Greetings to all. My name is Don Cavey, (my real name!) and I have heard about this forum for quite some time. Dan/Panther informed me about the forum and I thought I would give it a go.
I worked for Bell for 31 years. Started at the C & P Telephone Company of Maryland in 1971. Worked as a Installer/Repairman for about 8-9 years and took a promotion to management, as a Service Foreman with an Installation Crew covering three wire centers in Maryland. I had jobs inside and out for the next 20 years and retired in 2003. Went back for about 2 1/2 years teaching FiOS installation. I really liked doing that job. But alas, time marches on.
I had lots and lots of telephone stuff pass thru my hands over the years and retained almost none of it. My best keep is a 236G coin Collector. Unfortunately, somehow, the coin relay got away.
Anyway, I look forward to chatting with some of you guys here. Thanks!
Don,
Welcome to the group.
This is a great place to be. I have had a lot of stuff come and go too, but I have never actually worked for a phone company. We look forward to your future posts.
Welcome to the forum, Don. With all of your experiences I am certain you have much to offer our members. Thanks for joining!
Don;
Very glad to see you here.
A better bunch of people you will not find anywhere else, and you will boost that up even more.
We have a few current, and former Phone company employees, and One very classy lady Lineman, or is that person ? Donna, Donna, better known as Bwanna.
Look around and enjoy the photos of some very fine collections.
D/P
Don:
I hereby extend our red carpet and welcome you to the forum. Looking forward to hear all kinds of interesting stories from someone who spent 31+ years with Ma Bell.
Welcome Don. Be warned that reading this forum can lead to an expensive addiction ;).
Larry
Hey Don...welcome to the Forum, always happy to see a new member. I know a few techs from the trade who have found some great phones that forgot there way back to Ma Bell. Show us some pics.....Doug
welcome, don! good to have another member "in the industry". please don't blow my cover.....i've got all these guys thinking i know something about phone service :o ;) ;D ::)
d/p..... i curtsy to you, in my toolbelt & boots, with humble thanks for the compliment. ;)
larry..... IT IS NOT AN ADDICTION. ;D ;D ;D
we have many talented, knowledgeable & witty folks contributing here. i think you will be entertained & educated by our little group.
Personally, it amazes me how many people are into phones who have never worked in the business. I guess I shouldn't find it so surprising as my phone collection was already under way before I went to work for the Telco here but it still seems to me like a hobby that would be mostly Telco employees.
I'm 52 with 34 years in the business. 5 years of COE Installation (Central Office Equipment), 12 years of I&R (Installation & Repair) / Coin Telephone, 16 years of Business PABX / Key Systems and 1 year of Centrex Installation & Repair.
Terry (in Vancouver Canada)
Welcome!
As a non telco man I am aware of the value of "Know How"
You are actually a collectable youselves. ;D
Much of the history is not easy to get, it is not written down, or those boring old books are lost ...
Again
Welcome!
dsk
Terry/all....I have been in the Telco/IT/Systems trade for over 30 years. I now work for the largest Private Bank in the world. I maintain Video globally and the local PBX in Boston. My first phone find was just as I started in the industry. So my collecting does go hand in hand with my work......Doug
Quote from: LarryInMichigan on April 16, 2010, 06:01:04 PM
Welcome Don. Be warned that reading this forum can lead to an expensive addiction ;).
Larry
You are right I just found out a couple of days ago that I was going to have 374 phones when i turn 18
Welcome Don! You'll have fun here. It sounds like you had a good run with TPC and retired at just the right time.
Terry, my first management position with Pacific Bell was training customers on how to use their Centrex systems, Electronic Business Sets (made by your very own Nortel--great phones) and voicemail. It was a fun job, it was an easy job, and when the Texans from SBC took over, they didn't hesitate to eliminate it. The writing was on the wall right away--customers would be twisting in the wind before too long.
Ralph;
pacific bell was the system when I was growing up in So. Cal. Were you located in the area ?
D/P
Welcome aboard, Don! When I was a kid, I wanted to be a C&P installer, so I'm very jealous. Unfortunately, by the time I graduated high school, Bell had just been broken up, so it was not to be.
Welcome!
QuotePersonally, it amazes me how many people are into phones who have never worked in the business. I guess I shouldn't find it so surprising as my phone collection was already under way before I went to work for the Telco here but it still seems to me like a hobby that would be mostly Telco employees.
I get that reaction often when I'm asking if they have any old rotary phones in the shop or yard sale. Many is the person who asks if I worked for, or currently work for, the phone company and they often seem puzzled when I say no but that I just like old phones.
I find myself doing exactly what I did for a living after I retired, just now I apply it to my personal interests. At first I couldn't connect the two, that former Telco employees would be more likely to collect phones, I just couldn't apply that to my Job at General Motors, we made automotive batteries, Yet I don't collect them, but what I did for GM, mechanical things, is very much a part of my life now.
So I guess indirectly it is the same.
