Classic Rotary Phones Forum

Telephone Talk => Forum News => New Member Introductions => Topic started by: Wanda on November 08, 2015, 10:51:31 AM

Title: Another new Canadian
Post by: Wanda on November 08, 2015, 10:51:31 AM
Hello, everyone!  I'm a new member, from Ottawa, Ontario.  I gather there are a lot of us Canadians on this board, and I look forward to learning more about vintage phones and how to restore them. 

I'm not what you'd call a collector, but I do have a weakness for all things retro, and I miss the solidity and workmanship of old things.  I picked up an old rotary phone at a country auction some 10 years ago, and after hunting the internet for information, managed to put a modular plug on the end of the old wire!  After that, I moved on to phones with no wire attached, and figured out how to actually connect the wires to the terminals, and figured I might as well go on and learn everything I could about old phones.

Mine aren't anything special, just the standard 500 desk sets and 554 wall phones - I'm very partial to wall phones.  I must have about 9 by now. But I do have one or two different ones that I'm not sure about and will be consulting the experts here over when I get a chance.

As far as personal info goes, I live in Ottawa, Ontario.  I'm married with 3 adult children, all of whom have different degrees of autism and live at home.  I first discovered this site when I went searching for reproductions of the telephone number labels to put on the dial.  (Took me several years, but I finally had the sense to look at YouTube and find a video showing how to get the plastic cover off!)
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: WEBellSystemChristian on November 08, 2015, 02:31:42 PM
Welcome to the forum! I'm beginning to think we have more Canadians here now than Americans!

It sounds like you have the beginning stages of Phonitis, the incurable disease that you can only maintain---by getting more phones! ;D

It sounds like you have a nice collection started already, do you mind if you post pictures? You can start a thread in "My Telephone Collection Display" showing all of your phones! I think we'd all like to see those two phones that you have questions about. Don't worry, I bet you'll get an answer to those questions within a day!

Again, welcome!! There are a lot of friendly people here, so make yourself at home!
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: Wanda on November 08, 2015, 04:16:11 PM
Thanks for the welcome!  I'll definitely post some pictures of my little group of phones.  Most of them are Northern Electric, but I did acquire one ITT phone yesterday at an auction, and an Automatic Electric.  I've also got one push-button phone with no maker's name on it anywhere!  It would be nice to get that one working, because one of my excuses for having these old phones is that having a connection to a land line is good for those times when the power goes out.  But rotary dials aren't always usable for some sites, and a push-button that could be used in an extremity would be nice to have as a backup.
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: tallguy58 on November 08, 2015, 05:39:21 PM
Welcome Wanda!

You picked a good hobby for us dwellers in the Great White North.  Find the old phones and then bring them indoors to fix them. Great winter projects.

Make sure to have lots of hot chocolate available.
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: ..... on November 08, 2015, 07:13:26 PM
Welcome to the forum Wanda, lots of great help here. Not to far from you. I'm in the same area code, just few hours down the road in Belleville.

Doug
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: electric al on November 08, 2015, 10:34:13 PM
(//)  Pontiac county ,  Quebec . (Shawville Area)

About 90 kliks from Ottawa .
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: CanadianGuy on November 09, 2015, 01:51:33 AM
Welcome from Winnipeg!
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: dsk on November 09, 2015, 04:55:43 AM
Welcome to the forum.

Ofcourse we will do our best to help, even from as far as Norway.

dsk
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: DavePEI on November 09, 2015, 06:39:32 AM
Welcome to the Forum, Wanda, from down east!
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: NorthernElectric on November 09, 2015, 10:15:07 AM
Greetings and welcome to the forum from Muskoka.
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: Wanda on November 09, 2015, 01:01:34 PM
Thanks so much!  Ahh, the Pontiac!  That's the place that always gets the violent weather warnings on the Weather Network.  The exciting red page comes up, but it usually passes by Ottawa and hits you guys instead.

I've posted a picture of my phone collection on the "collections" board.  It's mostly wall phones, they're my favourite, but I included my oldest phone as well. 
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: 19and41 on November 10, 2015, 01:28:37 PM
Welcome and good luck from the US's soggy south!
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: AE_Collector on December 12, 2015, 01:42:33 AM
What...no one in Canada any further west than Winterpeg :)

Welcome to the CRPF!

Terry in Vancouver
Well, almost Vancouver....Coquitlam about 20 miles...err 32 Kilometers east of downtown Vancouver.

Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: HarrySmith on December 12, 2015, 08:10:56 PM
Welcome to the asylum. We have very friendly, helpful inmates here. This is the place for Phoneitis sufferers ;D

I am a little south of you. Coral Springs, Florida. Lots of Canadians here this time of year, almost as many as on this forum!
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: DNO on December 12, 2015, 09:20:27 PM
Welcome, and enjoy, from Toronto!
Title: Re: Another new Canadian
Post by: princessphone on January 02, 2016, 09:59:26 PM
Hey Wanda,
Welcome and Happy New Year.
I live in Stoney Creek, ON. (Halve way between Toronto and Niagara Falls). I'm into vintage Princess and Trimline phones including the trimline wall units. If ever you need any help, parts etc, please ring my (brass) bells. I have about a dozen units hooked up and ringing throughout the house and one outside on the patio.
Best regards, John DeJonge