Curious phone finds on vacation

[McHeath]

So I got back from a weeklong vacation today.  Did the Motherlode Trail in the California gold country, old Highway 49.  It pretty much covers all the Gold Rush of 1849 territory, starts in Oakhurst and we ended in Coloma where Sutter's Mill was and Marshall found the first gold.  (we panned at the American River site and found a small amount of gold in the river as well!  Not enough to pay for the trip though...)

We ended in Virginia City, Nevada site of the famed Comstock Lode.

Found the following phone oddites on the trip and thought the group here might find them of interest.

First up was a British phone booth we found in Mokelumne Hill, California.  It was set up by some long abandoned buildings, which I've also included pics of, the booth was between the buildings and near the truck.  I took a shot of the markings on the inside of the booth, perhaps our UK members can enlighten us about this booth's history.  Wonder how it got there?

[McHeath]

Next up is the Fourth Ward School in Virginia City, Nevada.  Built in 1875 it was state of the art for it's day, had indoor plumbing, forced heat, indoor bathrooms.  This exhibit of the original area switchboard was inside.  Also a pic of the info sign about it, claims that the operator was a blind woman who ran the switch for decades.

Also a pic of the school.

[gpo706]

Its a GPO K6 kiosk, but its green?

http://www.kiosk-korner.co.uk/kiosk03.html

Probably repainted over there, but I have heard of some kiosks in areas of outstanding national beauty being painted green so as not to spoil the view...

http://www.kiosk-korner.co.uk/kiosk03.html

When they started replaced the K6's in the 1970s they had a lot away before they decided to retain some in certain places (mostly like central city areas) as they were such an icon of Britain design, suddenly whole rafts oof them were refurbished and replaced the NEW booths!, its direct replacement the K8 has all but vanished!

[McHeath]

Yes it is green.  I wondered about that as well, perhaps it was painted here to fit in better with the location.  There was no door anywhere to be found, it had leather hinges still attached.  Looked like it had been wired up for use at one time.  No glass at all, not even broken on the ground, maybe it was just removed at some point.

That's ironic how the replacement phone booth for the K6 ended up being replaced by the booth it replaced.  Here in America we have no iconic phone booth that is as instantly recognizable as the K6.  On the British shows we watch at some point, seems to be no matter when the show was made, a K6 will be seen.  It is tempting to go back up to Mokelumne Hill and try to find an owner and see if the booth is for sale.  I realize that it's missing a lot of parts, and weighs a ton, but if the price were right it would be fun to have in the backyard. 

[Kenny C]

you remind me of the tall guy off of american pickers

[Greg G.]

Seems a shame to have the old 20s era Dodge just sitting and rotting like that.  Looks like there's still some usuable/restorable parts on it.

[gpo706]

If its in California I guess you would have little use for the door or glazing, seeing as the top TELEPHONE glazing panles seem intact I assume they were removed and not just vandalised?

Remember its cast iron, so postage might be on the excessive side!

There a few companies do parts in the UK: here's one.

http://www.unicornkiosks.com/index.html

There's another company does fibreglass replicas!

Tom Jones has one in his back garden - he bought it out of service from GPO/BT as it was the very one he used to call his future wife on when they were courting.

How romantic eh!

[gpo706]

"In 1935, the Post Office commissioned a new kiosk from Scott to celebrate the Jubilee of King George V. The K6 Jubilee Kiosk, as it is known, was similar to the K2, being made of cast iron and painted red but was 25% lighter in weight at around three quarters of a ton. By the end of the 1930s there were 20,000 K6 telephone boxes in use all over the UK.

In the 1970s and 80s, as public telephone boxes began to age, sadly problems with vandalism and a failure to repair damage quickly resulted in the demise of the classic red telephone box. In 1985 a newly privatised BT announced sweeping changes to improve the condition of kiosks. There was a lot of experimentation with new designs to prevent vandalism, which resulted in many K6 telephone boxes being removed from our streets and sold off. The replacement boxes were less pleasing to the eye and had little design merit. Fortunately, however, about 2000 red telephone boxes were declared listed buildings and remain in place."

http://www.thephoneybox.com/history.html

PLASTIC!

[AE_Collector]

It is tempting to go back up to Mokelumne Hill and try to find an owner and see if the booth is for sale.  I realize that it's missing a lot of parts, and weighs a ton, but if the price were right it would be fun to have in the backyard. 

You should try to get it is it is close enough to transport and you have somewhere to put it. Your weight estimate ("weighs a ton") is bang on, that is almost exactly what these weigh. They do come apart though.

The glass should be easily replaceable after a nice bright red paint job.

I have two booths on my back patio but neither are British.

Terry

[HarrySmith]

Yes, I agree
If I was in California I would try to get it
It would look great restored on my patio
Not an easy thing to move but definetly worth the effort