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Braintree Goes Automatic

1975 , Braintree (Essex)

Cat no. 350

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The automatic telephone exchange arrives in Braintree.

The film opens with shots of Braintree, including the market. The next shots are of women operating the manual telephone exchange. This was the last operating in East Anglia and was about to close. The commentary recounts the history of the exchange and a bar chart shows the increase in subscribers in the Braintree area. There are details about the planning of the new exchange. The planing stage can take up to fourteen years; the Braintree exchange has taken nine years. To accommodate the increase in subscribers, mobile telephone exchanges are used. There are shots of these showing the exterior and stills of the interior. The Three Rivers Exchange is shown and then the new exchange, built at a cost of £1 million. There are further stills of the equipment and shots of the fault reporting centre. Engineers lay cables, drill holes and erect telephone posts in and around Braintree. A house is visited to check for faults. An automatic dial is fitted to a telephone and a coin operated box is changed to the new STD installation. Telephone engineers test the equipment and there are interior shots of the new exchange. The final shots are of the manual operators at work.

Featured Buildings

The manual telephone exchange; The mobile telephone exchanges; Braintree; The Three Rivers Telephone Exchange; The automatic telephone exchange

Featured Events

The opening of the new automatic telephone exchange, Braintree, 1975.

Keywords

Advancing technology; Post Office; Telephone

Manifestations

Braintree Goes Automatic

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