The following are sounds from preserved step by step switches by a private collector in Mattoon, Illinois. He calls his collection the Paradise Township Telephone Company. The switches are connected to the regular phone network where an outside person can call in and using Touch Tones can make calls on the switches.
The following switches are represented here:
682 prefix: FTR-Kellog (later ITT Kellog)
FTR (Federal Telephone and Radio) central office (later Kellog, still later ITT-Kellog, and finally ITT when they ceased manufacturing) from 1953. The switch closely resemble the Automatic Electric style.
486 (IVanhoe) Prefix: Stromberg-Carlson XY
375 Prefix: Automatic Electric
FTR-Kellog Switch (682 Prefix)
Recordings were made in November 2002. At the time these were made, the call-in adapter was on this switch.
Dial Tone (November 2002)
(Note – The faint MF tones you hear are from the AT&T pre-paid calling card platform that I used when I was making these recordings)
Busy Signal (November 2002)
Reorder Signal (November 2002)
Ringback Signal (November 2002)
Stromberg-Carlson XY Switch (486 Prefix)
Recorded in November 2006. At the time these were made, the call-in adapter was on this switch.
Alarm Circuit (November 2006)
Dial Tone (November 2006)
Busy Signal (November 2006)
Reorder Signal (November 2006)
Ringback Signal (November 2006)
1000 Hz Tone (November 2006)
(375 Prefix)
Recorded in November 2006. At the time these were made, the call-in adapter was on the 486 switch.
Alarm Circuit (November 2006)
Busy Signal (November 2006)
Reorder Signal (November 2006)
Ringback Signal (November 2006)
Pay Phones connected to the vintage switches
The following is a picture of a working pay phone outside the shed where the FTR-Kellog switch is located. The people in the photo are the owner of the switch and his family in an undated photo.
A working pay phone outside the shed where the FTR-Kellog switch is located.
The people in the photo are the owner of the switch and his family in an undated photo.
Charge-A-Call phones and phone booths – hooked up to the FTR switch detailed above.
477-2414, 2424 at the end of the cross-pasture open wire (2024)
End of the cross-pasture lead. 3 circuits open wire and 6-24 figure 8 aerial cable (2024)
First side looking the other direction. Power board at the end. (2024)
Other side of the equipment at Paradise#2. PDSEIL02SXY (2024)
Other Vintage Sounds Pages
Automatic Electric Step by Step
Western Electric Crossbar
Canadian Step By Step Recordings
Miscellaneous Vintage Sounds
Main Telephone Sounds Pages
Modern Telephone Sounds
Vintage Telephone Sounds
What’s Old is New Again (vintage sounds from museums and private collections)
International Telephone Sounds
Miscellaneous Telephone Sounds
Time, Temperature and Weather Forecast Recordings
Wawina, MN Telephone Sounds
The Last Step by Step Switch on the PSTN?