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Post by redshank on May 25, 2024 11:49:14 GMT
I remember when before STD areas had names,Ilford was Valentine(the exchange is still there).I have one in an old phone from South London,I think it covered the Peckham area the name was Rodney,any other memories jogged by these exchange names.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2024 11:54:09 GMT
I'm curious as to how you getting an STD changed this.
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Post by redshank on May 25, 2024 12:02:20 GMT
Instead of asking the operator you were able to just dial the number,quite a nice feeling dialling a number when it first came out.The emergency had a special button then it became 999 to dial.
After the news on BBC they used to have an urgent message section asking for certain people to phone Whitehall 1212 as a relative was dangerously ill or something similar.
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Post by dohnut on May 25, 2024 12:50:35 GMT
I remember those old code, the introduction of 01 for London, then 071/081 for inner and outer I think. But in a digital age that change was inevitable. I like the new system.
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Post by redshank on May 25, 2024 13:25:35 GMT
There was a certain amount of snobbery between 01 and 02.
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Post by Fisch on May 25, 2024 13:35:49 GMT
My first phone on my desk as a teenaged office junior was Temple 4242. A big bakelite monster with a drawer in the bottom to keep your numbers in. I had to get authorisation to use it.
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Post by billk53 on May 25, 2024 15:29:02 GMT
If I may refer to Loughton in the early 1960s yet again, the public telephones there had solid disks instead of dials, and all calls had to go through the operator. 'Twas the first time I encountered this, having lived my first ten years in E10 and E17.
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Post by redshank on May 25, 2024 16:10:39 GMT
When I worked for a company in Surbiton the code was Elmbridge.Walthamstow was Coppermill.
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Post by mrb on May 25, 2024 17:50:34 GMT
Shame STD means something else nowadays 😁
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Post by Fisch on May 25, 2024 18:20:24 GMT
I recall seeing an advert board somewhere that had two posters. On the left was:
STDs can be cured if treated early".
The poster in the right said:
"I got it at the Co-op".
Juxtaposition at its best.
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Post by saintivo on May 25, 2024 20:02:52 GMT
I remember all the codes well, King's Cross was terminus and Covent garden was temple bar
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Post by billericayo on May 25, 2024 22:05:43 GMT
Was living in Upminster when my parents first got a phone. had no dial because it was a party line, you shared line with somebody near by, when you wanted to make a call you picked receiver you either got the operator or you heard someone else's conversation, in that case put the receiver and wait till you conversation had ended..
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Post by redshank on May 26, 2024 10:22:21 GMT
The waiting list to have a phone fitted was at least two years,that changed drastically when the GPO telephones was privatised. I have worked in some of the original Telephone Exchanges,what a marvel they were with all the whirling mechanics of it all.
Who remembers the Telephone exchange opposite the garage at the Bald Hind in Hainault Road in Chigwell.A block of flats now of course.I used to love going to old run down buildings to do estimates for the flooring with the change of use.
The best one I went to was the London Transport electricity generating building in Greenwich.It was truly derelict and a trip to the past,huge coal fired boilers for the steam to generate the electricity.I am sure it was used in the making of many films.I do hope it was a grade one listed building.These great buildings of the past are disappearing rapidly,nothing left but developers profits.
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Post by SW O on May 26, 2024 10:42:39 GMT
LEY 6261 was my childhood phone. Leytonstone, but Leyton as well, of course.
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Post by saintivo on May 27, 2024 6:58:15 GMT
The waiting list to have a phone fitted was at least two years,that changed drastically when the GPO telephones was privatised. I have worked in some of the original Telephone Exchanges,what a marvel they were with all the whirling mechanics of it all. Who remembers the Telephone exchange opposite the garage at the Bald Hind in Hainault Road in Chigwell.A block of flats now of course.I used to love going to old run down buildings to do estimates for the flooring with the change of use. The best one I went to was the London Transport electricity generating building in Greenwich.It was truly derelict and a trip to the past,huge coal fired boilers for the steam to generate the electricity.I am sure it was used in the making of many films.I do hope it was a grade one listed building.These great buildings of the past are disappearing rapidly,nothing left but developers profits. I worked in many different Telephone Exchanges, from some of the largest in the country to tiny rural ones with the only facilities being an earth closet. The mechanical Strowger equipment you describe was so noisy in the main central London exchanges that engineers at peak times needed to wear ear defenders. It was also the basis of the Enigma code breaking machine which was built by ex GPO engineers. Exchanges are now digital and many of the fine old buildings have gone or been repurposed. Some had upwards of 400 people working in them and had a full range of engineers with widely differing skills. |
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Post by dohnut on May 27, 2024 8:09:53 GMT
Much of the old systems were a mass of wires. My first job as a computer programmer, the programmes were copper wires threaded into a 10x15 inches board. I copper line per line of program code. Some programmes had up to 4096 lines of code. The maximum for the machine.
When I went Off-site to a customers computer to upgrade or sort a bug, copper wire and a soldering iron was part of my kit. Heavily modified programmes looked an absolute mess. With changes being so cumbersome the pressure on getting stuff right first time was immense. Mods were a painful process and to be avoided.
As programmers we were bonused on average lines of code per day from start, planning to the end. Too many mistakes hit your pay packet. But it definitely develops an eye for detail and the need to think things through carefully. Get it wrong and you work for a minimal basic pay.
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Post by mayland0s on May 27, 2024 8:32:13 GMT
I'm curious as to how you getting an STD changed this. Whoosh ,right over his head 😜! |
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Post by redshank on May 27, 2024 13:00:07 GMT
I'm curious as to how you getting an STD changed this. Whoosh ,right over his head 😜! But know it all. |
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Post by redshank on May 27, 2024 13:02:30 GMT
I have seen The Queen in a video making the first STD call to Edinburgh,the Queen unusually looked a little shy about it all,God bless her.
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Post by fortissimo on May 27, 2024 17:21:41 GMT
I've got a Leyton Orient programme from the early 1960s, the club's phone number was LEYtonstone 1368
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