Western Electric Pay Phone No Key?

[John S]

Hi Collectors,

I was wondering if anyone could help me out or give me any ideas.  I bought a Green Western Electric Payphone off Craigslist.  I paid 20.00 dollars for it.  This thing is HEAVY!  Its in rough shape....I thought it would be cool to try to make it look decent.  I don't see to many pay phones on here but maybe someone can help me out.  Does anyone know where I can get a key?  I would like to try to open it up, as you can see in the pictures someone used the jaws of life to try to open it.  This would be the second payphone in my collection.  I took a pic of that one also.  Any ideas?  Thanks everyone!!!

John S.

[ESalter]

Chances are you *may* be able to find a key that'll fit the lock on the upper housing.  I seem too remember a bunch of them were keyed the same.  As for the vault lock - keep cutting.  We had one just like yours but black, we had to cut the vault door off, which took a lot of time, but we were able to do it without damaging the phone. 

The upper housing looks great.  If you give up on this, let me know, I'll buy it from you   Otherwise, call Phoneco.  I know for a fact about 2 years ago they had a singleslot housing(no guts at all) with a green lower housing and a black upper.  I'm betting you could get the green lower housing from them for $20-$30.   ---Eric

[bingster]

Holy cow, somebody really wanted those dimes.

[twocvbloke]

Blimey!! Why didn't they just pick the lock like everyone else? That must have taken some time to break into, that metal looks pretty tough to chew through to get to the cashbox....

At least the phone part is in good shape, so not a total loss...

And as for the price, you sure it's not stolen?

[G-Man]

Hi Collectors,

I was wondering if anyone could help me out or give me any ideas.  I bought a Green Western Electric Payphone off Craigslist.  I paid 20.00 dollars for it.  This thing is HEAVY!  Its in rough shape....I thought it would be cool to try to make it look decent.  I don't see to many pay phones on here but maybe someone can help me out.  Does anyone know where I can get a key?  I would like to try to open it up, as you can see in the pictures someone used the jaws of life to try to open it.  This would be the second payphone in my collection.  I took a pic of that one also.  Any ideas?  Thanks everyone!!!

John S.

OK, this is a Bell phone so you have a decent chance of getting a key for the upper-housing since they were keyed common to each other in specific regions of their territory. I will send you a separate email with the name of a locksmith who should be able to make the key based on the area code and prefix as shown on you phone. It indicates the following:

312-463 AMERITECH ILLINOIS CHICGO Prefix Type: RBOC
Switch Name: CHCG CANAL EAST
Switch Type: 5ESS
LATA: Chicago IL METRO Tandem: CHCGILID71T

Once you receive the upper-housing key, all you will need is a T-key to open it.

Since lower-housing/vault door keys were never keyed-alike you will need to drill-out the lock in order to use your T-key to open the vault door. Typically a hammer-drill with a carbide or other hardened bit will be needed. Doing it in this manner will assure you do not destroy the vault door.

[John S]

Thanks everybody!!  I am going to make a phone call to see if I can get a key.  I am excited to restore this one.  It seems like these pay phones were everywhere you look.  Seems like they have all vanished......

John

[twocvbloke]

It seems like these pay phones were everywhere you look.  Seems like they have all vanished......

That's the mobile phone effect, people stopped using payphones, they got vandalised by oiks, and the phone companied just took them away to save money, even here in the UK, if a red phone box hasn't got Listed status, BT will take it away, they did just that with a red K6 phonebox that used to be at the bottom of the street where we used to live, shame they couldn't have taken the later 1990's phonebox round the corner instead, the classic red K6 is our heritage...

[bakerbrett741]

Is there a lock smith in your town?

[GG]

Hey Twocvbloke, how'bout the change of the telephone sets in your phone boxes? 

First came the button A/B boxes with attached 232s in bakelite, as vulnerable as can be but suitable for a place where people respect their civic infrastructure.  Then came the original POA phones either with 711s mounted above them or with built-in dials with plastic dial number rings & plastic handset cradles, a wholly harmonious-looking design and strong enough to resist routine carelessness and mild attempts at robbery.  All of the above designed for use in civilized societies where humans behave differently to wild animals. 

But then finally the POA phone transforms into the "armored version," which weighs about 40 kilos and has gained the "urban warfare" look of the up-armored coin box, and the dial without extended number-ring protruding like a short gun from the turret of a tank, all adding to an overall martial appearance like something designed to survive IEDs in Iraq.   

At least you still have some kind of public payphones.  Here in the San Francisco area they have basically vanished, along with public drinking fountains and even, in some parts, places to sit whilst out and about.  Conversely, in recent years we have seen some public WCs installed, of the coin-operated self cleaning type, thereby making city centers just a bit more friendly and healthy. 

I have a sneaky plan up my sleeve to bring back payphones, at least in protected locations such as inside of shops and cafes.

[twocvbloke]

Yeah, respect for public and other people's property has long gone, and it's laughable that you hear of "Gang culture" demanding respect, when they don't even respect those around them, which is why such services disappear, if they can't play nice with what they've been given, then it'll be taken away from them...

I'm too young to remember A-B phones, I just barely remember the yellow BT Pedestal phone kiosk No. 7A, which provided no protection from the elements whatsoever for user or phone, and the payphones I have seen over the years have always been push-button, though these days they seem to do everything from making phonecalls, sending e-mails & text messages, and in some areas, even accessing the web...

So depending on their location, they're fighting for survival, but, that fight is a losing battle, people just don't seem to want to use phoneboxes for phoning, the most use it seems they get is as a urinal, one of the reasons I'm put off from even thinking about using a payphone...