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Telephone history: Telephone Service in Birmingham

Pedrocut your post #207. FNF fault not found. RWT right when tested, CWL cleared whilst locating, remember this during a period on ERD ENG during my TO in T training, terms like that stick in your mind forever. Eric
 
cookie273uk said:
Pedrocut, dry joints and jumpers yes, the other terms are unfamiliar, possibly u/g mtce terms ? Eric
Click to expand...

Yes, the U/G would use "harkers" or earphones to listen for a "tapper" which I think was a constant interrupted tone, when trying to locate a pair in the cable. Harkers would also be used in the Exchange to listen for a tone on a pair on the MDF.

A "megga," was, if I remember rightly, a piece of equipment used to regularly test the insulation resistance of a pair in the cables, and give an idea if the cable was being effected by whatever. I remember you could get quite a "belt" from a pair if there was a megga on it!

....discomknockerated
 
Thats what I thought but wasnt sure if my memory was playing up. I watch the guys here installing internet and TV dishes and my thoughts go back to climbing poles in the 1960s working on overhead. Even in those days there were some H and S rules but here they just climb up walls and roofs.
 
Yes I started in 1956 age 26, left the RAF after 8 years and my first 2 years were on 2-man and 4-man mtce gangs, seemed to spend most of my time up poles, but I think poles have slowly been replaced by underground cables. I took early retirement in 1987. Eric
 
cookie273uk said:
Lyn, probably MIDland or CENtral telephone exchanges, one is in Great Charles Street, the other, I think, is in Hill Street. Don't wish to sound pedantic but it's PMBX (private manual branch exchange) not PBMX, I used to maintain customers PMBX's until I got promoted to PABX's (private automatic branch exchanges). Loved the job until it was privatised and became BT in the mid 80's so took early retirement 2 years later. Eric
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Not a bad job Eric!

PMBX N0. 11

https://www.britishtelephones.com/pmbx11.htm
 
It all depended on the individual, the PO encouraged ambition, they paid my night school fees and my City and Guilds exam fees and promoted me to TO for passing same. In my opinion a good company to work for. Whether BT have the same attitude I don't know but I very much doubt it. Eric
 
cookie273uk said:
It all depended on the individual, the PO encouraged ambition, they paid my night school fees and my City and Guilds exam fees and promoted me to TO for passing same. In my opinion a good company to work for. Whether BT have the same attitude I don't know but I very much doubt it. Eric
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I joined the GPO as a Y3YC in 1964 and went on for another 35 years changing to PO Telephones an then to BT. I thought it f a great job and enjoyed it until perhaps the last couple years when work practices were changing.

January 2017 marked 30 years since the 4 week national strike.
 
Pedrocut. we must have joined the same day, September 1964, college on Bristol Rd. Guy in charge was Lenny Hemmings. remember his saying first day that that was first and probably last day we would all meet, he was right. Somebody left that day. I believe intake was 250 that year, all men.
 
When I was very little I remember walking up Goodway Rd with mum to the Kingstanding Rd and looking up at the telephone wires which are shown in the pic below, the sky seemed full of them. On each pole were 14 cross bars each with 4 insulators presumably resulting in 56 wires. Looking at them now I should imagine that getting to the top wires on the poles would have been quite difficult without snagging the lower wires. Other pics on the forum show that these poles had been removed by the 1960s and maybe much earlier. Perhaps the telephone engineers in the thread are too young to have ever worked on them ...:)
Kingstanding_Rd.jpg
 
Bikeral72 said:
My wife did her initial training as a telephone operator at "Telephone House" Newhall Street.That was in the early 60's. She then transfered to Four Oaks exchange which was far easier to get to from our house in Lichfield. Are there any other young ladies still around that might have been at "Telephone House" in that era.
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I did my training at Telephone House in 1964 and have been trying to trace others that worked there without success. The switchroom was on the fourth floor, directory enquiries was sited on the third floor. I remember the clocking in machine as you entered the switchroom. Supervisors standing at the back of the operators, if you needed a comfort break or a 'casual' as it was called, then you had to ask permission from the
supervisor.
 
