Rare British Telecoms Telephones

[Pellseinydd]

Does anyone know the model number of this very rare pair of BT telephones?

They are complete with their original box.

They were sent to me many years ago after I gave a talk to the then Institution of British Telecom Engineers at BTs National Control Centre at Oswestry..

Any help welcome

[CambridgeWorks]

I bet they would even work with fibre between them!
Rob (small PO stepladder you collected from me in Spalding)

[Roger Ramjet]

I like those & they evoke fond memories because I made up a similar pair when I was a teenager.

They worked to a degree but I then evolved the research in to a pair of transistor intercoms that cost 45/- from Youngs Camera store on Belvoir St. Leicester.

I then went on to modify a couple of tele 162's for DC signalling.

So for me the rare "telephones" in you piccy played a pivotal role in my interest in telecommunications.

Rog

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by robinshack

I bet they would even work with fibre between them!
Rob (small PO stepladder you collected from me in Spalding)

I was told at the time they were 'very future looking' I wonder if that was what they mean't ? There were engineers with all sorts of knowledge at the talk. Only time I've given a talk which included 'directors' of the said outfit. Made lots of contacts which helped when I was wanting kit that BT had.

GPO Stepladder still travels about where it would have - strapped inside roof in back of my 'staff transport'- see attached. Even the traffic cone is a GPO one - found thirty years ago one Sunday afternoon whilst relieving exchanges of items of interest! The Renters A/B box is the one which appeared in the BBCs 'The Hello Girls' - all episodes on You Tube' but make sure you put the 'BBC' in the search details otherwise you get some interesting results !!

All the telephones are connected up and working on CNet and able to make/receive calls all around the World. Surprising what you can do with mirrors and wet string. Who believes the coming of fibre will kill old rotary dial telephones?

[Graham G3ZVT]

Goodness me, that's sparked a very early memory, I must have been about 6, playing in the street with some other children (you used to be able to do that) I was unhappy about something and was crying, and the daughter of the woman that owned the sweet shop, Ruthie who was a little older than me pacified me letting me use one end of her string telephone. The handsets were bright red plastic and not a bit like tin cans, more like a microphone Alan Wicker might have used. They also had whistles for calling the other party, I thought that was a bit superfluous.

[Roger Ramjet]

Imagine a post apocolyptic world with all things electric fried by EMP's & what are we left with to communicate with others ?

Smoke signals.....Distant Drums......Beacons

Or maybe wet string & tin cans !

Maybe they were right when they said "future looking".

Rog

[Jon_G4MDC]

Puzzled that the package says OHMS with H=His when these appear more likely from the 1980's when the H=Her. Have they been sent by post more recently perhaps?

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by Jon_G4MDC

Puzzled that the package says OHMS with H=His when these appear more likely from the 1980's when the H=Her. Have they been sent by post more recently perhaps?

They were sent in mid 1990's but did say they were 'future looking'.

Surprising what was hanging around from much earlier in those days though!

[G6Tanuki]

Just be glad you didn't get the PayPhone version..

"And the Operator said 40 cents more for the next three minutes"

[fetteler]

Originally Posted by Jon_G4MDC

Puzzled that the package says OHMS with H=His when these appear more likely from the 1980's when the H=Her. Have they been sent by post more recently perhaps?

Yes, I'm puzzled by that too and also by the GPO (which I believe was abolished in 1969) label on the box containing a British Telecom logo item. I'm sure there's an interesting explanation to be had!

Steve

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by fetteler

Yes, I'm puzzled by that too and also by the GPO (which I believe was abolished in 1969) label on the box containing a British Telecom logo item. I'm sure there's an interesting explanation to be had!

Steve

Just an old label! In the days pre-1969, OHMS labels used by the GPO had the GPO logo on them. It didn't come through the post from memory.

You never know what happens with items. For instance in August 1994 BT Museum offered me the telephone from the very last A/B box in service still in service on Papa Stour in the Shetland Islands. They didn't want it and put me in touch with the Payhone Manager for the Highlands and Islands in Aberdeen. But he couldn't find where it had gone Engineers in Shetland just said it had 'gone south' but he did get me the notices out of the frames in the kiosk. But the phone eventually turned up a couple of years ago after 27 years! It was in the condition it was when it was taken out of the kiosk still with the 'Papa Stour' dial label with 'Papa Stour 224X' on the label (in those days the Papa Stour exchange was a 20 line Island Automatic eXchange No 5' (IAX5).I recovered the last IAX5 (and the last electro-mechanical exchange in the UK PSTN) the following year from Foula in the Shetland Isles

Plus the celluloid cover had discoloured and you could read the earlier number Papa Stour 277 when they had a 10 line 'Island Automatic eXchange' . However the Papa Stour 224X phone turned up a couple of years ago - where it had been since 1994, I've not found out! It was fitted with the very rare 'Dial No 20' normally only ever used in London Director Area on A/B boxes in the six months prior to the introduction of Trunk Dialling when the phonebox would have been changed to a Tele 705 POA payphone. Only Dial 20 Ive ever seen. It can dial 1, 9 and 0 without putting money in. On Papa Stour you dialled 9100 for the operator!

See iTN News clip but never did go to the BT Museum which was not far off closing .

[Jon_G4MDC]

So the label is not only pre 1969, it must be from the early 1950s?

[Cruisin Marine]

Are you sure those intergalactic can phones are from BT days, they look to pre-date that, maybe the Barney Rubble Post Office versions?

[Dave Moll]

But the town of Bedrock had dial 'phones - albeit with a base six numbering scheme!

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by Dave Moll

But the town of Bedrock had dial 'phones - albeit with a base six numbering scheme!

They only had single digit numbers on Bedrock (STD Code 0238 or earlier 0BE8) !

Fred Flintone was number 2 and Barney Rubble was number 3 so I was told

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by Cruisin Marine

Are you sure those intergalactic can phones are from BT days, they look to pre-date that, maybe the Barney Rubble Post Office versions?

They are genuine BT era telephones.

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by Pellseinydd

They only had single digit numbers on Bedrock (STD Code 0238 or earlier 0BE8) !

Fred Flintone was number 2 and Barney Rubble was number 3 so I was told

Forgot to add the picture of Bedrock 2 - Fred was well advanced in those days

[Cruisin Marine]

Was it true that Dino and Bam Bam ran competing telephone companies?
I vaguely recall that both failed because they had very noisy lines!

[Cruisin Marine]

Originally Posted by Pellseinydd

They only had single digit numbers on Bedrock (STD Code 0238 or earlier 0BE8) !

Fred Flintone was number 2 and Barney Rubble was number 3 so I was told

But, as Pat McGoohan said (more than once) who was number 1?

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by Cruisin Marine

But, as Pat McGoohan said (more than once) who was number 1?

No 1 was usually the post office in the old days. See attached list from an old Telephone Directory.

Forgot to mention that Fred Flintstone's line is still there for those who have a line on CNet ! As mentioned Bedrock's code was 0238 and Fred's number was 2.