GPO & Post office crossed wires & party lines

only_me · 19-07-2012, 07:02

Anyone remember the old telephone systems? It was a right laugh when you picked up a phone receiver to find someone else on the line. Then you would be having a conversation and someone would butt in on your call. The good old days of cross wires and party lines

hillsbro · 19-07-2012, 07:56

Oh the nostalgia.... The phone had a CALL EXCHANGE button (see here) and if you were lucky you could make a call. I don't think I ever heard anyone else's conversation, though once in c. 1963 I rang the Central Libary. Halfway through the conversation there was a loud click. Then I heard a phone ringing and a voice said "Boyers and Whitehead, Solicitors, can I help you?"..

iamwoody · 19-07-2012, 08:15

Anyone a bit younger remember party lines ? its where you had to share the phone line with someone else and when they were using it you couldn,t , god knows what would have happened in an emergency ,and it seems everytime i wanted to phone my friends the woman down the road was always on the phone for hours at a time which as a young sprog used to wind me up so in the end i used to tell her in no uncertain terms to hurry up and put the phone down , which she never did she just then left the phone off the hook so we couldn,t use it all resulting in my dad having to go down the road to sort it out and me getting a clip , aaaahhhh the good old days !

only_me · 19-07-2012, 08:57

When we were kids we kept running up our parents phone bill. To stop this my mum put one of those little lock things on to stop us turning the dialler. Being devious

i learned you could make a call by tapping the buttons the handset sits on. This was done simply by tapping the coresponding number ie 4 taps for number 4 etc. The old phone diallers worked on a tapping (clicking) system.

Me mum gave up in the end and had to have the phone cut off

OwlsChick · 19-07-2012, 17:19

Oh how i wish id known that back in the 70s....Drat!!!

fatrajah · 20-07-2012, 21:24

Most of the crossed lines were caused by tiny maladjustments of the mechanisms in the telephone exchanges of the time. If a mechanism was more than a few thousands of an inch out of adjustment, it was enough to give a crossed line.

sandie · 21-07-2012, 14:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatrajah

Most of the crossed lines were caused by tiny maladjustments of the mechanisms in the telephone exchanges of the time. If a mechanism was more than a few thousands of an inch out of adjustment, it was enough to give a crossed line.

I would like to know which of the mechanisms you refer to, as an X GPO Engineer the problems with crossed lines was caused by either cross talk due to water in the UG network or work bieng carried out by engineers.

The Strouger 1st 2nd and final selectors in the exchange. Curious to understand where the few thousdands of an inch out of adjustment comes from we as engineers did not carry micrometers.
Please explane where your logic comes from.

fatrajah · 22-07-2012, 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandie

I would like to know which of the mechanisms you refer to, as an X GPO Engineer the problems with crossed lines was caused by either cross talk due to water in the UG network or work bieng carried out by engineers.

The Strouger 1st 2nd and final selectors in the exchange. Curious to understand where the few thousdands of an inch out of adjustment comes from we as engineers did not carry micrometers.
Please explane where your logic comes from.

The most common reason, in my experience, was excessive rotary backlash on group selectors. Of course the problem never ocurred on final selectors as they were battery testing. Engineers used feeler gauges in mil thicknesses to adjust the 2000 & 4000-type mechanisms & of course the 3000 & 600 type relays. I was on exchange maintenance for 20 years & was TO(A) of Chesterfield GSC for about 5 years.

Garbo · 22-07-2012, 19:01

dont suppose any of you have any old photos of the strowger and crossbar systems?

fatrajah · 22-07-2012, 19:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garbo

dont suppose any of you have any old photos of the strowger and crossbar systems?

Afraid not. I always intended to take a few photos but I never got around to it. You could try www.lightstraw.co.uk

Garbo · 22-07-2012, 20:00

i have read that entire site many times

from the days when stuff was interesting

sandie · 23-07-2012, 14:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatrajah

The most common reason, in my experience, was excessive rotary backlash on group selectors. Of course the problem never ocurred on final selectors as they were battery testing. Engineers used feeler gauges in mil thicknesses to adjust the 2000 & 4000-type mechanisms & of course the 3000 & 600 type relays. I was on exchange maintenance for 20 years & was TO(A) of Chesterfield GSC for about 5 years.

