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Old 28th Jul 2007, 12:45 am   #1
Nickthedentist
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Default When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

Hello everyone!

Can anyone tell me when the familiar Bakelite 200/300 series phones ceased to be in common use?

I presume there must have been a long period of overlap with the 700-series instruments.

But then what? Were they "upgraded" to 700-series models only when they were reported as faulty, or was there a programme of wholesale replacement? Did they survive longer in commercial or residential situations?

I can remember my aunt buying a 1930s house in the early 1980s, which had a beautifully shiney black 332 in the hallway. Sadly, a BT engineer called within a day of her taking posession, and swapped it for a horrible ivory 746

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Old 28th Jul 2007, 9:18 am   #2
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

As a Trainee Technician Apprentice TT(A) with Post Office Telephones I spent a few weeks on Subs Apps Maintenance in 1968.

At that time if a 200 or 300 type telephone needed to be replaced (a rare occurrence) it would replaced with a 300 type. This was a source of great annoyance to subscribers who would report non-existent faults on, or deliberately break 2/300 type telephones in hope of getting a 700 type. If they wanted a 700 type a charge of £1 was made. This applied to new installations as well. At that time my weekly wage was £6/5/6d or £6.28 in decimal coinage.

I can remember visiting a solicitor's office which looked like something out of Dickens and repacing two candlestick telephones with 300 types. The candlesticks went into the lineman's van (a Morris Minor) and never found their way back to the stores.

My grandfather had a 200 type and later a 300 type telephone up to the time he died in 1973.

I doubt there was any policy to change 300 type to 700 type wholesale. They would just have been changed when they went faulty. This probably happened from about 1972 onwards.
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Old 28th Jul 2007, 10:54 am   #3
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

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I doubt there was any policy to change 300 type to 700 type wholesale. They would just have been changed when they went faulty. This probably happened from about 1972 onwards.
This period would - if I recall - coincide with the appearance of such instruments in 'Exchange and Mart' by the likes of J. Bull (electrical) at a pound a go! (dials 25p) Did the GPO sell them off wholesale to such companies?
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Old 28th Jul 2007, 11:38 am   #4
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

I don't know a about that, but I think much surplus equipment was sent to third world Commonwealth countries.
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Old 28th Jul 2007, 11:38 am   #5
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

If you look beneath a 300 series 'phone, there's often either a stamp or a sticker giving a date of refurbishment as well as the refurbishing factory's code.

You sometimes see refurbishment dates long after the introduction of the 700 series and I've seen a 312 with a refurb' date as late as 1963. It seems most of the later refurbs' have the FWR factory code, which I believe was located in Wales.

This seems to back up what Graham said in his last sentence ( post #2 ). How I see it, the GPO wouldn't refurbish the 300s long after the introduction of the 700s if they had a definate policy of replacing them.

I would imagine the eventual influx of pushbutton 'phones with tone dialling and the increasingly necessary star+hash keys would have done more to see off dial' phones ( including 300 series survivors ) than the GPO/BT ever did out of deliberate policy.

I still use pre-700 series 'phones regularly, but then I'm an enthusiast - as are no doubt hundreds of other people. I note Nick ponders over when 300s went out of common use; makes me wonder how many non-enthusiast people still use them regular simply because they've never bothered to update. There must be some
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Old 28th Jul 2007, 11:41 am   #6
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

Many phones were refurbished in the local telephone area. A process known as "wipe up", even though it involved more than simply cleaning them. Only more serious cases were sent to "Factories Division" for major overhaul.
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Old 30th Jul 2007, 11:08 pm   #7
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

Thank you all for your interesting information, much appreicated

Quote:
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You sometimes see refurbishment dates long after the introduction of the 700 series and I've seen a 312 with a refurb' date as late as 1963. It seems most of the later refurbs' have the FWR factory code, which I believe was located in Wales.
It was a tatty 332 with a FWR 68/2 marking that prompted me to start this thread!

I've also just seen that one of my 232s is also stamped FWR 68. Incidentally, both have coiled handset cords, which gives the game away a bit

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Old 7th Aug 2007, 1:48 pm   #8
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

I remember my dads parents had a 300 series in 1972 still , can only just remember it . was very high up i remember , but i was very small . A friend in bradford on avon still has one that was there when he bought the house in 1980, was the only phone untill he got a cordless one about 7 years ago. He did say that when Bt came to do something he only just stopped the chap from walking out the door with it as he was going to replace it
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Old 7th Aug 2007, 8:45 pm   #9
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

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FWR 68/2........FWR 68. Incidentally, both have coiled handset cords, which gives the game away a bit

Nick.
That is LATE!

