Telephone Lineman - circa 1950 - CharlieDeanArchives / Archival Footage

A look at different jobs performed by telephone linemen - shows installers, splicing wires, putting up telephone poles, & running microwave relay stations. .
CharlieDeanArchives - Archive footage from the 20th century making history come alive!

[@RadioReprised]

Started at 18 with GTE as a Splicer/Lineman, We called the straws or cotton sleeves on the splice ''Blipphies''. We used UR's and AMP's mostly with MS2 for larger splices. In the Desert it was often 120 degrees and the Stainless cases would burn your hand right through the gloves on aerial splices! I got so much satisfaction building Plant...and pride that some of it is still hanging there 40 years later. Young people need work like that but it doesn't seem to exist anymore....🙁

[@zambufly1]

As a former prank phone caller, terrorizing strangers in the 70's and 80's, I owe all of my success to these brave men.

[@khalilreid]

Not what phones are for

[@ka3uxu1]

As a former Lineman of 15 years for telecom here in Pennsylvania. That was fun to watch, I was born for it. With memories I could never begin to replace, I will always miss that that job. It changed my life.

[@mikeE0055]

30 years after this film was made I was replacing open wire as a result of an ice storm using most of the same tools and techniques. 38 years later I retired as a Central Office Tech. Thanks CWA!

[@herevlad1]

CWA IS GARBAGE NOW

[@popwoodside1504]

Old Ma Bell. What a great old gal she was.

[@jeffreyhunt1727]

Unless you were a customer lol

[@EightiesTV]

Yeah... imagine paying $200 for a single 60 minute call. Corrected for inflation, that's what it cost to call "long distance" 25 miles down the road.

[@gruppettovelo]

True, but I still remember carrying picket signs reading "Ma Bell is a Cheap Mother". I retired in 1994 with 30 years service.

[@victordubowski1276]

I was 17 years old and, got my own telephone line at my parents house using my income from working as a gas station attendant. I had the chance of being a ma bell customer for 2years before, they broke up ma bell 🔔 😢

[@caratcamper]

As a current “phone man” with 22 years these videos are the best. I like seeing how the job has changed in some ways and stayed the same in others.

[@briang.7206]

No more twisting wires together and hand something them. Then the splice was sealed with hot wax.

[@alfavulcan4518]

When I was a lineman for Southwestern Bell in 73 we still had a couple of the old olive drab trucks. A far cry from the air conditioned trucks we had when I retired in 2012

[@mikeE0055]

@@alfavulcan4518 in 1978 our line crew had a truck that color as well. It was in the fleet because it had a winch that could pull a car through a duct run 😉.

[@johnscanlon5889]

Man dad started his career of 33 years in 1953, for PacBell, I remember the old green trucks, safety glasses and always the cone behind the parked company truck. Good memories R.I.P Dad.

[@montanamountainmen6104]

Remember my dad was well with Pacific Northwest Bell except white trucks and ever so seen orange cone. 1970-2000, 30 year man...

[@edpodellis]

I tied a rope to my cone because I would forget to throw it in the truck before I drove off !

[@ericdee6802]

I have a Brother that retired from GTE in California. He told me some pretty cool stories.

[@joewoodchuck3824]

I greatly miss my dad as well.

[@edpodellis]

@@tomdonegan2610 When I was new to the job we were told , those are shears not scissors ! You can cut pennies in half with a new pair .

[@krazylegs74]

I was fortunate enough to experience the tail end of the copper telephone era as an underground splicer in NYC. Worked with plenty of lead cables, even wiped once or twice. Great work, good people. Splicing was more of a craft then. There was quality and care taken. Can't say that now. Fiber is a total mess, nobody cares and it shows.

[@edpodellis]

Lead wiping old lead cables was my lob when I retired in 2010 , I was on the air pressure crew .

[@tonyk9722]

I was an air tech as well, retired from ma bell in 2011 up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Best job ever. 33 years service. I love watching these old videos.

