Site Records

From: John Warrick
My years down 'The Tunnel' Kingsway exchange were quite different from anywhere else that I've ever worked. In the winter months if you didn't come up at lunch-time you never saw the light of day, and before you came up you had to phone the 'Jobs Worth' on the tiny door at the High Holborn entrance, just see what was happening with the weather. Life down there was a little like living in a submarine, I presume. It was completely self contained, it had an odour all of it's own, most exchanges have a combination smell of wax floor polish and PVC cable, this had an extra smell, the chlorine added to the plenum plant that washed the air before it was circulated. It always amazed me how they kept the seepage under control, there were very few damp spots considering the size and complexity of the place.

One problem they never really sorted out was the match size snooker table we had in the recreation room, it had a definite down hill slope, the table tennis table legs had extensions on the down side legs. The canteen was pretty good considering it was quite small and catered for a number of people, +/- 80 at any given time. There was a full maintenance team based there, painters, plumbers, electricians, standby generators mechanics and mostly a good crowd of guys always trying to please. When the two passenger lifts were being serviced we had to use the goods lift at the other end of the exchange, the look on peoples faces when all these men suddenly burst onto the street from behind what was normally closed doors. When I first arrived there the Senior Engineer takes you on a tour, and what struck me the most was the sign post that is situated in the main cable tunnel, 2 miles to Toilet, 8 miles to Hendon, I suppose if you're a cable jointer and down there all day you need to know this kind of info. The monetary value of all that lead covered copper cable must be worth a fortune.

From there I moved to Bastion exchange. A new, purpose built long distance exchange. Still had a far amount of security, mainly from IRA bomb threats but nothing like Kingsway. Opposite was Covent Garden Market and the Opera House, next door was the Bow Street 'Nick' and the Magistrates Court, what a difference from the 'Tunnel' Often the police would come and ask us to stand in a line-out for them, one of the accused got very upset when he was identified so I decided that I could do without that in my life. What was amusing late at night/early hours of the morning was the reaction of the prisoners in the cells which faced the exchange, when a monitoring alarm for the equipment went off we had a rather loud bell to bring it to our attention, we might be busy with something else so it would ring for a while, the prisoners would rattle their tin plates and mugs on the bars until the bell was silenced and a bit longer, just to let you know their sleep had been disturbed, when I first heard it I was quite taken back. Amongst my duties was the maintenance of the standby generators, these were housed in the sub-basement, when the turbo's came in the air intake was increased by automated air louvers on the street level, this also added to the annoyance of the awaiting trial prisoners.

A photo of me 2nd. from the left, with my assistant, the design engineer and the two reps from the manufactures, Lister Blackstone. These were the first two standby machines installed at Citadel and later a third was to be commissioned, we named them 'Snap, Crackle and Pop' not very original, but fitting.

From Ray Grapes - 13th October 2008

Well, what special and fond memories do I have of Kingsway?

• The slightly musty smell upon entering the complex
• The rush most work days to arrive on time to sign-in before the line was drawn by the TOA (Technical Officer with an Allowance) at 8.10am sharp.  Signing below the line meant you were late which meant an “excuse note” had to be submitted to the AEE (Assistant Executive Engineer)
• The sound of the Central Line passing overhead every few minutes
• Exploring the tunnel complex as an apprentice
• The creak of the door to the battery room made each time it was opened or closed
• Pushing Albert TO to the restaurant one Christmas (more on Albert TO later)
• Sending “green” apprentices to the stores for a long weight or a sky hook
• Listening to Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album when first released in 1973 as well as Frank Sinatra songs, the latter of which was favoured by one of my work colleagues
• Tag rash and the call of, “slack back man” whilst jumper running on a frame
• Work colleagues, the larger than life characters, their help, the jokes, the laughs and the camaraderie

Kingsway has often been described by those who knew it as a city beneath the streets of London, and in many respects this was true.  Lying one hundred and twenty feet below High Holborn, Kingsway, with a constant temperature at around 20 degrees centigrade, had the capability to generate its own power and air handling, had its own artesian well, restaurant, tea bar, games room with full sized snooker tables, unique London telephone code 01-585 xxxx and tunnels with 'street names'.  As you can imagine, for the one hundred and thirty or so people who worked at Kingsway, it was almost a self-sufficient citadel.

