Metroliner telephone article 4060

Philip Nasadowski

Given the pwire concept was new, I don't see the problem of having the old brake stand as a back up. I don't think that stand caused debugging problems that the electronics did, and p wire did take some debugging on the LIRR. (The LIRR got a lot of flack at the beginning for going too far too fast with the Metropolitan fleet--same sort of complaints made against Amtrak with Acela).

People forgot that as a result of their consent decree, Bell wasn't allowed to do anything else except military sales. Western Electric made movie sound systems but had to give that up. A lot of things people blamed Bell for doing was mandated by the govt. Those mandates allowed MCI to undersell Bell on high volume routes. MCI didn't have to service towers in isolated areas on mountain tops nor poor areas.

That's right. Ironically, having a self contained ringer was a big plus in the 302 set introduced in 1938. Before that ringers and capacitors were so big they required a separate wall box.

Yes, they used a little transformer to power the dial lights; later they used LEDs powered by the phone line. The house my parents bought was loaded with Trimlines so they hooked up a larger transformer in the basement plugged into an outlet, and using the yellow-black lines in the house wiring (red-gree were the actual service line). I meant to take the transformer when we sold the house but it was painted over and I didn't want to leave a spot on the wall.

I found a 1948 article where Bell wanted up to upgrade the interior lighting of a building. They even tested flourescent lighting fixtures before implementation!

Your phone is probably a 302. If you open it, the capacitor is almost as big as a hot dog. I use one at work, the distinct ringer lets me know its my phone instead of all the other identical phones on other desks. Ringer is loud. The 500 set, introduced in 1950, had an adjustable ringer.

It should be noted that the old Bell System took responsibility for everything from your phone to the destination, usually no questions asked. They had real crafstmen at the other end of 611 (repair service). You got full service for the rent you paid (just as IBM renters got full service for their rent).

Given all the garbage phones out there today, Bell had a legitimate reason to not want interconnects without protection. Back then the system was more vulnerable to abuse, intentional or accidental. Bell didn't want to be called out on service problems resulting from bad customer equipment.

Yes. They tested for every possible problem in every part of the system. There's a whole chapter devoted to heat sinks for power supplies, for example.

Because they were rented and Bell wanted to keep service calls down. Now everything is disposable junk.

Of course, the time frame for technology is much faster. Exchanges were built to last 30 years, now maybe five years.