[@edpodellis]

@@tonyk9722 The part I miss most is driving around with my partner ,we covered ten towns so we had a lot of windshield time . But I remember the old lead ''football'' splices that stretch out over the years ,and we would try and fix them ! Enjoy retirement !!

[@oldgysgt]

Yes, slipping a sleeve and re-soldering it is a lost art.

[@virgilcain8152]

14 years at southern New England tel co.! Cable repair department.

[@karinadler2308]

I've been a phone man for 38 years, Southern Bell, Bellsouth and now AT&T . My how things have changed! Fantastic video, thank you for sharing it!

[@briang.7206]

I hired on under the old Bell system in 73. It was a different company back then.

[@alfavulcan4518]

@@briang.7206 me too, 6/18/73 with Southwestern Bell as a lineman. Was like a big family then, that’s long gone

[@shortliner68]

My earliest recollections of our home phone are from the early 1950s. The phone was made out of bakelite plastic with a metal receiver which had a pretty good weight to it. There was no dial on our phone...you picked up the receiver and the operator came on to whom you gave the number you wanted to be connected with. The telephone's wire was connected to the house phone wiring inside the wall via screw terminals - no modular plugs back then. Even into the 1970s there was still a lot of open wires in use in rural areas. Sometimes they'd be located along the roads and sometimes they'd run across country fields.

[@tsbrownie]

I used to love to watch the phone/electric linemen when I was a kid. I liked how they could quickly climb the wood poles with the heel spikes.

[@oldgysgt]

Those climbers are a lot more dangerous than they look. I broke my back in three places when I "cut out" while coming down a pole. I was in traction for a week, and had two operations. But at least I was lucky enough to make a 80% recovery.

[@Janotes]

@@oldgysgt My supervisor when I was a phone guy, worked for NYT in the old days. He had a section ladder break while he was on it. He fell and broke both his elbows. Changed his life unfortunately.

[@oldgysgt]

@@Janotes; so let me ask you, would you rather climb to a 25' height using a ladder, or using spiked climbers? (Assuming you have been taught how to properly use climbers).

[@ryanshadders750]

I love these old videos. As an electrician I've been seeking these out lately. Thanks for posting this

[@briang.7206]

One of my jobs was maintaining power plants..batteries and generators. I also replaced line repeaters and tested cable pairs.

[@earthstewardude]

I agree... these videos are priceless! Times sure have changed. I was born in 1960 so I caught the tail end of this era. It's a different world today!

[@justinrush3483]

I’m an overhead distribution lineman now and I’m only 21 watching this makes me laugh a little at how much has changed through the years

[@montanamountainmen6104]

My dad started as a Lineman then was a Cable Splicer, retired after 30 years in 2000. He started for Pacific Northwest Bell then finished with Qwest.....

[@oldgysgt]

Ma Bell was a good place to work back then. AT&T sucks now though.

[@montanamountainmen6104]

@@oldgysgt True.

[@robertnolan5871]

Yes this was great I spent the best 15 years of my life working with New England Telephone as installer/repair man Residence to PBX a career that spanned 48.5 years in a great business 👍🏾 to all my fellow telecom Workers

[@roberttibbetts1794]

Nice to see the good old days

[@user-vl5ye1sn3v]

In 1975 immediately after Cable Splicing Training at a Telecoms Training School in Australia I was put into a cable chamber to hand splice a lead sheath 2000 pair paper insulated cable as they still had drums of these in storage , from memory I was in that hole for around 12 days just splicing being so new to this work.

[@LucidDreamer54321]

Seventy two years later, and the Wichita Lineman is still on the line.

[@jonnydanger7181]

Never in our lifetime will we ever see gentleman and women like this. Our society as a whole has become a disgrace.

