Northern Electric Question - N500/554 Q3A

[New England Tel.]

Hello to all!

New member here and first post! I first want to say that I stumbled upon this forum while searching for detailed info on the W.E. E1 handset. Having found exactly what I needed, I read on...great forum with a lot of excellent stuff! Looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun! Now, for my first question:

While I primarily collect Western Electric/Bell System stuff, I have seen other one-off things that interest me. That being said, I would say that this is directed mostly at the Canadian collectors here. I understand that Northern Electric manufactured local battery (magneto) equipment for use in their rural areas longer than did Bell's Western Electric. In fact, they manufactured 500 & 554 series magneto phones. Well, I have been collecting for about 15 years now, and have never seen even one of these phones! Not on the internet, not on eBay, not locally (not that this is surprising since I'm in the USA). I would love to get ahold of a Model NE-554Q3A, with appropriate magneto. That is my desired goal - actually, I would love to run across any of the 500Q or 554Q series.

Are there any of these things that have survived? Were they converted to standard 500/554's? Destroyed?

Any help and info would be appreciated!

Thank you very much!

[G-Man]

As you pointed out Northern Electric is the only manufacturer to produce a local battery version of Western Electric's 500-set.

There has been discussion regarding them on the TCI listserve by members who own several versions of them. There is also Northern Electric Practices for them in the TCI Library. I forget which search terms need to be used to find them but they are in there.

Also, there is a very knowledgeable TCI member in Canada who may be able to assist you if the other owners are not willing to relinquish any from their collections.

[New England Tel.]

Thanks, G-Man, I already have the N.E. service and catalog info from the TCI library. I would like to find out if these things are incredibly rare, or if I'm just not looking in the right places.

[DavePEI]

Thanks, G-Man, I already have the N.E. service and catalog info from the TCI library. I would like to find out if these things are incredibly rare, or if I'm just not looking in the right places.

There don't seem to be a lot of these which survived, Bob. I have only been able to find one for the museum, and that took a very long time, and even it almost was found by "accident" after I had long given up finding one..

The reason that NE made these, is rural lines existed very late in some areas of Canada. The last rural line was not changed over until 1977 on PEI. Meanwhile, they had to continue to provide phones for these existing magneto lines. I think (just a theory) the reason these phones were chosen, is they could relatively simply be upgraded to work on an automatic exchange. Therefore a very large chance exists that most eventually were upgraded.

I don't have a photo right now of the two in the museum, other than a shot of the wall they are mounted together on (and it is in the distance on that wall), but the photo below shows the 554Q on the top left, and its accompanying magneto on the lower right when I first got it.

Dave

[New England Tel.]

Hi Dave,

So you are the gentleman that runs "The Telephone Museum of PEI"? I've been to your website many times and enjoyed myself immensely. Great stuff!

I have the page you posted above, along with all the pertinent info from TCI library. Thank you for the great pictures from your museum as well as your experience in searching for these. From what you say, I'll pretty much have a better chance of getting struck by lightning, than to find one of these sets. Disappointing, but I'll still keep looking - it doesn't cost anything!

[DavePEI]

Hi Dave,

So you are the gentleman that runs "The Telephone Museum of PEI"? I've been to your website many times and enjoyed myself immensely. Great stuff!

I have the page you posted above, along with all the pertinent info from TCI library. Thank you for the great pictures from your museum as well as your experience in searching for these. From what you say, I'll pretty much have a better chance of getting struck by lightning, than to find one of these sets. Disappointing, but I'll still keep looking - it doesn't cost anything!

Well, don't ever give up! As I said, this one pretty well fell in my lap several years ago after my searching for years. It was in a group of several phones given me by the widow of a former Island Tel worker. So there are some around, just not many.

You just never know when one might land in your lap!

Mine is the 554Q3A which was considered the replacement for the N1717CG.

Dave

[Mr. Bones]

Fascinating thread, gentlemen.

    Dave, do you have internal analysis of the local battery 500-series component differences / wiring differences? I noticed the ad said most components all the same, except for network, and ringer.

    I, for one, would certainly like to see what makes these tick. Could make for, or supplement a more varied / affordable home intercom system, than Leichs, or wooden sets, therefore appealing to impoverished collectors.

Have a great evening!

[G-Man]

Fascinating thread, gentlemen.

    Dave, do you have internal analysis of the local battery 500-series component differences / wiring differences? I noticed the ad said most components all the same, except for network, and ringer.

    I, for one, would certainly like to see what makes these tick. Could make for, or supplement a more varied / affordable home intercom system, than Leichs, or wooden sets, therefore appealing to impoverished collectors.

Have a great evening!

Actually the dial-less 554Q3A models are more common that the 500Q-series with dials. Those were used on a combination dial/magneto line and several members on another listserve have them working  on their demo switches as they were intended.

Once more, if you are interested in them the TCI library has both marketing brochure as posted by Dave as well as the practices.

[New England Tel.]

Mine is the 554Q3A which was considered the replacement for the N1717CG.

Strangely coincidental, as I have a nice example of the N1717CG, and it had nothing to do with my interest in the 554Q3A. Here's a look, if anyone's interested:

[DavePEI]

Mine is the 554Q3A which was considered the replacement for the N1717CG.

Strangely coincidental, as I have a nice example of the N1717CG, and it had nothing to do with my interest in the 554Q3A. Here's a look, if anyone's interested:

Yes, it is amazing how many N717cgs there are around. I would guess I have had at least ten in my hands the past few years, and either traded or gave away all but one. A lot of people are surprised to see an oak phone made so late (I have seen several made in the late 50s), but the countryside here was absolutely riddled with them. One I have, I have operating on my NE1240 cord board, along with a number of other mag sets.

Must go - just replaced a trap on one of my antennas - now have to see if its problems are cured!.

Dave

[DavePEI]

Fascinating thread, gentlemen.

    Dave, do you have internal analysis of the local battery 500-series component differences / wiring differences? I noticed the ad said most components all the same, except for network, and ringer.

    I, for one, would certainly like to see what makes these tick. Could make for, or supplement a more varied / affordable home intercom system, than Leichs, or wooden sets, therefore appealing to impoverished collectors.

Have a great evening!

The drawings for these are amongst the documents you can get from the TCI Document Library.... You can compare them using those documents!

Dave

[AE_Collector]

A lot of people are surprised to see an oak phone made so late...
Dave

Maple.  All the NE wooden sets produced in the 50's had changed to Maple.

There sure were a lot of them "around these here parts"! Even in BC there were lots of them.

Terry

[Jim Stettler]

As I side note, I have been told you could still order a plain single box wood phone from  Montgomery Wards catalog in 1968.
I don't know if it was a demand or a supply reason. (Did people still need them? or did wards just have a warehouse full?)

Jim

[DavePEI]

Better Photo of my NE-554Q3A and NE-41BN magneto taken for New England Tel  ... Needs Cleaning Again!

[dsk]

Welcome Bob

dsk