from a payphone in a tiny welsh village. The exchange was in the adjacent post office, and through the window you could see and hear the selectors moving as people made calls.
Some old step by step switches...I think some of them were probably 50 years when they were taken out of service by Ma bell. Don't laugh at them...these switches were very reliable...newer switches of course needed less maintenance and fewer workers to maintain them.
whiskeyify 8 months ago
@whiskeyify Sometimes l do wonder if we've progressed or not! The new equipment wouldn't run for 50 years l suspect.
AG3304 8 months ago
Watching this video reminds me of a Kraftwerk song I heard recently on the radio, the song is called Telephone Call, I absolutely love it. The song came out in 1987, was this telephone exchange still in operation by then?
Lachlant1984 1 year ago
@Lachlant1984 l think it probably was still in use then!
AG3304 1 year ago
Fantastic, good to see and hear some strowger group selectors and final selectors in action. Must be 20+ years since I last saw them in action :-)
bakelitetelephones 2 years ago
Glad you liked it,l know l did.Very nostalgic sounds,and it even had the old dial tone like a purring cat.The installation's at the Amberley Chalkpits Museum,in West Sussex.
AG3304 2 years ago
Thanks, I will make a point of visiting the Amberley chalkpits museum,in West Sussex to see and hear it.
bakelitetelephones 2 years ago
l can thoroughly recommend that place,there's all sorts of telephonic equipment in a permanent exhibition too,in another building.Also much old electronic stuff in yet another place,and an exhibition of all sorts of electrically driven and generators in ANOTHER place!
AG3304 2 years ago
Cool!
l30779 2 years ago
Thanks,no microprocessors to act up in that...
AG3304 2 years ago
Comment removed
Madness832 2 years ago
Tick tick tick tick kerchunk.All electro mechanical!
AG3304 2 years ago
Great video :D Where did you film this?
That's a strowger type exchange. The grey selectors are pre-war, and the straw-coloured ones post-war.
When I was v. young in 1994 on holiday with my parents, I got to play with one of the very last of these exchanges, from a payphone in a tiny welsh village. The exchange was in the adjacent post office, and through the window you could see and hear the selectors moving as people made calls.
I took a video of it, but can't find it now :(
Jamiep84 2 years ago
This is installed at the Amberley Chalkpits Museum in W Sussex.Pity you can't find your video!
AG3304 2 years ago
Looks as if they put some dodern circuit boards in there.
Here in the US its hard to find old stuff like this
raymondleeleggs 2 years ago
lt's that way now here too!
AG3304 2 years ago
I always imagined it a bit like The Hello Girls, where you had to switch the cable manually to put a call through!
AnalogueJosh 2 years ago
l have a feeling this was just one step above that."Speak up,your call has been connected!"
AG3304 2 years ago
"Hold the line please while I connect you"
AnalogueJosh 2 years ago
l just about recall that!
AG3304 2 years ago