student nurse Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 was sat thinking about when i was a kid (many moons ago) but not as many as some!!!! is there only me who remembers the party lines on the telephone exchange?? you pick up the receiver to hear someone else on the line having a chat!! bring back busby :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickjj Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I had a mate who's family had a party line. They shared the line with the next dor neighbour. I think it was cheaper than having a dedicated line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tsavo Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 It was cheaper but many people had no option other than a party line, The shortage of available lines was the usual problem but this eventually changed when BT took over from the GPO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wisewoodowl Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 We had a party line in the mid to late 70's, bloomin' nuisance. The reason was the shortage of lines in many exchanges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mega_monty Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 bring back busby Here he is Anyone remember the ads on tv with Bernard Cribbins as Buzby's voice ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuit Head Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 We didn't have a party line, but we had a trimphone. It seemed so futuristic and sophisticated.....and the dial used to glow in the dark! A kid at school could imitate its ring perfectly, but I never could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy244 Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Sometime during the early 1970's when i was living at home with my mum and dad we had a party line. It wasn't by choice, we had just gone on the telephone then and they told us we had to share with our next door neighbour, you would pick the phone up and hear someone next door chatting away, it was awful but back then you just accepted it and got on with it. Yes, it was because of the lack of spare lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mega_monty Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 We didn't have a party line, but we had a trimphone. It seemed so futuristic and sophisticated.....and the dial used to glow in the dark! A kid at school could imitate its ring perfectly, but I never could. My parents had a trimphone and as a youngster I used to stand at the bottom of our stairs in the dark fascinated by its greeny / blue glowing dial their phone was exactly this colour: and sounded like this: trimphone_sound.wav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickjj Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Brilliant!!! I have just downloaded that into my mobile as a ring tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest transit Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 My parents had a trimphone and as a youngster I used to stand at the bottom of our stairs in the dark fascinated by its greeny / blue glowing dial their phone was exactly this colour: and sounded like this: trimphone_sound.wav The Trimphone became the futuristic must-have around 1971-2 due to the use of them on top rated telly prog "The Golden Shot", on Sunday teatime with Bob Monkhouse, Ann Aston , and not forgetting Bernie The Bolt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuit Head Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Yeah, the one on the golden shot was shiny gold! Our one was exactly like the blue one pictured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tsavo Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 We didn't have a party line, but we had a trimphone. It seemed so futuristic and sophisticated.....and the dial used to glow in the dark! A kid at school could imitate its ring perfectly, but I never could. Believe it or not the Trimphones caused BT a bit of a problem due to the radiation which caused them to glow. They had to be stored, a limited number to a box. I'm sure an old BT member can remind me how many it was. Lovely sound too but easy (for some) to imitate. A guy I worked with did it all the time and delighted in watching half the office reach for their phones! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mega_monty Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Believe it or not the Trimphones caused BT a bit of a problem due to the radiation which caused them to glow. eeek I must have been glowing like a ready break kid after the amount of time watching our glow B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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