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One of the best 302's I've found

Started by persido, September 09, 2015, 01:29:07 PM

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persido

Picked up this metal 302, there really is nothing special about it, but it has a local dial card, I am so happy to finally get my hands on a Murdock card from my local area.  The card has the city name Lawrence on it, it is the city next to my town I live in, back in the day the towns of Lawrence, Methuen, North Andover and West Andover in northern Massachusetts  all used the exchange Murdock, the town of Salem New Hampshire was also a local call  but they used TWinbrook as an exchange.  Lawrence was considered the big city in the area, so if the exchange Murdock originated in Lawrence and the smaller surrounding towns used the exchange, would the name Lawrence be on a dial card on a phone in one of the surrounding towns?

Thanks Scot

Fabius

Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

Doug Rose

Real nice Scot...I picked up one for Framingham a few years ago on a 5302, it was a good feeling to finally find one...Doug
Kidphone

WEBellSystemChristian

I found my first (and currently only) authentic local exchange card on a WE564 at a flea market. Ironically, I didn't find it at an antique store, I found it a few counties over from my city.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Bill

Interesting. Back in those days, MUrdock was also the exchange name in Windsor, Connecticut (just north of Hartford) where my wife grew up. I guess I realized that an exchange name might be reused, but I didn't realize that the reuse locations might be so close. Perhaps the difference is that Mass was served by New England Telephone, while Conn was served by SNET?

Bill

unbeldi

#5
These were assigned most likely long before office code protection existed, and even then the distance between them is fairly large that this does not even apply. As you say different companies had autonomy over their region in terms of numbering plans, so there was no reason to exclude them.  Likely there was some kind of historical reason for the name, was it a locally significant place or name?

PS: Acc. to the TENP database Murdock was a fairly frequently used name across the country, the database has seven pages of entries.

andre_janew

The first time I heard the name Murdock was on a TV show called The A Team.  Yes, I know the name probably was around long before that show.  Even so, that is the only other place I can think of where I have heard that name!

persido


Fabius

Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

unbeldi

#9
Quote from: persido on September 10, 2015, 12:36:44 PM
Quote from: Fabius on September 09, 2015, 02:49:37 PM
Nice. What year is the 302 dated?
The phone is dated 1946 thru out.

Scot

Really?
The number plate on the dial appears to be from 1953 or later.  Also the cords don't match for the 1940s.  Probably got replaced when the set was in refurbishing in the 50s.

Look for a mark on the metal housing, stamped into the metal on the inside rear wall.  If any, it would be a capital letter with 2 or 3 digits following.
Is there an H1 mark on the outside above the rear cord exit or stamped in ink on the inside?

PS: look also for a logo mark on the inside housing next to the cradle switch assembly.

oldguy

this post got my interest up. how do I find out what the prefix name was in the area I now live in? I grew up in San Jose CA & the prefix was alpine 2 for 252. My current prefix is 268 in Grass Valley CA. My thought was going to the oldest library in Grass valley & look for old phone books. any other ideas. I was thinking of making up my own dial cards with my phone number but with the prefix name instead of number. I could make one up, Bozo 8 would work ;-)
Gary

jsowers

You can try this site, but your idea of the library is good too. You can look the number up several ways on this site, and some numbers just never had a named prefix if they were added after 1960 or so. So you can just use the recommended name list and come up with your own in that case.

http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/TENproject.html

There are also old newspapers available and text searchable from Google online if you're lucky enough to have a local paper archived there. You could search for a Funeral Home or Oil Company that's been in business since the 1950s. Also old city directories from the 1950s are a good source.
Jonathan

oldguy

Thanks Jonathan, the web site had 5 "Ma Bell's Officially Recommended Exchange Names" for 26. So it is probably one of those. I hope to get to the library this weekend.

Gary
Gary