OH MY!!! My name is Don Baker and THIS is RCMDCA11 (Richmond, CA) in 1984!!! I worked in FRAMES HERE! I helped to prepare the office for cutover to the "new" 5ESS switch and helped wired in those new white office equipment blocks on the main distributing frame seen at 11:47! For me viewing this was like transporting back in time. As I watched and before I knew which central office this was, I thought: "I know this place & I remember some of these people!" It's been almost 34 years as I comment here and seems like last year! And yes, I remember the sounds and smells all too well! THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting Neil!!
Wow! I worked at Arcadia, California ARCDCA11 Near Santa Anita Race Track, Frame first, then #5Xbar, SXS, Power, and T-Cxr from 1965 thru 1973 when I transferred to OBT in Ohio. Still have dreams of that experience!
@@henrythompson7595 When I hired in here, it was still OBT...right before the Ameritech era, lol. I've been retired for several weeks, after nearly 33 years.
I worked here, RCMDCA11 #5, on loan from ELSBCA11 #5 if someone was off and needed to be covered. The first person you see is Walt and the second is Tony, both working in the #1 Crossbar Switch. After going through the doorway separating two different sections of the building, you see Carol in the #5 Crossbar, a newer design from Bell Labs. The people you do not see are Craig and Johnny, who kept this #5 on the air for years. Believe me, these machines could have difficulties, if not managed properly. Carol worked in toll, facilities which connected different offices together. All of those flashing lights are different pieces of equipment with specialized functions, working together to process calls in the #5. The white piece of paper hanging was a trouble ticket. Someone, somewhere out of service or a piece of equipment turned down to service, failing at different times and in need of repair. Some people suggest #5 was the most complex system ever devised by Bell Labs. Working in Electronic Switching Systems, which took their place, was a walk in the park, compared to #5. It could take months, even years to become proficient in trouble shooting failures that occurred daily in crossbar machines. I was told, at that time, these machines were initially designed to be rural switches. Just a few calls an hour. But, if you add more common equipment, more brains, you can add more customers and grow these machines to fill a Safe Way Food Store. which is what happened in urban settings with high traffic. These machines rocked, deafening sound. Which created higher direct current amperages permeating the switch, burning critical contacts, causing equipment failures. The reason people like me were there. The folks you see later, in the calm atmosphere, are the Local Test Desk. These people isolate trouble reports and either send them to outside forces or inside switching for repair. Oh, that cute girl is Becky, I went to school with her. Great person with a knock-out smile. Civil defense, hospital. doctor, police, and fire. Even during the Loma Prieta earth quake, Pacific Bell people were there, stayed there, making sure everyone could reach their families, emergency service and stay in touch. It is, what we did. At night, while sleeping, I still work in #5. Still hear it running, still hear the alarms, still hear the IBM Trouble Recorder, still see and talk to many of the people I worked with.
Hi TT - I worked both RCMD and ELSB also Rodeo, also Albany and Berkeley and Oakland 45th St. plus I also did the DA board at El Cerrito for a couple years. This was shot by Craig I just edited it for him (thus CUT5.avi) this was just cut 5 of the editing process didn't have anything to do with the cutover dates. I worked nights in RCMD '70 thru '79 so I was qualified for #1 and #5, and toll and power and AMA. I heard Johnny died a while back, haven't heard anything about Tony. I know Jerry I. died a few years ago :-( Last I heard from Craig he was still Ok, and I've heard from a couple of the other old switchmen from the old days. Sindicic, Jacobson and Dahlund are still around, and last I heard Becky and Dora were still around, don't know about Vic. I remember working with Harold and Jerry W. at ELSB and Lamont - don't know if any of them are still around.
This brings back memories of the 1970s, when my dad worked for Pacific Telephone (later AT&T) at a reagonal toll center in San Bernardino, CA. The building is huge- 2 whole floors of 4A Crossbar switching equipment, carrier toll facilities on the 1st floor, and microwave radio on the top 4th floor. The 4A crossbar looked very much the same as this #5, just noisier! Then in the early 80's, they shut it all down. I had tears in my eyes the last time I walked through there. The silence was deafening, as I walked between all those rows and rows of dead crossbar switches! Later they tore it all out and sent it to Mexico! The old card translators were once the noisiest equipment in the office! All of this gone now, but I have fond memories. Today's ESS is so boring, all you hear is a fan running. I miss the good old days!
