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Hello from New UK Member

Started by Hotline, September 12, 2017, 05:31:41 PM

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Hotline

Hello

This is my first post on your great forum. My name is Richard and I am based in London.

I have been collecting UK GPO phones since last year and have about a dozen 706 and 746 telephones.

I have recently purchased a pair of very early 706 phones, they are 1959 models and are, I believe, quite rare. I will post some photos when I get a moment.

Look forward to chatting with other members.

Regards

Richard

ThePillenwerfer

Welcome aboard.

I for one will be interested to see your early 706s.

— Joe

dsk


twocvbloke

#3
Hopefully those '59 706 phones have their Diakon plastics, latterly known as Perspex, that plastic stays shiny for longer than the later ABS they used, but has the issue of being easily chipped or cracked as perspex is a fairly brittle plastic... :)

digoxy118


Hotline

#5
Quote from: twocvbloke on September 13, 2017, 03:42:43 AM
Hopefully those '59 706 phones have their Diakon plastics, latterly known as Perspex, that plastic stays shiny for longer than the later ABS they used, but has the issue of being easily chipped or cracked as perspex is a fairly brittle plastic... :)
Yes they have the Diakon plastics, the phones are all original, I bought them from the family that had them from new. They are both ivory with type 12 dials and one has a cloth line cable.

twocvbloke

That's pretty neat that they had the phones from new, it's nice when you can get some history with an item acquired, and having two phones, they must have been posh!!  ;D

.....

Welcome to CRPF Hotline.

I have a couple UK phones. One is a 1965 GPO 332L and the other is a 1977 Silver Jubilee Trimphone that I just got.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=16484.0

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=18789.0


Pourme

Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

andy1702

Quote from: Duffy on September 13, 2017, 07:17:35 PM
Welcome to CRPF Hotline.

I have a couple UK phones. One is a 1965 GPO 332L and the other is a 1977 Silver Jubilee Trimphone that I just got.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=16484.0

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=18789.0

I don't think they were making 332s by 1965. Are you sure you don't mean 1956? If it is1965 then it's probably an earlier unit that has been reconditioned. The GPO did a lot of that.
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

andy1702

I'll be interested to see these 706s. Particularly the plate behind the finger wheel. Nobody seems to know exactly what the dial plate should be. Some say it should have chevrons on it but others say it should have numbers or even numbers and letters as fitted to earlier bakelite phones.

The other option is they might not be 706s at all. The same manufacturers produced almost identical phones for private exchanges.Ericsson did a lot that have a numbers only dial bezel. These are not strictly 706s because they never belonged to the post office. The insides can also sometimes (but not always) be quite different.
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

ThePillenwerfer

Duffy's 332 is marked FWR 65/2 which means it was refurbished as a Mk 2 at the GPO's Welsh factory in 1965.

As for 706 dial plates, my understanding is that they were originally blank but then had chevrons added quite soon — in either case the plate was the same colour as the 'phone.  When the 746 came out they had black numbers on an "antique silver" background and these plates were then fitted to 706s as the originals were replaced.  I have heard that a few early 706s did have No 12 dials with the same plates as used on 332s.  They could also have No 13 transmitters as there were delays in the initial manufacture of the No 16.  Of course all sorts of bits have been fitted to telephones in the years since they passed into private hands.

andy1702

Quote from: ThePillenwerfer on September 16, 2017, 11:30:18 AM
Duffy's 332 is marked FWR 65/2 which means it was refurbished as a Mk 2 at the GPO's Welsh factory in 1965.

As for 706 dial plates, my understanding is that they were originally blank but then had chevrons added quite soon — in either case the plate was the same colour as the 'phone.  When the 746 came out they had black numbers on an "antique silver" background and these plates were then fitted to 706s as the originals were replaced.  I have heard that a few early 706s did have No 12 dials with the same plates as used on 332s.  They could also have No 13 transmitters as there were delays in the initial manufacture of the No 16.  Of course all sorts of bits have been fitted to telephones in the years since they passed into private hands.

I agree about the blank dial plates being replaced with chevrons. I have examples of both here. But some of the old publicity shots for the original 'modern telephone' as the 706 was known, show dial 12 with 3d chevrons on an antique silver ground. I know Ericsson used these for a while on their N1900 (a 706 clone) but were they part of the original post office spec? Some other shots show the 706 with an alpha-numeric plate, replicating what is written on the bezel.

Hotline's phone with the straight cord should, if everything is correct, be one of the very first, which may answer some long standing mysteries.
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

ThePillenwerfer

I don't suppose we ever will know for sure as even if we saw all the written records they would only tell us what was supposed to happen rather than what did in practise.  There may well have been a few freaks produced if the correct parts weren't available; these things are only cosmetic and perhaps it was thought better to use wrong parts than stop production.

The publicity shots could well have been taken before the design was finalised.

I've got a 746L (which must be quite rare as they came out in 1967 and All-Figure Dialling was introduced in 1968) that has 3D chevrons on an Antique Silver ground but I have no way of knowing if it's original.  As you say, privately manufactured 'phones muddy the waters further.

As for 706 cords, I have heard of a few having cloth-covered ones; not plaited but plain round like switchboard cords.

twocvbloke

Quote from: ThePillenwerfer on September 16, 2017, 12:59:30 PMAs for 706 cords, I have heard of a few having cloth-covered ones; not plaited but plain round like switchboard cords.

As far as I know the earliest ones were round cloth, later upgraded to rubber and then PVC... :)