[@pattravetti9443]

So right. That company is long dead. Replaced by a money sucking monster. Sad that those gentleman and ladies are a vanishing breed

[@jshelhorse]

Easy. I know where you're coming from, but you should have a little more understanding perspective.

[@jonnydanger7181]

@@jshelhorse understanding? it’s too late for that.

[@Fly4aWhiteGuy]

I worked at GTE in Long Beach for about 8 yrs. Most of them were in a SXS Switchroom, but I spent the last year or two out in the field.

[@gwesco]

I was attending an AMP (now Tyco) factory school in Pennsylvania in 1973 where I saw them developing pic-a-bond and other strip less splices to replace the old strip the wire, twist them together and slip over a straw as seen in this film. They were a pioneer in insulation displacement connectors which made the telephone industry a lot more productive. I've terminated more 50 pin cable connectors than I care to remember! Note: AMP and Amphenol were two different companies although the term amphenol seems to have become a generic term now like kleenex when referring to connectors.

[@edpodellis]

Bet you can splice in your dreams still !

[@ChatGPT1111]

What's an amphenol?

[@edpodellis]

@@ChatGPT1111 It is a connector with 25 lines ,2 wires for each line, so 50 wires in one connector . Then the amphenol connectors can be plugged together rather than splicing each wire individually !

[@genegleason4987]

I’ll bet I dropped 10,000 amp or pic a bond connectors in manholes ! Went from last of the twisting spicing to splicing fiber for, New Jersey bell ,bell Atlantic and Verizon . Been retired for 21 years

[@jshelhorse]

They're so cool. Have always been so cool. Never not unimpressed by an AT&T technician.

[@jimlandreth555]

No hard hat, safety vest, safety glasses, gloves, walking in hooks. Worked on an A- FRAME DIAMOND T Line truck for years.

[@oldgysgt]

Yes, and that was in the first 20 seconds of the film. Also, those shirt sleeves should have been rolled down and buttoned. Pole splinters in the wrist and forearm are a real bitch. My climbing instructor would have had a field day on that clown.

[@sthildas4857]

I worked in the UK splicing 3600 pair cable, with big lead tubes. Our cables filled with air to keep the water out. 1980. ST

[@dfirth224]

The microwave setup for TV networks dates this to about 1955. Coast to Coast live TV programs were made possible after AT&T/Ma Bell finished the microwave network in 1952. TV programs from New York were recorded on the west coast and broadcast 3 hours later.

[@va4cqd]

55-57 GM truck body style in this video as well

[@nathr7375]

Subbed for history and how such basic things were a big deal. I can't imagine how an electrician back then would feel about an rcbo or basic rcd.

[@electriciandallastx9182]

Thanks for the suggestions you have shared here.

[@jerrywieman3567]

Proud to have come up through the line with Ma Bell.

[@jamesmooney8933]

My mother worked for Bell Telephone. I grew up in 50's. She gave me a toy Bell Telephone truck. Just like this truck

[@joewoodchuck3824]

You sound like my age group. I graduated from high school in '65.

[@jamesmooney8933]

@@joewoodchuck3824 I was born in 1947. .Of all the decades that I have lived my favorite was the 50's

[@joewoodchuck3824]

@@jamesmooney8933 My birth year as well. The 50s we're great, but I like to include the early 60s with becoming a teenager.

[@jamesmooney8933]

@joe woodchuck The 50's was a times of innocent. I was born into a "housing shortage ", then came the school shortage, "I remember having classes in the cafeteria", then when I graduated from high school, colleges were crowded, the job market was flooded with baby boomer. The baby boomers went from one over crowded situations throughout our lifes. The so-called Greatest Generation complained about us. We created the demands that put them to work. The Greatest Generation destroyed Social Security. Social Security had a trust fund. The Greatest Generation robbed the Social Security Trust Fund, and put Social Security into the general fund. Now they are calling Social Security an entitlement. What did the Greatest Generation do with that money? They sent the Baby Boomers to fight the worthless war in Vietnam Also the Greatest Generation sent our Social Security Trust Fund money to the Moon. All the while, the Baby boomer paid for there Social Security. Social Security is fake. The money goes from your paycheck into the General Fund.

