Interesting video

[Pellseinydd]

Last A/B box in the UK Network - 25th August 1994
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JTEcC7XJY0

[Pellseinydd]

I bought this a week or so ago.

It was as I suspected the Tele 238 from the Papa Stour Kiosk A/B box and it has cleaned up nicely and luckily it was only the dial celluloid which had discoloured - now replaced and phone looks just as it is in August 1994. Interesting that it was fitted with a rare Dial No 20 which allowed the digits 1 9 and 0 to be dialled without putting money in - allowed 100 for the operator. The box did not go to the BT Museum as mentioned in the news bulletin. They didn't want it and offered it to me. However when BT's Scottish Payphone manager in Aberdeen tried to find where it had gone, it had vanished! He did get the notices from the kiosk for me (except the blue stick on vinyl one ) So the phone has finally reached where it was supposed to go to after27 years! Now the A/B box ! At least I've got the penultimate A/B box that was in use which finished in use the week before on the island of Foula where I found it in the exchange in July 1995 when I recovered the exchange .

[hamid_1]

Thanks for posting the video.

I wonder what was written on the blue notice inside the kiosk. Do you know? The video is only clear enough for me to make out the words "British Telecom North of Scotland".

I liked the islander's trick of pressing the B button to get his money back instead of talking when his girlfriend's father answered the phone!

[Pellseinydd]

Originally Posted by hamid_1

Thanks for posting the video.

I wonder what was written on the blue notice inside the kiosk. Do you know? The video is only clear enough for me to make out the words "British Telecom North of Scotland".

I liked the islander's trick of pressing the B button to get his money back instead of talking when his girlfriend's father answered the phone!

I think the blue notice explains it is one of the last A/B boxes and that callers only had to dial the last two digits of other Papa Stour numbers - not the three digit number as listed in the Telephone Directory. Callers from the rest of the UK network dialled the code for Papa Stour fiollowed by the three digit Papa Stour number as in the phone book. There was a similar notice by the A/B Box in the hotel on Mull which also had an IAX5 exchange. Nearby Foula had the last IAX5 and you can hear an excerpt from a BBC Radio 4 programme 'The Secret Life of Telephone Numbers' from about 15 years ago where a resident of Foula talks about their phones by dialling Lerwick (01595) 708222 - a normal landline number so in most free call packages.

On Papa Stour, callers had to dial a '9' to reach the 'mainland network - hence the reason that to reach Sumburgh exchange from Papa Stour, you dialled 999 followed by the four digit Sumburgh number !! The first 9 took you to the mainland, the second 9 to Lerwick Group Switching Centre then the third 9 took you to the Sumburgh Linked Numbering Scheme based on Sumburgh TXE2 exchange.

[Graham G3ZVT]

That reminds me of a Pitney Bowes telephone that had various one touch buttons for accessing franked mail related services. Granted, these were intended to be pressed after the phone number was dialled, but I still thought it was unfortunate that one dialled 999#

[Herald1360]

I remember local codes like 99893. Could be embarrassing if misdialled!

[Test Desk]

As a child, a gang of us would walk to the park and spend several hours there unaware of the time as none of us owned a watch. We sometimes used a nearby A/B box to call the operator and ask the time which sometimes worked depending on whether the operator's supervisor was in earshot!
However on one occasion, a mate persuaded me to dial WXY to get the speaking clock and like a fool, I did. That was the last time I bothered a telephone operator for no good reason!

[IOWPhoneGuy]

Originally Posted by Pellseinydd

Interesting that it was fitted with a rare Dial No 20 which allowed the digits 1 9 and 0 to be dialled without putting money in - allowed 100 for the operator.

That's just your second 20, isn't it? I've had two now too Pity the cord has been cut; it was on the phone when taken away.

Maybe one day the AB box will turn up too... maybe.