Telephone stories

[jsaxe]

In New York City and lots of other places, ringback was 958.  I believe it's comes from the default programming of the local office's switch.

John

[Bill Cahill]

One of the phones my mother had at one time was a WE 500.
I still remember our last phone number, and, the phone number at my job..
Home: Lakeview 1-5783
Work : Lakeview 7-3322
My parents lived on Woodcrest, in Harper Woods, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.
My job was at Rainbow Television Service, on Kelley Rd., Harper woods.

Bill Cahill

[bingster]

Our phones were installed after the system went all numbers, so we didn't have the exchange name on them. But we were in the DIamond 5 exchange (6172), which is the north end of College Park, Maryland.  My mom's parents lived down the street and their number was DI 5-1937.   My dad's parents who lived down the street in the other direction were in the GRanite 4 exchange, but I don't know their number.  The only other two I remember were Fields Buick in Hyattsville, Maryland (APpleton 7-5200) and Johnson's Garage in College Park (GRanite 4-5494).  I remember those two because they were painted on sides of their respective buildings well into the 1980s.

A telephone oddity:  The north end of College Park where we lived was once the town of Berwyn, Maryland.  The town directly to the south-west was College Park.  After the war, the two towns merged to form a city, and since College Park was the more famous (although smaller) of the two, that name was given to the whole shooting match.  But the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company always listed College Park as "Berwyn" on their bills (calls to and from).  To this day, the practice continues, and when people hear the name Berwyn, they immediately ask where it is, because it's shown up on their phone bills.  And the place hasn't officially existed in more than sixty years.

[BDM]

I've been taking pics of some of my phones. Here's the 302 my great aunt gave me. It's in original condition, which is approaching excellent. The date marks on the inside are around 8/38. The original number card is long gone. I removed it many years back. Only God knows where I've stashed it??

[BDM]

Here's another phone which I bought off the original owners family. This was around 1987. I also bought the owners original Zenith 9-S-264 console radio, which I still own. The man who owned these items died in his early 90s. The family was selling everything in the house. $50 on the radio, $20 on the phone. Remember, at that time I had no real idea of value. No internet, plus I didn't belong to any clubs then. I just bought as I walked

[Mark Stevens]

Wow, Brian, those are beauties!  It's hard to beat unrestored, gently-used phones. Very nice. 

[BDM]

Thanks Mark. Far as I know, that's the original number card on that B1 mount. I did replace the original celluloid. It was terribly yellowed. Also, that phone was very dull looking when I bought it. I cleaned it, then buffed it out with car wax, way back when. This guy must have smoked. The phone was covered with that yellow film. So was the radio, which cleaned up very well. My guess is he took good care of his items. The house was old and outdated, but in very good shape.

[McHeath]

Those are really nice looking phones.  They have a great patina about them, and I'm guessing they both work.

[BDM]

Yupper, like champs. The B1 is a side-tone set. Plus it has the bullet transmitter in the E1 handset. Makes for a tinny sound. I never could get used to the side-tone sets with their loud feedback. Causes me to speak low.

[bingster]

I've only ever experienced sidetone in one telephone before, and it was a modern pay phone.  I don't know why it happened, but something must have been amiss with the wiring inside.  It was at the Virginia state fair, and I called home on it.  I could hear myself in the phone, but the noise of the fair was so loud, that I heard that, too, and it was amplified in the receiver.  It was so loud I couldn't hear the other person through the phone unless I clamped my hand over the transmitter when listening. 

[BDM]

Since coming to this site. I've rekindled my interest in my own phone collection. Which has been laying dormant for at least several years now. So, I'm pulling stuff out from here, there, everywhere. I'm finding stuff I've forgotten about, etc. etc. etc.

Anyhoot, here are two I've pulled out of storage. The first one is a 1953 500. This set is one of two that were left in the home when I bought it about 15 years ago. I'm the second owner of this home which was built in 1951. The second one is marked 1951. Trouble is, I can't find that set. It may be in storage at my mothers? Also, this set has the heavier handset when compared to the later G handsets. It believe it's bakelite, and not the later thermo-plastic of the later sets. Plus it has the black/solid switch hook buttons. Maybe some of you boys whom are better schooled in these sets can tell me?

Second set is a 5302. Notice it looks like a 500, but it's all 302 underneath. Some of these have G handsets, some have the F1 like this one. Both sets are in excellent condition, and function just like they look. Notice the 5302 has a TUxedo exchange number. That was the exchange used where I grew up in Detroit. That 5302 was boxed away for the last 10 years. I forgot about it until now. That set was given to me by a neighbor where I once lived in Detroit. Probably around 1982 or so. I can remember being confused by it's looks, and the fact it had an F1 handset. It was quite a few years until I figured out what I had.

So, two sets roughly about the same age.

[BDM]

post 100

[Mark Stevens]

post 100

You're a typing fool, Brian! 

[BDM]

post 100

You're a typing fool, Brian! 

[rp2813]

Ringback number of my youth was 9606.  You had to wait for a click sound before dialing the last digit.  Hang up and the phone would ring.  Recently I saw a telephone tech dial a 7-digit number to get a ringback.  I got the number, but since he was dialing into a different switching office than I have at home, it wouldn't work for me.  I lived in Verizon territory for almost 19 years.  It was easy there.  Just dial your own number and it would ringback.

Over this past summer I moved into my mom's old place and things are still pending for me to buy out my sister's interest.  Meanwhile, the same phone number that's been here since 1960 is still working and I have the original number card, CYpress 5-1304, on my 1950 500 phone.  One of the perks of moving in here!

Regarding bootlegged phones that Ma Bell couldn't detect, my dad had them wired all over the house.  None would ring (I think this is why so many phones we find out there have been wired not to ring) and he had them all terminated on two alligator clips that he could attach to the phone block in the basement.  He routed them out of a nearby dummy porcelain light fixture that he had attached with one screw.  In case of a service call, he could swing the porcelain base open to expose the empty electrical box behind it, detach the alligator clips and stuff everything into the box and cover it back up with the fixture.  Worked like a charm!

As for my most regrettable phone experience, that would be when I was about 7 years old and wanted a phone in my room.  I found an old 202 out in the garage, brought it upstairs and literally plugged it in--took the spaded ends of the line cord (presumably it would have lead to a bell box that wasn't part of this scenario) and shoved them into the electrical outlet.  A lot of smoking ensued and I ran out of the room.  My older sister had to come in and yank the wires out.  My dad was none too pleased when he got home that day.  I wrecked the phone (to what degree I'll never know--certainly the case and F1 handset were still OK) which even by the early 60's had become a rare model.