I first worked at Kingsway as an eighteen year old apprentice in 1970.  It was a fascinating if somewhat strange place to work especially for someone young and relatively naïve who liked to explore the nooks and crannies of the place.  The vast array of equipment: transmission, switching, frames and test; the huge engine sets and the noise and smells were unique and unforgettable in that setting. 

Kingsway had three entrances at street level.  The main entrance was a pair of doors next to the Alfred Marks Bureau at 31-33, High Holborn.  Many a strange look was received from passers by as the main bulk of staff entered and left Kingsway morning and evening via this strange pair of doors that apparently led to nowhere! The Furnival Street goods lift entrance had an intermediate stop known as The Curly Q.  As an apprentice I recall tentatively exploring this level and the passageway which led to a very noisy and quite scary enormous ventilation fan.  The third entrance in Tooks Court was sited in a car park which was used by some of the staff.  In addition, within the complex, there was a short flight of stairs (bricked up at the top) and a heavy goods lift both of which led to Chancery Lane central line tube station. 

I worked at Kingsway from 1970 till 1977 initially as a third year apprentice, then as a switch maintenance Technician 2A before progressing to become a TO (Technical Officer).  The switch equipment was housed exclusively in First, Second, Third and Fourth Avenues which were known locally as Tubes One, Two, Three and Four. 

Kingsway was unusual in that it was one of only a handful of non director trunk telephone exchanges that was located within the London Director structure.  Predominantly, it provided London operators (human) with access to alternative trunk routes for routing calls around the UK.

In the late 1960s / early 1970s the GPO and later Post Office Telecommunications took on vast numbers of apprentices each year to help with the modernisation and automation of the UK telephone network.  Most of the thirty or so switch maintenance guys I worked with were from the 1967 apprentice intake.  Providing help and guidance was a group of older more experienced engineers known as the Loanees who were from other London and outlying areas and were working at Kingsway on a long-term “temporary” basis. 

There was a vast array of equipment in Tubes One to Four including incoming and outgoing signalling systems AC1, 3, 9 and 11, DC signalling systems, 2000 and 4000 type two motion selectors and many thousands of Motor Uniselector Group Selectors (MUGs). 

Tube One housed the incoming signalling systems, predominantly AC1s. Tube Two a large Central Battery room with open cells, the Special Faults desk which was staffed by a 24 hour rota, the AEE’s office and the first switch stage of switch equipment.  Tube Three the second stage of switching and an Intermediate Distribution Frame and Tube Four the third stage of switching, a frame and outgoing relay sets, predominantly AC9s, as well as the TOA’s desk.  The AC1 and AC9 equipment was exclusively valve technology.  Ferrite Core (Type 5) Register Translators were installed in the mid 1970s at the southern end of Tube One.  A tropical fish tank was also situated in Tube Three.

Each engineer was responsible for a section that typically comprised, in the case of a MUGs section, 1800 switches.  Each morning we would collect our pink fault dockets from one of the Automatic Routiners that had run overnight and commence our day’s work.  In between fault fixing there were monthly, quarterly and annual routines to carry-out that were designed to keep the equipment functioning.

Other than the full time members of staff there was an honorary character known as Albert TO.  Albert was in fact a dummy who lived for the most part in a locker.  He was wheeled out on special occasions.  Sat on an elephant box wearing a brown dust coat, engineer’s safety goggles, headlamp and with bank hook in hand, Albert was often mistaken for a real human engineer! 

All in all an experience that I’m glad never passed me by, one that was very rewarding and one that I will never forget.

[Source:Andy Emmerson & Nick Catford]

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