|
|
Post by railtechnician on Nov 28, 2011 12:10:24 GMT
In November 1989 North Cowton is still listed as 0325 78 in my copy of the Code Decoder for that year but it is no longer listed in the May 1990 London dialling code book which means that it was probably converted to an electronic exchange circa 1990. That is when the number would've become 6 digits on STD Code 0325 and swallowed up into the linked numbering scheme (LNS) with the new North Cowton exchange becoming a Darlington remote concentrator unit (RCU) and disappearing from the directories forever. Most often the new 6 figure number was made up of the old two digit local code from the GSC i.e. in this case 78 from Darlingt on, a padding digit, usually 0 or 1 and the old three figure number so the complete new number might've been 0325 780408 or 0325 781408. However, it all depended upon availablility of equipment and it was often more expedient to allocate spare levels at the GSC so the new number could have been 0325 7X/8X 0/1 408 where X was any digit e.g. 0325 831408. About 1990 seem right from my memories. The 78 from Darlington was used, but the three digit numbers became 6 digit numbers with the addition of 378 so North Cowton 408 became Darlington 378 408. I'm not surprised at the renumbering to 378408, where my sister lives in the Colchester area 0206 23 4XX became 0206 2304XX and where I live in the Lincoln area numbers changed from 0522 71 2XX to 0522 7302XX. In some areas multiple exchanges were reconfigured into a single new unit which meant that many of the subscribers ended up with completely new six figure numbers. There were no hard and fast rules to the method of renumbering, just the basic principles as I have outlined them and they were interpreted in different ways according to what existed previously in each telephone area and the resulting method of installation and cutover. |
|
SE13
In memoriam
RIP 23-Oct-2013
Glorious Gooner
Posts: 9,737
|
Post by SE13 on Dec 3, 2011 11:45:06 GMT
As I said there never was an 01-557 exchange, 557 was what one dialled in London to reach the Overseas Telegram Operator. Although that code changed in later years and would've been available there was no 01-557 exchange as late as 1986 Checking my 1990 London Code Book for something else I noticed that London exchange codes are listed giving details of the change from 01 to 071 or 081 on 6th May and 557 appears in that list, however, there was no 557 exchange in 1986 so it must've been commissioned between 1986 and 1990 as 01-557. Out of interest I also note that 528, 895, 945, 975 and 982 exchanges are all shown as Mercury Comms exchanges each having numbers with both 071 and 081 codes! Edited to add that 557 was a Mercury Communications Ltd exchange rather than a BT exchange ! The phone line we had was GPO (as it was at the time) Mercury didn't appear until the 80's, maybe later. |
|
|
|
Post by railtechnician on Dec 3, 2011 14:24:04 GMT
I have to correct myself here!Checking my 1990 London Code Book for something else I noticed that London exchange codes are listed giving details of the change from 01 to 071 or 081 on 6th May and 557 appears in that list, however, there was no 557 exchange in 1986 so it must've been commissioned between 1986 and 1990 as 01-557. Out of interest I also note that 528, 895, 945, 975 and 982 exchanges are all shown as Mercury Comms exchanges each having numbers with both 071 and 081 codes! Edited to add that 557 was a Mercury Communications Ltd exchange rather than a BT exchange ! The phone line we had was GPO (as it was at the time) Mercury didn't appear until the 80's, maybe later. Exactly, the LT MD110 telephone system was interconnected to Mercury Communications circa 1983/4 as I recall. Of course there were no 'GPO' telephones after 1969! It was PO telephones from 1969, then PO Telecommunications, in the late 1970s IIRC, then British Telecom (but still owned by the government until it was sold off in the early 1980s). I worked for PO Telephones from 1970-1977 before joining LT. |
|
castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
|
Post by castlebar on Dec 3, 2011 14:31:38 GMT
@ Railtechnician
I know this is going completely off topic, but, you might know if a long held belief is actually true: -
The Prudential once had a "FREEFONE" number. Allegedly it was 0800 26 66 26
Apparantly, after a while it was noticed that this converts to 0800 CON MAN on a lettered dial, and was speedily replaced.