D/P
D/P, I worked in the Bay Area for the duration. I had some stints in So. Cal but they were brief. I don't know why, but I just presumed you were in GTE/Verizon territory. Maybe that's now and not then?
I was into old phones way before I was out of high school, and I didn't start working for Pacific Bell until I was 36. If anything, I think the reverse of what many people think is true--telco workers are probably less likely to be collectors.
welcome don!
you may be right, ralph. i know a lot of telephone, guys. other than myself & my SO, i only know of one other guy that collects. recently a co-worker told me he just threw away a bunch of old phones out of his grandpa's house :o >:( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Knock, knock .... Don, are you there? ??? ??? ???
Quote from: bwanna on April 19, 2010, 08:31:05 PM
you may be right, ralph. i know a lot of telephone, guys. other than myself & my SO, i only know of one other guy that collects. recently a co-worker told me he just threw away a bunch of old phones out of his grandpa's house :o >:( :'( :'( :'( :'(
While most of the guys I work with at the Telco may not be collectors/restorers of telephones, most of the guys that have been around for 30 years or so all say "I've got a few old sets somewhere, a 40 & a 50 and a few colored 80's etc". So most of them hung onto a few old phones that they took out just in case they got interested in them down the road. A guy today said he just gave away a 40 and a 50 to another employee that was looking for some old phones.
That reminds me, I saw a guy who retired a few years ago and he told me to call him as he had a box of phones that he would never do anything with. Better get on that soon.....
Terry
Terry:
If you don't call him, I will call him for you.
;D ;D ;D
Quote from: JorgeAmely on April 19, 2010, 11:39:37 PM
Terry:
If don't call him, I will call him for you.
;D ;D ;D
I better go hide my little telephone book right now.... Otherwise you'll have him on D/P's conference call!
Terry
Welcome, Don.
Don is also a valured member at ARF, Antique Radio Forums.
He collectsHH Scott amplifiers as well. He is very knowledgable.
Glad you jerned us, Don!
Bill Cahill ;D
Quote from: ae_collector on April 16, 2010, 10:49:29 PM
Personally, it amazes me how many people are into phones who have never worked in the business.
Terry (in Vancouver Canada)
I not only never worked in the business, I don't even know anything about electronics. It's an off-shoot of my interest in vintage artifacts and antiques. They're relatively easy to work on with a minimal amount of space, you can use commonly available cleaning supplies and equipment (like lots of "elbow grease"), there's a wealth of information easily available, a wide variety of styles, models, and prices, and they're not difficult to find, but still scarce enough to make the hunt interesting.
Oh, and welcome to the group Don!
Welcome to the group
Quote from: Chewbacca on April 28, 2010, 02:03:18 AM
Welcome to the group
And welcome to Chewbacca! Question is, does he? (Just kidding!)
Chrewbacca;
Welcome to our forum. Are you a collector, if can you tell us what you collect, or what you woulds like to collect.
D/P
Hello, my name is Robby. I have been collecting telephones since 1972. I worked for Richard Marsh at the Chicago Old telephone co for 25 years. I mostly rebuilt dials, wired telephones and repaired bakelite. Not a member of the telephone collecting clubs now
Welcome Robby. I am sure your bakelite repair knowledge will be appreciated in this forum.
Robby:
Welcome to the forum. I think you will like the content of this forum.
Welcome Robby. Glad to see you were able to log in to the forum. There are great bunch of folks here and we'd love to have you share your knowledge. With twenty-five years of repair work under your belt, I'm sure you can educate us all.
Quote from: rdelius on April 28, 2010, 08:12:26 PM
Hello, my name is Robby. I have been collecting telephones since 1972. I worked for Richard Marsh at the Chicago Old telephone co for 25 years. I mostly rebuilt dials, wired telephones and repaired bakelite. Not a member of the telephone collecting clubs now
Robby;
Richard lives in Hemet, just 30 miles from me, we talk on the phone once in awhile. I met him at the phone show in placentia awhile back.
D/P
Quote from: rdelius on April 28, 2010, 08:12:26 PM
Hello, my name is Robby. I have been collecting telephones since 1972. I worked for Richard Marsh at the Chicago Old telephone co for 25 years. I mostly rebuilt dials, wired telephones and repaired bakelite. Not a member of the telephone collecting clubs now
Welcome Robby! You repair bakelite? Be prepared to have your brains picked!
Hey Robby....welcome to the Forum. Your knowledge will be invaluable to us.....Doug
Welcome aboard Robby, I look forward to hearing more about your work. -Craig
Quote from: Craig T on April 29, 2010, 11:26:01 AM
Welcome aboard Robby, I look forward to hearing more about your work. -Craig
Same here. Welcome aboard and do tell educate us on bakelite repair.
welcome to our family
I am not sure how much bakelite repair i can discuss. Don Woodberry bought the company from Richard Marsh along with the process i developed. I still might be able to help.
Robby
Like I mentioned before Richard lives close to me, and he's invited me over and volunteered to share some of hie repair knowledge, i haven't taken him up on it yet, but he doesn't seem to be concerned about sharing what he knows.
D/P