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15th Nov 2021, 2:21 pm | #1 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,951
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London 3-letter exchange names.
I have always been intrigued by the 3-letter names used in London - the MUSeum, PADdington, WHItehall, GERrard etc.
Is there a canonical list of these?? And at what time did they become deprecated?? They were still in wide use in adverts in magazines in the early to mid 1960s.
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15th Nov 2021, 2:34 pm | #2 |
Octode
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Morden, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 1,552
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
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15th Nov 2021, 2:41 pm | #3 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Croydon, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 7,548
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
Quote:
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15th Nov 2021, 3:05 pm | #4 |
Hexode
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Lancing, West Sussex, UK.
Posts: 284
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
I think it more like likely that the WAN code was used for Wanstead and the same code could not be used for Wandswoth.
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15th Nov 2021, 3:06 pm | #5 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,118
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
WANdsworth would have clashed with WANstead, so something else had to be chosen. Presumably VANdyke had some local significance.
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15th Nov 2021, 4:19 pm | #6 |
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Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING.
Posts: 9,145
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
WIMbledon [946] was also LIBerty together with LAkeside [947]. Parts of Morden were CHErrywood. [540]
It all changed when STD and System X were introduced in the mid 60's. On summer days with all the windows open, when you passed the Liberty exchange in Kingston Road you could hardly hear yourself speak with the noise from the chattering relays! It suddenly went silent. My mates shop in Merton Road Southfields had a Vandyke number. J. |
15th Nov 2021, 5:51 pm | #7 |
Hexode
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK.
Posts: 418
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
Growing up in the 60`s I lived in Kentish Town, this was Gul as in Gulliver, I have no idea were the Exchange was, I have no recollection of ever seeing it.
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15th Nov 2021, 6:19 pm | #8 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
There's clearly more to this than I thought. I can imagine significant residential lobbying and furrowed brows at the GPO Exchange Naming Committee meetings as they tried to assign names that would not upset the subscribers in a particular area.
[Would you want your local exchange to have the same name as the local prison, for example? HOLloway, PENtonville, WORmwood-scrubs?].
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15th Nov 2021, 6:41 pm | #9 |
Hexode
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK.
Posts: 418
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
I am pretty certain Holloway was a ARChway, it being just up the road, from were we lived.
I remember St Johns Wood having a strange one, but I cant recall what it was. Ken, G6HZG.
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Life is not Hollywood, life is Cricklewood. Last edited by its ur aerial; 15th Nov 2021 at 6:46 pm. Reason: spelling |
15th Nov 2021, 9:02 pm | #10 |
Heptode
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Edinburgh, UK.
Posts: 805
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
St Johns Wood was JUNiper according to the list linked by barrymagrec.
Primrose Hill exchange had both JUNiper and PRImrose. There is a Juniper Crescent nearby, whether named before or after the exchange I don't know. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3327801 And UMPire for the Test Match score. |
15th Nov 2021, 11:07 pm | #11 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Flintshire, UK.
Posts: 707
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
Quote:
See location now - typical GPO syle buildings! |
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15th Nov 2021, 11:14 pm | #12 |
Octode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 1,999
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
FULham had the alternative name of DUKe possibly to sound a little classier.
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16th Nov 2021, 10:12 am | #13 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Southport Lancashire, UK.
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
In Liverpool much of the Toxteth area was ROY for Royal. No idea where that came from. Most of the others came directly from the name - CEN for Central, GRE for Great Crosby etc
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16th Nov 2021, 6:16 pm | #14 |
Hexode
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK.
Posts: 418
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
pellseinydd, thanks for the link, I recognise it now, corner of Prince of Wales Rd.
Ken, G6HZG.
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21st Nov 2021, 9:26 pm | #15 | |
Tetrode
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: North Surrey, UK.
Posts: 65
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Re: London 3-letter exchange names.
Quote:
LIBerty and CHErrywood were in the exhange at Kingston Road. The changeover to All Figure Numbers (AFN) began in 1965 but STD was earlier - in 1958 - and underwent its own conversion to AFN; for example Brighton code was initially 0BR3 and had to be changed to 0273. The System X rollout started in 1980 which makes the early ones going on 40 years old now and partly explains the forthcoming closure. VANdyke exchange was built in the early 60s so a suitable name was more difficult to find - WANstead had already been used and the next logical name FAIrfield (Fairfield Street ran down the side of the exchange building) had also been used for FAIrlands. VANdyke also got a 2nd unit called TROjan. The composer Les Vandyke lived locally and actually took his name from the exchange! In the '60s I worked in all three. Last edited by 2000 type; 21st Nov 2021 at 9:38 pm. Reason: More info |
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