Regarding curly-cords, so far as I'm aware these were fitted only if the original cord needed replacement rather than out of deliberate policy. That's perhaps something Graham can confirm, or otherwise, more accurately than I can.

There were places where bakelite 'phones survived in common use rather longer than on the domestic front. These included factories ( especially in NW England ), mainline railways and also at obscure substations, storerooms etc on the London Underground system. Of course, some of these were not connected directly to the public telephone network and/or were not of GPO origin. That's just a mention and such a topic would be better as the subject of another thread if further discussion is warranted.
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Old 8th Aug 2007, 10:35 am   #10
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

As Nicks original post implicated domestic use of 200/300 series telephones, I've started a new thread on non-domestic usage here.

Please keep this thread relevant to domestic GPO telephones.
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Old 8th Aug 2007, 10:56 am   #11
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

Some telephone kiosks in rural areas weren't converted to Pay On Answer until some time after the exchanges serving them got STD. Thus they would have remained as Pre-payment (button A and B) types.

I don't think the FASTDIP (Full STD Implementation Program) was completed in part of the Highlands and Islands until the mid 1980s, so Pre-payment kiosks probably existed almost into the 1990s.

These would have used pre 700 type phones. Incidently they had special dials which allowed only the digits 9 (999) and 0 (Operator) to be dialled without inserting money.
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Old 8th Aug 2007, 1:32 pm   #12
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

Juts rememebred seeing a pyramid model in use in a shop in Devizes in the Mid to late 80s
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Old 10th Aug 2007, 12:28 pm   #13
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

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Some telephone kiosks in rural areas weren't converted to Pay On Answer until some time after the exchanges serving them got STD. Thus they would have remained as Pre-payment (button A and B) types.
Button A/B telephones (type 232 with dial) were still in use in the village of Harrington, West Cumberland, in 1973.
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Old 10th Aug 2007, 12:34 pm   #14
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

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Button A/B telephones (type 232 with dial) were still in use in the village of Harrington, West Cumberland, in 1973.
So it had a decimal coin box?
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Old 10th Aug 2007, 4:10 pm   #15
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

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So it had a decimal coin box?
Yes, as I remember. I know this as I was 14 visiting my grandfather in Whitehaven hospital at the time, and my dad used to stop to allow me to look (well, I've always been interested in that sort of thing!). The buttons 'A' and 'B' were still there. Not all call-boxes on the Harrington exchange were of this type, and I don't know if modifications had been made to the ones in question (didn't the money used to strike a gong inside the box, dependent on the coins inserted?).
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Old 10th Aug 2007, 5:49 pm   #16
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

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Juts rememebred seeing a pyramid model in use in a shop in Devizes in the Mid to late 80s
A shop in Workington, Cumberland (Mark Taylor's bicycle and toy shop) was equipped with a type 232 'plan-set' (bell set No: 39, table-pattern intercommunication switch) in 1975. One could catch tantalising glimpses of it in the back-office!
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Old 10th Aug 2007, 8:09 pm   #17
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

My two aunties ran a grocers shop in the 70's and had a 200 phone in the lounge until about 1974 when it was replaced with a bright red 700, but the 332 extension in the bedroom remained until they sold up in 1981. I used to call at a factory in Stoke who used 300 series phones as extensions to a PABX until they closed in around 1998. My parents still have a hard-wired 700 (early version with coloured dial) as their main rental instrument.
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Old 10th Aug 2007, 8:46 pm   #18
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

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A shop in Workington, Cumberland (Mark Taylor's bicycle and toy shop)
Sadly, no longer in existence
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Old 10th Aug 2007, 9:28 pm   #19
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

The last button A button B call boxes using 200 type telephones were still in use in the late 1980's early 1990's on some of the Scottish islands. They were linked to the mainland by radio if I remember correctly.

The coin box mechanism was quite easily converted to decimal currency using different weights and coin slots.

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Old 10th Aug 2007, 10:12 pm   #20
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Default Re: When were the GPO 200 and 300 series phones withdrawn?

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Sadly, no longer in existence
The premises are there, but are now 'Listers' pram/bed(?) shop. I guess the telephones have gone, too...

Interestingly (and rather off-topic), Mark Taylor moved into the premises of 'Brownes' on Murray Road. They (Brownes) had - up until the late 1970's - an original 'Lamson' vacuum tube system for distributing change and messages around the place in little metal cartridges with felt ends. There was a large vacuum pump in the upstairs office.

You know Workington? Burgess' garage on Jane Street had a type 232 instrument upstairs in an office until demolition in 1976. The only other examples of 200/300 type instruments I remember in service were on non-GPO networks.
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