This one is located in Michigan City, Indiana. Notice where the NIJ (network interface jack) is mounted. Also the boothete is marked PTC. Public Telephone Company?
Interesting photos, Tom. I rarely see a payphone that's wired from a drop wire rather than buried conduit and don't recall ever seeing one with the NID up on the aerial conduit. Looks like the site is slated for redevelopment.
Parking lot for now.
A little research and a phone call or two and I think someone may be able to rescue that pay station...
Quote from: Pourme on August 04, 2017, 02:15:07 PM
A little research and a phone call or two and I think someone may be able to rescue that pay station...
It appears that Public Telephone Company is still in business though no longer in the pay phone business. I'll give the a call or email asking if I can recover and keep their old payphones and boothette.
Quote from: Fabius on August 05, 2017, 12:12:32 AM
It appears that Public Telephone Company is still in business though no longer in the pay phone business. I'll give the a call or email asking if I can recover and keep their old payphones and boothette.
Is it really that easy? Assuming they agree of course. There are several nice (well, could be) NY-Tel
payphones in boothettes with signage around (including "phone from car"). I'd love to grab one before they completely go extinct. The added plus is, like your photos, it would be known where it was located, keeping some of the history with the phone.
Quote from: AL_as_needed on August 05, 2017, 09:49:12 AM
Is it really that easy? Assuming they agree of course.
Maybe. Worst they could say is no. I'll make sure I get some type of documentation saying I could take. it. Of course the hard part would be the removal.
Quote from: Fabius on August 05, 2017, 12:35:46 PM
Maybe. Worst they could say is no. I'll make sure I get some type of documentation saying I could take. it. Of course the hard part would be the removal.
If they agree perhaps you can get them to give you the keys or at least unlock it.
Quote from: Alex G. Bell on August 05, 2017, 01:46:22 PM
If they agree perhaps you can get them to give you the keys or at least unlock it.
I bet the keys are long gone.
Quote from: Fabius on August 05, 2017, 10:04:38 PM
I bet the keys are long gone.
Yeah, but without keys, you still have two great universal removal tools to choose from.
Quote from: Fabius on August 05, 2017, 10:04:38 PM
I bet the keys are long gone.
Quoting some guy named Fabius: "Worst they could say is no". ;D
Quote from: TelePlay on August 05, 2017, 11:17:06 PM
Yeah, but without keys, you still have two great universal removal tools to choose from.
There are less brutal solutions.
Quote from: Alex G. Bell on August 05, 2017, 11:21:16 PM
There are less brutal solutions.
I would hope and think so.
One of the criminal groups in the inner city here was using a battery powered Sawzall to cut catalytic converters off of vehicles in the middle of the night. Darn near jumped through my Ford E-150 V8 windshield one morning when upon starting the truck with the driver door open, I quickly found out I had a straight pipe on the left side, they cut the end of the header off. Cop said they got 20 some brand new Cadillacs on a new car dealer lot about 2 blocks away. I had to drive it 30 miles in the city before it went into the shop. I guess for removing those, a Sawzall would be the tool of choice over an acetylene torch.
Back to the keys, I'd bet they still have them handing on a wall or in a cabinet somewhere in their building.
If they let you have it, you can remove the pedestal with phone and enclosure still mounted, and attack the locks at your leisure later. You'll need a screwdriver with a security but, but It's just plain old hardware under the cover at the base of the pedestal.
Fabius; If it works out (or not), please keep us posted on your steps taken. I have been teasing the idea of getting a payphone for some time, but if i can get a NYTele complete and with cards caught in the wild, that's a huge bonus in my book. This is something I would love to take a crack at if it shows even a little promise.
The PTC company was Peoples Telephone Company out of Florida at one point in time they were the largest private payphone company in the country. They are long gone over 10 years I believe. Just drive up and unbolt it, nobody cares.
Quote from: AL_as_needed on August 06, 2017, 10:50:45 AM
Fabius; If it works out (or not), please keep us posted on your steps taken. I have been teasing the idea of getting a payphone for some time, but if i can get a NYTele complete and with cards caught in the wild, that's a huge bonus in my book. This is something I would love to take a crack at if it shows even a little promise.
You are only about a 12 hour drive from me. Come on out here and help me save these poor orphans and I'll splite the take with you.
Quote from: Payphone installer on August 13, 2017, 01:36:44 PM
The PTC company was Peoples Telephone Company out of Florida at one point in time they were the largest private payphone company in the country. They are long gone over 10 years I believe. Just drive up and unbolt it, nobody cares.
Next time I'm by one I'll take a look and see how they are mounted.
Quote from: Fabius on August 13, 2017, 01:49:27 PM
Nest time I'm by one I'll take a look and see how they are mounted.
Wear a hard hat, tool belt and darker coveralls and you should be good to go, especially if you are pretending to be talking to someone one your cell phone will inspecting the phone. A white colored van would help. ;)
Quote from: TelePlay on August 13, 2017, 01:52:19 PM
Wear a hard hat, tool belt and darker coveralls and you should be good to go, especially if you are pretending to be talking to someone one your cell phone will inspecting the phone. A white colored van would help. ;)
A buttinsky on the belt is a sure fire "get out of jail free" (or never get challenged) card.