Sorry to correct you in the 60's we delt in thousands not mm.
I also was a TO at West Street then Eldon House.
So you was a GPO Telephone Engineer, then it changed to Post Office Telephones and then to BT.

fatrajah · 23-07-2012, 19:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandie

Sorry to correct you in the 60's we delt in thousands not mm.
I also was a TO at West Street then Eldon House.
So you was a GPO Telephone Engineer, then it changed to Post Office Telephones and then to BT.

Sorry to correct you but 1 mil = 1 thou; I have checked some old gauges with a micrometer. You've got me thinking now. I was shown around West Street exchange as part of the TT(A) induction course in September 1965. I can still recall some of the names from that time. There was Win Hastings, Frank Nortcliffe, Jim O'Kelleher, Fred Major, Paul Davenport & maybe Ken Harvey. I too worked at Eldon House for a time, but I was on exchange construction & clerk of works.

Garbo · 23-07-2012, 20:23

mil and thou are the same measurement, .001" or .0254mm

fatrajah · 23-07-2012, 20:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garbo

mil and thou are the same measurement, .001" or .0254mm

Thanks for the back-up.

bern351 · 23-07-2012, 20:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatrajah

Sorry to correct you but 1 mil = 1 thou; I have checked some old gauges with a micrometer. You've got me thinking now. I was shown around West Street exchange as part of the TT(A) induction course in September 1965. I can still recall some of the names from that time. There was Win Hastings, Frank Nortcliffe, Jim O'Kelleher, Fred Major, Paul Davenport & maybe Ken Harvey. I too worked at Eldon House for a time, but I was on exchange construction & clerk of works.

That's interresting.
I was on exchange construction/clerk of works in Eldon House 1966 until I was made up to TO in 1973. We obviously worked together at one point. Joe Brown was LTO when I went into Eldon, then Reg Wilkinson took over when Joe went to Harrogate.

Garbo · 23-07-2012, 21:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatrajah

Thanks for the back-up.

just thought it might have been confusing for people thinking mil meant mm, since the thou and mil arent used outside engineering circles.

its been a dream to work a strowger exchange and i always enjoyed wiring up 500 pair telephone cables to the DPs at work

its boring now everything is basically a computer and the phones are all IP

the last exchange i fitted had 0 downtime during the 8 years or so it was installed, the new ip system, i dont think a day passes without part of it, or a site breaking down in one way or another

fatrajah · 23-07-2012, 21:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by bern351

That's interresting.
I was on exchange construction/clerk of works in Eldon House 1966 until I was made up to TO in 1973. We obviously worked together at one point. Joe Brown was LTO when I went into Eldon, then Reg Wilkinson took over when Joe went to Harrogate.

You must be Bernard Parkin! I have been in contact on-and-off with Ian McGowan for several years & he told me you now lived in Ireland. How are you these days? I'm Roger Wells by the way.

bern351 · 23-07-2012, 23:04

Yes I worked it out you were. You got a mention in the book my wife wrote. Do you remember the night you spent in the van while Ian and I were involved in a rescue at Oxlow? Ian and I went straight into work the following morning and you took the day off LOL.
Nice to be in touch after all these years.

fatrajah · 24-07-2012, 09:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by bern351

Yes I worked it out you were. You got a mention in the book my wife wrote. Do you remember the night you spent in the van while Ian and I were involved in a rescue at Oxlow? Ian and I went straight into work the following morning and you took the day off LOL.
Nice to be in touch after all these years.

I've been trying to piece together the sequence of events of that weekend in March 1968. I remember spending Saturday night in a room above a pub somewhere in Buxton; I don't remember you being there. On Sunday Ian & I went into one of the caves (was it Giants?) Ian showed me round a few of the features & then went off to do a bit of exploring, leaving me in utter darkness for about 20 mins. Was he testing my nerve? Anyhow I didn't panic.

Eventually we made the strenuous (to me) climb up the wire ladder to the surface. Then it all goes a bit hazy. I think I remember going to some sort of rescue place at Bakewell to meet up with other rescuers. I don't remember spending Sunday night in the van, but I'll take you word for it.

As is often the case, the story gets garbled by people who know nothing of what really happened; before long, the story got around that I was the one who had to be rescued! Actually it was someone called Nick Rose who was studying at Sheffield Poly or University.

What's this about a book? Is it, Bernard Parkin: This is Your Life? I might treat myself to a copy if it is.