Old Telecom pics

[sheffcortinacentre]

duno but would look great in my mates ha telecom van. wana sell it?

 

its the one on the right in the pic on flicker before the ladder & ladder rack where fitted (NWA 974 X) pictured at thornes park  wakefield hcvs rally couple of years ago my mk3 is just on edge of 2nd pic.

 

it was in service locally & then sold to someone local.

 

more pics please.

[fred]

Took me back to when I was a nipper too

[holbeck]

Lovely pics. It reminded me of this thing i have had for years. Its telecom related so the right people might see it and tel me what is was for.image.jpgimage.jpg

loads of those on the railway as signal post telephones

[155V6]

Nice pictures,my best mate's family ran a car auction near Tower Bridge in the late '70s/early '80S & they had a lot of vehicles from BT & other fleets.I remember getting lifts to school in the back of their yellow Minor van,no seats,just the storage bins that were still in there 

[Chas4545]

The dodgevan was very rolleable, which a mate did, and as he sat in it upside down, the battery dribble its acid all over him.

 

HA s used to lose their water , and it was quite easy to get the oil boiling with them still running. Sounded like frying bacon. Happy days.

[twosmoke300]

No temp gauge on an ha either

[oldcars]

Great photos. I remember the Dodge vans well walking to primary school. I remembered* them being Commers but they were Dodge. Thanks for posting these great to see.

[tooSavvy]

Maestro sidepanel - in black.

 

I bought an ex builders M1000 van as my first wheels.

 

A neighbour stove the side in, pulling out not looking!

 

DuttonForshaw (Blaydon) fitted an entire side!!!

Grey it was, but the black was still obvious inside.

 

This was about '76 and the van was a G.

 

Chassis snapped before next MOT....

 

Insurance companies, eh?

 

 

TS

[steve_earwig]

Apparently the Commers used to roll on their fronts, so they fitted lifting rings to the front springs, so instead of pointing downwards they looked like they were about to take off. I think they were based on the Arrow? Well, I guess I have no excuses for my ignorance - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commer#Commer_FC.2FPA.2FPB.2FSpacevanSpacevan! Seriously! I thought that was a pisstake. Umm, Humber suspension. 1725s were fitted (I'll bet that was fun, the brakes were appalling and handling was described as a tea trolley on ice...)

 

I remember I had a reserve Commer which started to overheat, so I took it back to the workshop where I was told (shouted at more like) that the temperature gauge was wrong and it was fine. So the next time I had one and the temperature gauge started to point upwards I just ignored it. Until it started to pink so I killed it quick. It carried on running for a few seconds, possibly backwards. Turns out it had a new radiator but the mechanic had forgotten to put any coolant in it.

 

The yard outside the stores in West Green used to flood, all the subs aps HAs used to sit in it overnight and in the morning they used to jump in their vans, scream out into the traffic and find their brakes didn't work.

 

One of my colleagues managed to loose control of his Sherpa on a dual carriageway and headed off towards the houses. Fortunately a tree got in his way, while another took the box off the back of it. The headlamps ended up 1 foot apart facing each other. He broke his foot.

[steve_earwig]

loads of those on the railway as signal post telephones

I was going to say I never saw anything like that on BT, it made me think of Officer Dibble...

[sierraman]

He probably fixed my old Sierra, a j reg 1.8lx in blue first owner was BT.

[Asimo]

 

Was there any particular reason why the number plates were mounted above the bumper?

Starting handles? There seems to be a hole for one on the Dodge and I am sure I have seen HA's with starting handle holes. These are early sixties designs!

[EssDeeWon]

Thanks for sharing Cortinaboy, great pictures.

 

My grandad was a mechanic at BT in Southend, Stock Road depot.

 

I remember him coming home in those Bedford HA and Dodge Spacevans, as well as the Maestro vans in the late 80s, then early 90s those dull grey BT vans which IIRC were Escorts.

[Timewaster]

How did my old man avoid the Maestros and Sherpas? He had one of everything else.

It can't be because they liked him more cos he had an Ital!

[saucedoctor]

My Uncle worked for BT as a telecoms engineer. He had another part-time job building rally cars, and is still a real petrolhead. I remember him telling me that the Commer/Dodge vans could have their engines removed through the windscreen aperture, as opposed to dropping the subframe.

[Guest buzby]

Lovely pics. It reminded me of this thing i have had for years. Its telecom related so the right people might see it and tel me what is was for.image.jpgimage.jpg

Hi, long time lurker, first time poster etc...

 

What you have there is a 'Weatherphone'. They were made by Plessey (later Siemens) and Ericcson to a design by the GPO (based on he same circuitry as the standard 746 'dial phone'). When supplied to the GPO/BT, they were called 'Telephone, No. 745' and were used for weatherproof installations like taxi ranks, delivery yards etc (see http://www.britishtelephones.com/t745.htm ). Both Plessey and Ericsson also supplied them to government and private custiomers as well, where they went under their own part codes (see http://www.britishtelephones.com/ericsson/n1240.htm ).

 

The railway versions were usually supplied in either yellow or light grey, Blue and silver is the standard colourscheme, if the customer didn't specify something else. I have one identical to yours (it's the 'auto, no button' version, designed to be connected to a conventional exchange line) that I bought from an aerojumble. It's a Plessey model that was presumably spares stock from a US airbase (it has a US NSN part code label on the bottom, as well as a Plessey code label on the back). The RAF used them too, though theirs usually had a handle bolted to the front door (the full Plessey specification document can be downloaded from http://www.samhallas.co.uk/repository/railway/weatherproof_cb.pdf ).

 

On a shite-related note, a version of it was also supplied for use as a motorway emergency telephone.

 

If it hasn't already been converted, it's really easy to convert to use with a modern BT socket (rotary phones can stil lbe used on most BT lines, for now at least).It's a nice thing to have out in the garage or back garden, though with the very loud bell the neighbours might disagree!

[simmo]

Thanks for posting these-I love those old Bedford HA vans! Surely British Telecom were THE last firm who bought these in any numbers!

 

I worked for Ealing Council and we had some of the last ones, they all came in BT yellow before they got the Ealing livery.

[tooSavvy]

ThreadDredge of much epicness, simmo

 

TS

[somewhatfoolish]

The red and white striped tents were a source of fascination to me as a child; the tents were always shut and presented a mystery, although likely as not just contained a line technician eating his piece and having a brew while the clock ticked towards end of shift rather than anything wondrous.

[JeeExEll]