It is my pleasure to welcome new member, Robert Guth to the Forum. Robert, who now resides on the West end of PEI, is a Nortel retiree, displaced by the closure of Nortel. Robert's specialty was in architecture, and he designed many of the plant layout and workspaces for the corporate giant. In recent years, he has become an avid collector, and has amassed an excellent collection. He has been of assistance many times to my projects at the Museum. I am no longer the sole serious collector on PEI!
I will leave the rest of the introduction to Robert, once he gets more familiar with the forum.
Photo below, Nortel HQ, taken the day following 9/11.
One of Robert's recent finds:
Welcome Robert coming all the way from the opposite side of Canada in Coquitlam about 20 miles from downtown Vancouver. I worked for BC Tel and later Telus and Nortel equipment of all sorts kept me employed there for 37 1/2 years until I retired in 2013.
After chatting with Dave on phone forums and by email for many many years I finally managed to meet him just last October at Charlottetown. We didn't quite get in as much time chatting about phones and playing with equipment at his museum due to "technical difficulties" so we will have to try again sometime soon.
Terry
Sincere thanks to Dave Hunter for the introduction...
My interest in telephones began in 1969 when (at age 16), my parents allowed me to rent a phone from Bell Canada. My first phone was a Northern Electric model 500 (DQ1A) 10-button TouchTone set in Green -51. I soon managed to cross-connect the receiver wiring to my stereo equipment to create a makeshift "speakerphone" to the delight of my friends.
I did study architecture in college and in 1975, graduated into a recession. I joined a couple of friends to form a construction company, building single family homes and in-ground swimming pools, before landing a "real" job wth a company that designed/built/installed communications equipment. That company also represented Ericsson and sold & maintained small PABX equipment and telephone apparatus. I purchased a few Swedish-built Ericofon sets ($8.00 each) and connected external ringers and modular station cords for friends. Unfortunately, I didn't think to keep any examples for myself. I was given a mint condition Ericsson "Dialog" desk set (1960's), which is still connected and in-use in our carriage house.
After a few years working for a large residential & commercial developer as a construction estimator I joined Bell-Norther Research in Ottawa (1981).
I worked in the Facilities Engineering & Design group producing working drawings for Wet & Dry Labs, Computer Rooms, Clean Rooms and Captive Offices.
One of my larger projects was the relocation of John Tyson's Design Interpretive team from the Sugar Shack to the 2nd Floor of Lab 2 at the Carling Campus. John Tyson (designer of the Contempra) is still a LinkedIn connection and recently joined Dave Hunter's FaceBook group at the Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island.
After solo CADD training in Burbank CA (Lockheed Corp. CADAM) and Huntsville, AB (Intergraph), I became a manager at BNR in 1985 and worked at Nortel until the 3rd round of "rationalization" in 2002. After 21 years, I left with my Nortel Management Defined Benefits Pension. My last role (1996 - 2002) was based at Nortel's former 1 million sq.ft. multiple award-winning Brampton Centre world headquarters. I was responsible for Real Estate Operations in Central & Western Canada which included sites across the Greater Toronto Area, London, Belleville, Winnipeg, Calgary (Westwinds) and Vancouver. Our Corporate Real Estate group was responsible for planning, designing, constructing and maintaining R&D and Office facilities.
I have many fond memories and good friends from my time at BNR/Northern Telecom/Nortel Networks.
Before my retirement and move from Toronto to Prince Edward Island in 2013, I spent a few years managing Hewlett-Packard's portfolio of properties across Canada and in the US East of the Mississippi River (from Manhattan to Miami). Again... many good friends & memories.
The last 2 years of my career were spent managing a portfolio of P3 (Public-Private Partnership) projects in Eastern Canada for Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls - Global Workplace Solutions.
Since my retirement, I began seriously collecting old (pre-1983) telephones... mostly Northern Electric and Western Electric.
I do "faithful" restorations (retaining the original finish) occasionally adding modern cloth reproduction cords to facilitate connection to my Bellaliant land line.
It's been a delight & pleasure knowing Dave Hunter for the last couple of years and he's been a great help and resource (and small parts suppler) for multiple projects.
Thank you for allowing me to join the Classic Rotary Phones Forum,
Robert Guth
Removal of business card at member request, If you need to reach Robert you can PM him.
samples of my work:
A recent addition... Northern Electric N15GD Dial (mounted in a cast iron case for a switchboard console).
I'm now looking for a Northern Electric Desk Stand with blank dial plate.
Welcome to CRPF Robert.
Welcome to the best forum on the net!
Welcome, Robert
Pleased to have you as a member, here!
Benny
Robert, welcome to the Forum! It's nice to have people with phone company experience.
Your white Contessa is almost as beautiful as Ava Gardner (the Barefoot Contessa, among other movie roles). I particularly like what you did with the two little "windows" where the number card is. A really beautiful phone.
In case someone isn't familiar with Ava Gardner, she was a movie star in the 1940s-70s from Smithfield, NC. Photo below.
Speaking of the dial card windows, that is a nice touch, but does anyone have any of those? I have a white 10 button that was missing them when I got it.