Now I don't have to ask why my phone won't ring!

[QuietlyWild]

I registered here in order to ask a question about why my phone wouldn't ring, and after reading through quite a few pages I realized that my question had been answered and there was no need to ask.  If you're wondering, I had to move the bias tension spring and move the black wire from G to L1 (WE 500). 

I've enjoyed rotary telephones since I was a child, and they were already on the way out by then.  Always have been interested in technology which is considered obsolete by most people.  I started buying phones at the flea markets when I was a kid, and got rid of most of them several years ago.  While cleaning out the basement after it flooded last week, I found two I had forgotten, both WE 500s, one red, one black.  (Photo of the red one to follow, black coming soon).  Since the red one was complete, I decided to try it out, and that's what brought me here.  So glad to be part of this forum!  I've got the phone bug again, I guess.  All I need is something else to collect, space is tight as it is.  Lots of fun, though.

As promised, I'm including a photo of the red 500.  Now that it's back together, I've forgotten some of the date stamps.  The base and network are 9-70, the handset is sometime in '73, handset cord is '73, and the receiver and transmitter are sometime in '58 and '59.  Maybe not very exciting to everyone, but I'm so happy to have a rotary in the house that I can use again!  Oh, and I definitely intend to try the coiled cord repair instructions given elsewhere on the forum.

JD

[Phonesrfun]

Welcome to the forum.  We are always glad to have new members, and don't tell anyone I said so, but once the bug hits, you may have quite a collection going on before long!

[twocvbloke]

Yep, when you get one, you seem to manage to get another, and another, and a few more, and then a boxful, and before you know it, you have a museum...

The red 500 does look nice though...

[QuietlyWild]

To twocvbloke and Phonesrfun...Thank you for the welcome!  I know how that collecting bug is; it's been with me all my life.  Victor phonographs, RCA Victor radios, Anchor Hocking (or Hocking) glassware, Kodak cameras, and now Western Electric telephones.  There won't be a square foot left in my house when I go.

Thanks for the compliment on the red 500!  I thought it was too new to be of any interest.

I forgot to mention in my initial post that I'm thankful to whichever poster it was who said to move that wire!

  JD

[Greg G.]

Welcome to the forum.  We are always glad to have new members, and don't tell anyone I said so, but once the bug hits, you may have quite a collection going on before long!

And it doesn't matter one wit that you don't have room!  They either get boxed and labeled with the anticipation that someday you'll have more room, (like my collection) or you can have a wife like Doug's Janet that will let you put them anywhere! 

[QuietlyWild]

My one red 500 can't compare to that!  I see all kinds of goodies in there!  Can I get by with two telephones in each room?  That's about what I have now.  They're all hooked up!

[Greg G.]

My one red 500 can't compare to that!  I see all kinds of goodies in there!  Can I get by with two telephones in each room?  That's about what I have now.  They're all hooked up!

Come to think of it, that's about what I have hooked up.  Two each in the living room, office/work area, and bedroom.  One in the kitchen, but it's a modern type, so it doesn't count.

[twocvbloke]

Thanks for the compliment on the red 500!  I thought it was too new to be of any interest.

Pretty much all phones are welcome here, especially if they contain bells...

[Dan/Panther]

Welcome JD. I purchased the Red phone as one of my first.
D/P

[QuietlyWild]

Thanks, D/P!  Many WE 500s to you!

[gpo706]

I'm getting nagged by mother to clear up, so a lot of basket cases like Dictographs and half failed restorations are getting boxed and up the loft space!