Possible 555 board near me.

[HarrySmith]

I spotted a cord board on ebay which is in Miami, not far from me. I am not sure what board it is. I am not a switcher. Can anyone identify it for me? There is no picture of the insides but I will ask for one if it is a useful board.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223007274358

[RB]

I see 30 stations, 6 trunks, 12 cord pairs, and a conference unit, thats the best I can do.

[FABphones]

Am interested in these so I've done a bit of a search.
All I can find out so far is 'Bell Systems Western Electric' and that one sold mid-April for $2500. Didn't look as tidy as this one either. A tatty one with 'a board missing' and 'bits falling off' sold for about $350.

Nothing I've looked at seems to have a model number in the pics.

ETA - Not the best quality video, but a similar one being shown/explained on this youtube clip, 9 cord pair by the look of it (and it looks like the dial is missing):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=psqbBsFbVj8

[RB]

There are two basic types,
the complete board, ready for action.
and a secretary board. it has less inside because it tied to the big one. and will not function on its own.
555 is the complete board, 551, or maybe 554?? may be the other one. not sure.
Thing to look for...does it have the rack still inside the back door?
if not, it is a door stop.
most were stripped for the copper.
a pic of the back inside the door will tell you if it has been stripped or not.

[HarrySmith]

I knew about the secretary board but I do not know how to tell the difference. The seller did state the "insides" were still there but I requested some pictures. I will post here when I get them.

[FABphones]

RB, good points re the secretary board etc.

PMBX, PABX are Mr F/exBT's specialist area, he says always ask for photos of the insides of any switchboard (in our case so he can give it the once over for me) and make sure it's complete. It sounds like Harry's onto that. Harry, we aren't familiar with W.E. over here but I can show any inner pics to MrF for you if that might help a bit. I'm not sure until I see the inside, but the switchboard in your main pic looks to be a stand alone 'complete' system (sorry, I don't know all your terminology over there), but ideally it does need to have everything still in there unless you want the extra project.

Obviously depending on requirements and the age of the switch, Mr F says a complete board is best, less complicated to hook up/maintain, and (certainly in our case) they take up less room. Component availability is also a factor.

The Bell System examples I found on my search were vague about which models they were, none-specific variations on a '555' theme. Inconclusive so I couldn't be of any help there.