Strowger in Faversham

[ppppenguin]

Ruth and I have just got back from a couple of days in the Medway area of Kent. We stayed at the Chatham Maritme Travelodge which is a cut above the average for Travelodges. Nice semi-wetroom bathroom, good airconditioning and a nice location. Our main aims were Favesham, Rochester and the Chatham Historic Dockyard. This last is adjecent to the Travelodge.

We were in Faversham yesterday. We visited the Fleur-de-Lis local history museum where there's a display of working Strowger equipment. There's a small working demostrator connected to a pair of 700 series phones. There's also a larger working set which doubles as the msueum's PAX. https://favershamsociety.org/fleur-de-lis-museum/
We met some friends for lunch at http://posillipo.squarespace.com/ Good food and lovely waterside location. There was also a nautical festival over the weekend.

A couple of days ago we went to the Historic Dockyard at Chatham. This is a very impressive place - you definitely want to set aside a whole day. The highlights for me were:

No3 covered slip. A stunning modern building, built in 1838.
HMS Ocelot, a cold war era submarine. Get your timed tickets when you arrive
Ropery, 0.25 miles long building. Arrive early to get timed tickets for the demo.

There's a lot of (disused) vintage switchgear on the outside of many of the buildings. All painted red. 

https://thedockyard.co.uk/

Ruth and I are members of the Art Fund which gave us free entry to both of these places. Also gives free or discounted entry to many other museums and galleries. Obviously art galleries but also places you might not expect such as the Historic Dockyard and all the Ironbridge museums.

[Terry]

I was still at junior school when the council finally cleared the bomb site at the end of the road and grassed it over, making it a splendid place to play - although, of course, that doesn't mean that we didn't have lots of fun playing there before!

Somebody arranged a temporary indoor market on the green, as we called it, housed in a massive marquee, with lots of stalls selling a wide variety of products and, in the centre, a GPO exhibit.

This demonstrated what happened when you dialled 999 - the local manual exchange was on the verge of becoming automatic and one of the first, if not the first, STD exchange in the country.

There was a small amount of Strowger kit and, on one side of the stand, a small switchboard, and a telephone at the other side. If you dialled 999, bright lights flashed over the switchboard and there might even have been a bell but there was definitely something missing, because I'd not long before read an article somewhere on the subject. So I went on the prowl ...

Sure enough, I found a large, old fashioned brass tumbler switch mounted under the edge of the plinth. Not only that, but it was clearly labelled KLAXON on the wood alongside! One tiny flick of my toe, then turn around and casually walk away ...

After only a few seconds, all hell let loose - boy, was that klaxon loud! It took several seconds before it was silenced - and no, I didn't go back for seconds!