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Old 15th Nov 2021, 2:21 pm   #1
G6Tanuki
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Default 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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Old 15th Nov 2021, 2:34 pm   #2
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Default Re: London 3-letter exchange names.

http://rhaworth.net/phreak/tenp_01.php

I could never understand Wandsworth being VANdyke.
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Old 15th Nov 2021, 2:41 pm   #3
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Default Re: London 3-letter exchange names.

Quote:
Originally Posted by barrymagrec View Post
http://rhaworth.net/phreak/tenp_01.php

I could never understand Wandsworth being VANdyke.
I'm not a telephone buff but it was probably named after where the local exchange was located, a bit like part of STReatham. Streatham Common and part of Norbury was POLlards...the exchange was in Pollards Hill, Norbury.
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Old 15th Nov 2021, 3:05 pm   #4
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Default 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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Old 15th Nov 2021, 3:06 pm   #5
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Default Re: London 3-letter exchange names.

Quote:
Originally Posted by barrymagrec View Post
I could never understand Wandsworth being VANdyke.
WANdsworth would have clashed with WANstead, so something else had to be chosen. Presumably VANdyke had some local significance.
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Old 15th Nov 2021, 4:19 pm   #6
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Default 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.
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Old 15th Nov 2021, 5:51 pm   #7
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Default 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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Old 15th Nov 2021, 6:19 pm   #8
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Default 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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Old 15th Nov 2021, 6:41 pm   #9
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Default 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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Last edited by its ur aerial; 15th Nov 2021 at 6:46 pm. Reason: spelling
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Old 15th Nov 2021, 9:02 pm   #10
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Default 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.
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Old 15th Nov 2021, 11:07 pm   #11
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Default Re: London 3-letter exchange names.

Quote:
Originally Posted by its ur aerial View Post
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.
It was/is off Kentish Town Road in what was known as 'Church Avenue' (sign still on the wall!) behind what was the then Post Office - now Dopioi Coffee House on Kentish Town Road.

See location now - typical GPO syle buildings!
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Old 15th Nov 2021, 11:14 pm   #12
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Default Re: London 3-letter exchange names.

FULham had the alternative name of DUKe possibly to sound a little classier.
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Old 16th Nov 2021, 10:12 am   #13
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Default 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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Old 16th Nov 2021, 6:16 pm   #14
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Default 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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Old 21st Nov 2021, 9:26 pm   #15
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Default Re: London 3-letter exchange names.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Heatercathodeshort View Post
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.
WIMbledon and LAKeside were in the exchange on Ridgeway. LAKeside was the 2nd Unit added to accommodate expansion.
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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