[@joewoodchuck3824]

@@jamesmooney8933 Agreed on all. I consider the money missing from SS a theft. That's ok though because they have printing presses. I didn't know about the Greatest Generation moniker by name. Is that the generation behind us? I don't really follow that stuff. I don't know who generation x or y is either. What timespan is a generation anyway? 20, 25, 30 years? Social scientists gobble this stuff up. I don't really give a crap about it. Younger people's jaws drop when I tell them there was a hand pump for well water in the kitchen and no electricity at first in the house I was born into. They think that stuff went extinct in the 1800s. My parents had a battery radio for entertainment. I wish I had that radio now. This wasnt hillbilly country either. It was Connecticut no less. A heavily industrialized state even then!

[@mikemhoon]

This how I started out in the trades! Learned the underground and splicing. Then moved on to electrical transmission cables! Hard work, but the pay was very good! Many years on the road! Sure was fun!

[@blueticecho5690]

Was on the phone with Centrylink customer service for two hours from Omaha to the Philippines and Peru..

[@garymckee448]

I understand l work in Omaha but not for CenturyLink but another provider.

[@briang.7206]

I'm surprised no one is wearing safety glasses...my job often took me outside working with cable splicers. I often entered manholes to replace defective line repeaters. Really miss the outside work.

[@oldgysgt]

Yea, I noticed that. And the first installer wasn't wearing a hard hat while on the pole, and didn't install gaff guards after coming off the pole. With those unprotected climbers bouncing around in that tool bin, it won't take long before the gaffs are a dull as a butter knife.

[@slapdashzeal6095]

It’s neat to see how progress has made us do stuff to be much safer. My trainer would of thrown a bell wrench at me if I walked around with my gaffs especially without guards

[@jaymeade9898]

The license plate on one utility truck says 1959

[@Zenith_V]

Started my work on the lines above recently, fun this would come up on my recommendation

[@MA_808]

That's my Uncle Buster. He used to wear his belt even when he wasn't at work.

[@olddisneylandtickets]

As a vintage phone collector I'm loving this. But I'd like a year check, colored phones were introduced in 1954 and I see a '55 car at 5:37

[@RGL01]

Looks like the late ‘50s to me.

[@jamesanderton344]

It was a red letter day as a kid when my parents had Bell install a second phone in the house....a pink Princess for my Mom upstairs. Two phones in one house! But I always used the wall phone in the kitchen. Beige Western Electric rotary dial model. Last house on the block to change to Touch Tone because Dad didn’t see the need to pay the extra 2 bucks a month.

[@blizzy6392]

7:46 1958 Chevy Impala at the gas pumps. 7:51 1959 Chevy Impala drives by on the highway.

[@joewoodchuck3824]

Those dates can match up.

[@Janotes]

@@jamesanderton344 When I was a kid I collected phones ( 1980s) I would find them used at local flea markets. One day I bought a 2500 Touchtone set and hooked it up at home. The local Bell company found Out and wrote us a letter to either Disconnect it or be billed for touchtone service. My dad hit the roof and had me disconnect it.

[@jaxalexander2154]

Love it man🇺🇸

[@myavo]

We can date this to 1959 by the 1959 Chevrolet at the 7:51 mark.

[@khalilreid]

Everybody behind the powerline and sit down

[@garymckee448]

I never worked outside plant except on cell sites for a short time I prefer the central office , no cold , no heat but your in one location all the time.

[@MustangGuru]

Now days we have to have a hard hat on, reflective vest, cones around our trucks , walking in gaffs is a big no no.

[@ssh4779]

Interesting. I never recall seeing a colored AT&T phone; until now, I assumed they were all black. We had a good family friend who was a lineman during this era; he was one tough dude !