My uncle worked on a #5XB in New Jersey. He said he would have to constantly pop Bell System "greenies" that were kept by the water fountain so he'd be able to deal with the noisy as all get out crossbar switch. I was curious, so I googled the "bell greenies." They were aspirin, caffeine, and diazepam (Valium) in a nice little pill...great work ethic and tranquilizer laced analgesics. That's what made the Bell System great.
I started as a XB5 Switchman with New York Tel in 1969 and worked the switch in Tarrytown NY until the cutover to a DMS-100 in November 1984. There were four flat spring completing markers near the maintenance center and did those guys make noise during busy hour. The crossbar was upgrated to an XB5 ETS in the mid seventies. I do suffer from tinnitus and enjoy a few drinks. However, I’ll be turning 70 in a few months and hope to have many more years left. I absolutely loved working the Crossbar. Love the video.
What a trip back in time!! I hired inin Michigan Bell as a c.o. Powerman and got promated to Switchman 6 months later. It was a full blown central office 5 crossbar with 8 markers. That sound of the relays making and breaking contacts is something I will never forget
That is a great video of that central office! I was an operator in the 1970's and 80's and placed countless calls through crossbar offices. They were tough and dependable. I was working a TSPS (cordless switchboard) position one night when they cut over a central office to ESS (Electronic Switching System). No one told us that was going to happen on that night. We got quite a few reports of cut-off calls. Then, I started hearing different busy and ring tones from calls to that office and I realized what was happening. Finally, the old tones could be heard no more. I got to visit some crossbar offices and heard those sounds. It was cool to hear them again. Very big thanks for taking and uploading this one!
I work in a central office, and I think this video is awesome. The central offices have not changed much, except they are a bit more quiet. Thank you for sharing!!
This is a very valuable video, as it shows the activity and sounds that were seen and heard in a typical 1980's Crossbar CO. I engineered several NT DMS-100 replacement switches and did live 2AM cutovers. Something unforgettable. Thanks a lot for sharing this.
I worked for a bit over 10 years in the 566 & 571 C.O.s in Manhattan (212 area code), going back 35 years or so ago. I never particularly thought the machines were too loud, even at the busy hour. Being away for so long and seeing this video - wow! The noise is amazing. Each C.O. above had triple trunk link frames, 10 completing markers, and 5 dial tone markers. BIG machines. Those were good days. Thanks for this video.
I was a switchman in Placentia California #5Crossbar when it had a dedicated marker and switch matrix for the Autonetics 20,000 lines of centrex. I started to get sane and not become alcoholic because I got a transfer to carrier long lines (Much Quieter) When they were pulling out the old XB for a #5ESS, I secretly stole a entire crossbar switch section and still have it in my garage. I put B Battery on it when I get sentimental and listen to it clatter, one day my wife is going to call the ambulance attendants with the straight jacket for me because she thinks my time in the C.O. made me latently insane. The nice thing with working in the CWA were the shirts they would let you wear and no requirement on hair length (on the head or face)
Very cool, was just walking around a #5XB, #1XB, Step, and panel at the Museum of communications in Seattle, but the volume is nothing like this actual combat footage.
Neil I too worked in a Panel office was a frameman 6/68 to 7/69 then made switchman. Worked incomings & finals til I got drafted. After I got back I worked my way up to the prestige job, Sender ART. That stuff was ingenious! Boxing clutches, photographing message registers. Eventually worked 1AESS til that went away too. Getting ready to retire. From Phila, Pa. - Tom Holland
Once I had a nightmare: I was visiting a #5 office. Trouble cards were "dropping" on the service desk and were ignored. The switchmen had set up beer stations on each floor including the basement. I asked, "What are you guys doing, bar-hopping?" No, they answered, we are cross-bar switching!