Bikeral72 said:
My wife did her initial training as a telephone operator at "Telephone House" Newhall Street.That was in the early 60's. She then transfered to Four Oaks exchange which was far easier to get to from our house in Lichfield. Are there any other young ladies still around that might have been at "Telephone House" in that era.
Click to expand...
 
Bikeral72 said:
My wife did her initial training as a telephone operator at "Telephone House" Newhall Street.That was in the early 60's. She then transfered to Four Oaks exchange which was far easier to get to from our house in Lichfield. Are there any other young ladies still around that might have been at "Telephone House" in that era.
Click to expand...
 
sheldontony said:
Pedrocut. we must have joined the same day, September 1964, college on Bristol Rd. Guy in charge was Lenny Hemmings. remember his saying first day that that was first and probably last day we would all meet, he was right. Somebody left that day. I believe intake was 250 that year, all men.
Click to expand...

I think we did, and I remember the name Lenny Hemmings, and never did meet him again. I think it was the first intake of Y3, the previous apprentices having a 2 year course.
 
oldMohawk said:
When I was very little I remember walking up Goodway Rd with mum to the Kingstanding Rd and looking up at the telephone wires which are shown in the pic below, the sky seemed full of them. On each pole were 14 cross bars each with 4 insulators presumably resulting in 56 wires. Looking at them now I should imagine that getting to the top wires on the poles would have been quite difficult without snagging the lower wires. Other pics on the forum show that these poles had been removed by the 1960s and maybe much earlier. Perhaps the telephone engineers in the thread are too young to have ever worked on them ...:)
Kingstanding_Rd.jpg
Click to expand...

After my apprenticeship I went on to "Internal" and not "Poles and Holes" so was relieved of having to climb them. In the apprentice training, as a youngster, you were not forced to climb them, although some lads loved it.

I remember going on a few days Course for training on "overhead Maintenance," somewhere near the Rolls Royce establishment at Derby. After lunch in the nearest hostelry the poles, although only short ones, seemed a lot shorter in the afternoons.
 
In March 1966 Birmingham Central Exchange code CEN disappeared and replaced by the the code 236.

Not a good picture but gives the idea of what the exchange was like in 1908. The text is the story to that point of the Birmingham Telephone System.


0EE592E1-AD82-4A51-ABC1-1702F10AB89D.jpeg 00A44F56-C5FA-42B3-B11A-AF1A48EDDFD2.jpeg
 
Astoness said:
thanks eric..now i know...i trained on the PBMX switchboard had to go somewhere in the city centre for training but i just cant remember where i went...this would have been in 1970..somewhere in my head i have the GPO in mind maybe someone can help..i loved those switchboards

lyn
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Just reading about you training on PBMX would your training have been down Newhall st at the GPO , it was called Telephone House it was right at the bottom of the hill?
I worked at Telephone House from 1967 to around 1971 then tranferred to the new Sheldon exchange. I loved the stretchy plug switchboards at telephone house the new one was just switches.
 
SusieR said:
I did my training at Telephone House in 1964 and have been trying to trace others that worked there without success. The switchroom was on the fourth floor, directory enquiries was sited on the third floor. I remember the clocking in machine as you entered the switchroom. Supervisors standing at the back of the operators, if you needed a comfort break or a 'casual' as it was called, then you had to ask permission from the
supervisor.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
A training school for overhead chaps, not in Birmingham, but no doubt some will remember. In the 1960s I believe that the one for Birmingham was near Derby and maybe at the training school at Shirley.


7C388624-CFF4-4E98-9E08-066AB1A7E1E0.jpeg
 
Vivienne14 said:
We had a 'party line' which I believe meant we shared it with someone else. And I think we shared it with our next door neighbours!! Were these common? It would have been in the late 60s. Viv.
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Hi Vivienne, Yes they were quite common , if you needed to use the phone you picked up your phone and if the other party sharing your line were on a call you had to replace your receiver and try your call later, not very private really.
 
we had a party line during the 60s but not for very long as it was not private...if you were the nosey type you could listen in to the other persons calls

lyn
 
I recall party line phones had a button on the top tha you had to press first to make a call.
 
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