[@khalilreid]

This is it pole end of the line

[@johnclyne6350]

Where is the beer & cigarettes? When I started as a utility man those two were common at work on the job . Thankfully they have almost been vanquished.

[@robertfencl4401]

That phone is too modern for 1950!

[@garymckee448]

Agreed

[@joewoodchuck3824]

I have to say that phones and it's connections are one of the most reliable things in a house. That goes for mobile phones now too. Quite a contrast from the least reliable thing which is plumbing.

[@Khiva33189]

In the electric company we always Said real lineman climbed past the phone

[@edpodellis]

48 volts was my limit ! But I also knew two guys that took 13,800 and didn't go home .

[@evilborg]

OSHA would have a field day if it had been around back then.... not a safety line or hard hat to be seen

[@oldgysgt]

Yes, in the first 20 seconds I spotted 4 safety violations.

[@japmlp09]

7:01

[@wt29]

Why do I keep thinking Glenn Campbell?

[@Ctrl-XYZ]

This is from 1959, not 1950. There's a 1959 Virginia license plate at 3:29 ... 1958 Chevy at 7:48 ... 1959 Buick at 7:51

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

I suspected as much from the beginning. The A.F. of L. and the CIO didn't merge until 1956.

[@Realroyrogers]

Back when you had to be above average to get a telco job, or your college recommended you, at least in Northern California

[@john-ls8wq]

I got my fix today stuck them 2 high voltage wires in my front 2 teeth and got a whopper out of it man my brains are a frying higher than a kite it's like dumping 10 pots or coffee down your butt can't wait to get back up that pole get me some more. If you know anyone with telephone addiction please refer them to the AA department for rehab

[@tomtheplummer7322]

That lead smells good with asbestos.

[@khalilreid]

Mr telephone man

[@pattypatt1]

He was asking her where does she want the WiFi installed 😆👍🏾. Jokes aside i miss the old land line. I saw a guy get electrocuted while using a land line during a thunderstorm on Unsolved Mysteries NDE episode

[@tonybevilacqua2266]

It didn't take them very long today it take 2 years

[@jeanbaptistevallee4500]

Circa 1955, to dial it in a bit tighter.

[@MrWolfTickets]

Were phone pole holes ever actually hand dug?4:20

[@ourvaluesarewhoweareinadem4093]

Yes. Have dug them myself.

[@MrWolfTickets]

@@ourvaluesarewhoweareinadem4093 wow, did you use some kind of longer version of a fence post hole digger?

[@ourvaluesarewhoweareinadem4093]

@@MrWolfTickets Pretty much. And very long shovels called "spoons." Setting poles in backyard easements or rough back county can be a beast.

[@ltd-edition-koa]

Is it common for utility poles to be fifty years old?

[@iliapapadopoulos3658]

i think that is very old footage it does not even have couler

[@fpbthree]

Notice that they don't have tattoos up and down their arms and no earrings lol.

[@111000100101001]

It’s going to be a field day for tattoo removal technology when the Tattoo trend wears off with the hipsters

[@garrettsubproductions8705]

GLASS INSULATORS

[@fukgoogle9505]

Worked in the beginning of cellular. Remember how Ma Bell used tomlook down on us. Now the wire telephone is on the out and American Thugs and Thieves (AT&T) can't get enough of cellphones.

[@tomtheplummer7322]

This was BC G😏

[@benb5430]

Lead poisoning here i come

[@WorldWideHipHopVideos]

Internet

[@jshelhorse]

Vote Blue!

[@thomthumbe]

AFL/CIO…..The Godfather…all the same thing.

[@getonlygotonly]

blanch, you there blanch? git off the line you yahoos

[@jeffpetrey9041]

I’m a telephone linemen, and always joke that We’re telephone boys and girls these days because all the real phone men have died!

[@iliapapadopoulos3658]

i think that is very old footage it does not even have couler