(An agent for a rival firm told me this years ago. Good story even if not true)
|
|
|
|
Post by railtechnician on Dec 3, 2011 15:29:07 GMT
@ Railtechnician I know this is going completely off topic, but, you might know if a long held belief is actually true: - The Prudential once had a "FREEFONE" number. Allegedly it was 0800 26 66 26 Apparantly, after a while it was noticed that this converts to 0800 CON MAN on a lettered dial, and was speedily replaced. (An agent for a rival firm told me this years ago. Good story even if not true) I have never heard that one before! I have no idea if the PRU had such a number but of course 266 626 can indeed convert to CON MAN on a dial. |
|
|
|
Post by norbitonflyer on Jan 10, 2012 16:41:07 GMT
473 North Woolwich Ferry to Newham University Hospital 276 Newham Univiersity Hospital to Stoke Newington 106 Stoke Newington to Finsbury Park 210 Finsbury Park to Brent Cross 122 Brent Cross to Ealing Broadway 65 Ealing Broadway to Kingston X26 Kingston to West Croydon 75 West Croydon to Lewisham 180 Lewisham to Woolwich Ferry Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but just to add a correction - Brent Cross to Ealing Broadway is the 112, not the 122. However the 122 could be used on the last leg instead of the 180, as indeed could the more direct 54. |
|
Chris M
Global Moderator
Forum Quizmaster
Always happy to receive quiz ideas and pictures by email or PM
Posts: 19,770
|
Post by Chris M on Jan 10, 2012 18:16:54 GMT
Oops, yes 122 rather than 112 was a typo.
I chose the 180 rather than the 54 or actual 122 as the latter two don't got to the ferry unlike the 180.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2012 18:10:07 GMT
If an 01-557 exchange had existed it would have been in East London but that's another story! By the time that AFN was introduced (1966) the LDA was already in the throes of a new networking scheme which would see the seven Outer London telephone areas each have a sector switching centre (SSC) and to facilitate the new switching plan the exchange codes had to be rearranged based upon the first two digits as each SSC was allocated a series of two digit exchange codes for all the exchanges in its area. For North London SSC (where I worked before I joined LT) the codes were 34, 36, 44, 80 and 88, other SSCs had many more codes than this. Thus North London exchange codes were carefully rearranged during the switch to AFN, not all exchanges were recoded but many were. E.g. HIGhgate Wood (HIG=444) remained 444, TUDor (TUD=883) remained 883, MOUntview (MOU=668) became 340, TOTtenham (TOT=808) remained 808, LABurnam (LAB=522) became 360, BOWes Park (BOW=209) became 888, MULberry (MUL=685) became 889, STAmford Hill (STA=782) became 800, ENField (ENF=363) remained 363, KEAts (KEA=532) became 366, EDMonton (EDM=336) became 807, FITzroy (FIT=348) remained 348, ENTerprise (ENT=368) remained 368 and so on. This is interesting to me. I have been wondering about which digits went through which switching centre in London. Most of my knowledge is based on Birmingham, where it was a lot more simple. Is there a list of switching centres and the digits they serve(d)? |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2012 16:50:56 GMT
Interesting stuff.
The incoming tandem exchanges (referred to on page 1) to London from the Home Counties were based upon ferrite core technology and the outgoing based upon magnetic drums. The outgoing exchanges were named after parts of a castle/fort and incoming after famous scientists/physicists. One of the incoming exchanges missed off the list was Maxwell which was on top floor of Holborn exchange building.
Holborn tandem was on the third floor and two local exchanges below that were 405 & ??
The MDF was a double one - a glorious patchwork of cables and running a jumper from one side of one frame to the distant side of the other could take an hour.
There was also access to the deep level from the basement.
Saturday mornings on overtime at Maxwell were quiet affairs until the first morning of Noel Edmunds Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, when the place went crazy after the BBC advertised a phone number on screen. We thought we'd broke the exchange and we were only playing cricket.
The shortest number including the 0 is I think 0800 1111 Childline.
For those of you who know the site of the old Hornchurch bus garage, there is a barbers nearby (Leon's) which still advertises a HX number.
On Phoneday and whatever LCC day was called, nothing really happened, except the old codes were routed to code change announcements and some of those took over a week to changeover.
|
|
Chris M
Global Moderator
Forum Quizmaster
Always happy to receive quiz ideas and pictures by email or PM
Posts: 19,770
|
Post by Chris M on Feb 14, 2012 21:14:15 GMT
The shortest number including the 0 is I think 0800 1111 Childline. This is now equalled by NHS Direct - 0845 46 47 |
|