Wow, those machines punching holes in the Yellow Paper, they are recording telephone calls. All the Paper tapes were sent to Accounting where they were mounted on reels and then fed into a computer so the customer could be billed, then I would stack them on pallets and store them for about 1 week. The Bong Bong sound is an alarm. The ladders had those "look up" signs for a good reason, if someone was at the top of the ladder and you came by and moved a ladder you could easily fall off.
I cut, stamped and dated about 5 boxes those tapes at 3 am for about 10 years, boxed them and sent them to you guys at accounting. A paper cut from that yellow oiled tape took forever to heal, and always turned red and sore for about a week B4 it would heal. NAB :-)
I got to work in 7 different dept. while at AT&T, it was quite an adventure. some of my jobs were in central offices like this, also outside testing cable pairs, installing equipment at customer prems. I also was a tester on both 2-wire and 4-wire.
I see this is titled CUT5, I think Neil was referring to the #1 Crossbar being scheduled for an electrical plug pulling the following midnight. #1 being a much older switch type would be removed and replaced before a #5 would be scheduled. 7 minutes 45 seconds into the video, you can hear Neil say the date is May 18th, 1984, and I believe he also indicates the #1 Crossbar was to be cut (removed from service) the following day, May 19th at 12:30 am. and replaced by a new Western Electric Electronic Switching Machine. I believe the ESS was placed in the basement. The #1 and #5 took up areas of the 2'd and 3'd floors. The Main Distributing Frame and Toll were on the first floor. This is my recollection of 30 years ago and I was only there when Craig was off, Johnny worked the late shift and my office ELSBCA11 had to be in good working order for me to go to RCMDCA11, if Craig was off. People in different types of offices didn't cover each other. Walt or Tony, next door in the #1 couldn't walk 50 feet and work in the #5. The two types of switches were too different, to allow it.
After all these years I never thought I'd hear that racket again. Worked in #5 Crossbar switches with LAMA and CAMA recorders in Calgary, Alberta in the 1970s and early 1980s.
I worked in a panel machine at 45th St. in Oakland, Ca. but that was back in the late 60's early 70's and there weren't any hand held video cameras back then, wish I did have some footage of a running panel, nothing sounded quite like all that clicking & clacking those old babies made at busy hour.
A shoe is a manual connection put of on the mainframe so that the test board can look directly out on the cable pair and eliminate any problems that may be inside the central office. It essentially connects their VOM or a Wheatstone Bridge or breakdown tool on the testboard directly to the outgoing cable pair. The Oh-four is the 04 cable, just the number of the cable in which she wants the shoe put up.
That is the most comprehensive, realistic tour of a “crossbar” office I have ever seen. The switch, The frame, test panels, toll tape recorders, well everything. Who made this ? Very cool. Very realistic. Thanks.
"so I googled the "bell greenies." They were aspirin, caffeine, and diazepam (Valium) in a nice little pill" Turning up the Valium control on the noise
Great video, this really brings back memories. From 1969 - 1979 I was a switchman in a #5XB office in Riverside, CA (RVSD CA01). We had Three (3) Marker Groups. MG0 was flat spring, MG100 was wire spring, and the latest MG200 was wire spring with Phase III Centrex (I was the WECO observer for the MG200 installation). When I worked the night shift, after the 3 am entry (diamond shape punched into AMA tape), I cut, packed and shipped to accounting the tapes. I retired in 1996 from PacBell.
@MrTimFarnham, what a small world! While you were working in RVSD, my dad was working the same years in the San Bernardino toll office (SNBR CA01). There was a huge 4A crossbar switch that took up 2 whole floors! He didn't work in switching though, he worked in carrier and then microwave radio. All of its gone now. It makes me sad!
At 7:50, the person recording says "So, it's May 18th, 1984. 1:49 in the afternoon. This machine is going to be cut out May 19th at 12:30 AM." I've watched this video a few times and never heard that. Was that just the number 1 that was being cut on that date?
@thecooldude9999 That is correct but it was just the 1XB that was turned down I believe. I was there that night to help cut the cables to the old switch at the prescribed time along with many others so that all the customers would be transitioned to the brand new electronic switch. The term “cutover” is very literal!