Quote from: TelePlay on August 13, 2017, 01:52:19 PM
Wear a hard hat, tool belt and darker coveralls and you should be good to go, especially if you are pretending to be talking to someone one your cell phone will inspecting the phone. A white colored van would help. ;)
This actually works well. I have used the old "hard hat, hi-vis vest, and work clothes" trick to snoop around larger construction sites. If anyone asked who I was or what was going on, just said something like "oh yeah, John (or mike) said to check things over"...always a John or Mike on a site. ;D
Quote from: Fabius on August 13, 2017, 01:48:09 PM
You are only about a 12 hour drive from me. Come on out here and help me save these poor orphans and I'll splite the take with you.
If the rear end in my truck wasn't howling at me.....
I have removed a few of those "abandoned" payphones and the property owners not only let me do it but thanked me for the great work and leaving no trace of the phone! One had been in a legal battle to have a phone removed then the company went bankrupt leaving a mess for him. They had mounted the phone in the right of way on the sidewalk and when the company abandoned it the county came knocking. I agreed to remove the phone and found it was simply bolted to the sidewalk then filled with concrete. Removing the foot cover exposed the concrete which was chiseled away to reveal the four nuts. While the huts were able to be rotated they were seized to the anchors and turned in the concrete. Bolt cutters easily removed the nuts and a hammer loosened them enough to be puled out. Mortar mix plugged the holes and I even pressure cleaned the sidewalk so no trace remained. Another one attached to a building required a matching paint to look nice. That was just me mixing paints I had laying around but the result was so good the restaurant it was attached to gave me a free dinner.
Quote from: tallrick on December 18, 2017, 12:08:04 PM
I have removed a few of those "abandoned" payphones and the property owners not only let me do it but thanked me for the great work and leaving no trace of the phone!
When can you meet me in beautiful South Bend Indiana and remove about 4 payphnes? Weather is suppose to be in the 40s for a couple of days. We'll splite the take.
Sadly I am in Miami Florida. If I do go visit friends in Minnesota and Ohio I would gladly help pull a few abandoned phones. Are they complete or stripped put inside?
Quote from: Fabius on December 18, 2017, 01:13:19 PM
When can you meet me in beautiful South Bend Indiana and remove about 4 payphnes? Weather is suppose to be in the 40s for a couple of days. We'll splite the take.
I just sent you a private message about the payphone removal.
Wow, that would be a terrific (albeit short-lived) side business. Get paid to remove payphones and empty kiosks/booths, clean the phone and booth up, and sell them on ebay.
Talk about a quadruple win-win. The city/bankrupt business would be thankful to have someone remove the payphone, and have expenses going towards removal costs only; you would be getting paid twice for one service; the payphone would be going to a good home instead of the dump; and the buyer of the payphone would be getting a fair price for an as-removed-from-service example.
Quote from: tallrick on December 18, 2017, 02:50:41 PM
Sadly I am in Miami Florida. If I do go visit friends in Minnesota and Ohio I would gladly help pull a few abandoned phones. Are they complete or stripped put inside?
The ones I've posted seem to be complete.
I will hit a phone with my hand to see if it has a bell like on a Protel 4000 and put a penny in the coin slot to see if it comes back or just drops inside. If the handset is missing check to see if it was removed from inside or just cut off.
Quote from: tallrick on December 18, 2017, 05:30:45 PM
I will hit a phone with my hand to see if it has a bell like on a Protel 4000 and put a penny in the coin slot to see if it comes back or just drops inside. If the handset is missing check to see if it was removed from inside or just cut off.
Some simple but neat tricks to test out a phone if its complete. This is only encouraging me to scout out a possible payphone for adoption....I mean removal.
Anyone have luck getting their hands on on of the above mention ed pay-stations and bringing one home? Since the original posting I have located a few locally that could be good adoption candidates.
Myself and a forum member are hoping to rescue some. But we are waiting for better weather, most likely in the spring.
Now that I am back in the saddle I am going to push to get some more abandoned phones. The trick is finding an owner behind inept employees. Once I get another one I will take pics of the removal process. There's a full arsenal of tools here, hand tools, jackhammer, torch, sawzall, Bobcat- which is what I removed the phone that sits in my backyard with. The phone was left over from a demolished restaurant and sat by itself in a grassy lot. When I pulled it out there had to be 1/4 yard of concrete on this thing Used auger to drill holes around it and a chain to pull it out. The base was so old it had a steel conduit with #14 wires inside for the light. Pulled 50 feet of conduit and direct burial phone cable as well as a plastic splice box filled with some goo. Would have been easy to unbolt and go but the condition was I could have the phone as long as the base went too and the hole was filled in.
I have had a few old NYTEL marked phones on my radar over the last few months, mainly at gas stations but have not yet stopped by to see if they are still on the line. In my casual hunting I have noticed a lot of signs and mini booths around (but empty of phones) in parking lots. Maybe before winter I will try and hunt down an owner.
I like the bobcat method...rip and run!
Good luck, let us know if you get the phone.