Sunday 2 September 2012

The K6 50/50 Club

Thank you once again to 20 supporters who subscribed to the K6 Telephone Box Club. Jo and I have been researching the methods of refurbishment and best sources of supply of parts and accessories. Jo has passed this report to me to put on the blog.


With a fine, dry day today 2 people worked on stripping the phone box down further, in preparation for painting. The outside is done and coated in primer; today we continued stripping the inside, cleaned up most of the window panels in preparation for new glass, and removed the 4 plastic transomes with the word 'TELEPHIONE', ready for replacing with new glass ones, which are brighter and more authentic. We also removed the neon striplight light fitting, and have revealed the original cast iron ring for the original bulb underneath. This will require a new 'old' light fitting, with a lightbulb, in due course. Further stripping remains to be done - the channels inside the transomes, the ceiling, and the remainder of the window frames (removal of old putty in the corners, where the wire brush could not reach.) Once the interior has also be stripped, it can be treated with rust remover and painted in primer. To do this, we are dependent on further dry days of course. 
A major step ahead was realised yesterday, when we acquired a full set of 72 glazing frames, 72 glass panels, brass pins for fixing them, 4 new glas TELEPHONE transomes and 5 litres of authentic GPO telephone red paint. This was achieved thanks to the support from the 20 members of the telephone group, to whom we are very grateful. We are spending your contributions very carefully ! With these items, we can make the box waterproof. 
The supplier of these materials was very helpful, and helped us place an approximate date of construction for the box. The rear panel inside carries the letters LF and a batch number. This places it with the Lion Foundry, and after 1946, when manufacture was resumed after the wartime break and batch numbers were cast into the panels, rather than the date of casting, as from 1936 - 1939. On the other hand , our box was cast no later than 1952, when the type of crown on the transom was changed from the 'King's crown' to the 'Queen's crown', which is taller and narrower. Its original location was on a crossroads near St. Ives in Cornwall, and it was taken out of service in May 2005. How it got to Winchcombe, we do not know !

We obtained the  parts from Stuart at http://www.englishphoneboxes.com/services.html  who was extremely helpful and has offered to be a source of on going help in the future.
 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The box got to Winchcombe after it was purchased by the GWRLtd (the forerunner to the GWRT) around about 5 years ago. At the time we feared that red telephone boxes (which are seemingly in hot demand by collectors) would become scarce and thought that one would look fantastic at Broadway one day, to match those restored at our other three stations.
Through the efforts of the late Peter Hackett who was then on the limited board, two boxes were purchased and transported to Winchcombe. One remains in storage, the other has moved to Broadway.

Jo said...

Thanks for that, it helps build up our knowledge base. Now for some dry days to get to the end of stripping and painting - Wednesday looks good !

Anonymous said...

All we need now is for Superman to get changed in it and rebuild the station in 20 seconds

Anonymous said...

Being a telephone engineer of many years standing, I have had a keen interest in the telephone box at Broadway. In my youth in my training years, I use to smash up old bakalite telphones, even candlestick ones; later fixed and repaired them until I knew then inside out. The first plastic telephones were the same circuitry although using modern components. Today I get great pleasure fixing old phones. It would be nice to see a working phone in the box, even just for internal use. Steve

Jo said...

The internal equipment is still to come - can you help with a button A / B coin box perhaps?

Steve said...

I wish I could, if I do come across one, Broadway will be my first thought. I do have some other old bits and pieces Cords, transitters (carbon microphones) etc. Is there a underground cable or duct feeding box. A cable could be fed from the station building to give some future service. Regards Steve

Jo said...

We don't have any cable or duct feeding box (not sure what this is...) but for the moment the final location of the telephone kiosk is not yet decided.