I worked summers as a WECO installer while going to college from '66 to '69. Worked on #5, PBX, and the first ESS system in the country in Morristown NJ. Never thought I would hear all that racket again. Love the trouble light gong; miss the rhythmic beat of the interrupters! Best experience was when power went out in a #5 CO in Dover NJ and the generator had been taken apart for servicing. That mechanic was sweating up a storm while the batteries boiled! Got it up & running in time though!
I worked there from 1968 to 1979 I think this was shot the day before they cut the machine over which would have been in the mid to late 80's probably around 88-89 I think. NAB :-)
@JeffFrmJoisey, you think thats noisy! You should of heard the old card translators for the 4A toll crossbar switch. They made so much racket they were kept in a closed room! They were scary too!
Spent quite a bit of time working in CO's, I was in T-Carrier, but I also worked outside. I got used to the clicking sounds and it was kinda strange after they were gone. I don't recall anyone complaining about their hearing, but maybe the Switchmen were often standing much closer to the X-Bar machines than me.
It wouldn't be completely silent there would still be interrrupters running, they are the cam-based contact pileups that provide all the timing for switch and relay operations.
Worked in Step x Step and # 5 X-Bar in LA Area. Transferred to T-CXR group in Orange County (a lot quieter). Had 28T and 77T in same bldg. the noise on the third floor where those machines were was something else. Ended up after 34 years building fiber optic systems in Orange, Riverside, and San Diego Coubties. Brought back a lot of memories both pleasent and otherwise.
Very cool. Thanks for the awesome footage. I worked for Western Electric in the LA area in the 80s, and worked in many xbar offices - Mostly #5, and mostly entry level work (power, terminations, etc). Which machine is the #1 and which is the #5 (the footage with the hairy guy is one machine, and the one with the girl talking on the phone is the other, correct?)
Is it correct to say that the switches were making all that noise just during the initiation or termination of a call? I mean that suppose all the circuits were busy in the middle of a call at the same time would the switch be silent? Yeah, I realize that's highly unlikely, but in theory would that be the case?
@@TechHowden Yeah, you don't want to hear a silent central office!, but in that😄 case, the only thing you would hear would be all of the alarms going off.
I worked a lot of graveyard shifts in those days, watched a lot os 3 am entires go and cut a lot of that 5 in. yellow perforator tape, nasty stuff if you cut yourself with it. NAB :-).,
Mac; I worked #5, SXS, and power at ARCDCA11, Arcadia, CA. We had just installed a Gas Turbine a year before I transferred to Youngstown, OH. I also maintained the #23 Information Office (also #5XBAR) for about 3 years, also in Arcadia, this was 1966-1973. Old office is now DMS I think.....
KKstudioes Inc I grew up too late to really appreciate electro-mechanical switching. By the time I was old enough to be interested it was all mostly ESS or digital. I'd give anything to be able to go back and experience the old stuff like 1xb, 5xb, step and panel switching.
Question: from the context it's clear that she's joking, but even so. . . what does the operator mean when she says, "I need a shoe please, in the oh-four?" P.S. Thanks for posting this - it's a fascinating peek inside a crossbar CO.
@drpj Having worked many frames back in the 80's & 90's the "operator" (actually a Test Board person as you saw at 02:53) would call the office over loud speakers and would request this a lot. A "shoe" is just a cord that one would plug into a cable (in this case the "4" or "04" cable for clarity)and associated pair of wires for the telephone number that would feed to a customers home or business. In this manner the tester could measure the resistance on a line and perform other tests to troubleshoot problems. We in the frames would communicate with the tester by pressing a button next to a microphone much like an intercom. Of course this type of testing became automated some time ago. Hope that answers your question.
@@drpj My pleasure. I always appreciate having those in the know clarify things that would make an ordinary person scratch their head so it’s great to be able to paint the picture behind the common dial tone! 😉 I like to tell the story of my first supervisor upon seeing my reaction and being awestruck with seeing a Central Office or CO for the first time telling me “It ain’t magic.”!!
