Many thanks Dave & Dave_K great stuff I wonder why the reluctance to show the Digital Kit? I can't really think of a reason other than paranoid management
Mind you, having conducted tours of Telephone Exchanges, the old equipment rattling and moving about is much more interesting to watch than the blank sole-less digital kit with just the whine of cooling fans. Why are the feeders so shiny? Copper usually goes dull brown left open to the air. It's it the atmosphere in the station, does Dave_K spent his spare time with a can of Brasso and a rag? LOL
I agree with your thoughts on moving mechanisms; I've been on a tour of three BT exchanges (one was a UAX13 [or UAX10?] - in my little village where I still live; it's now AXE10, then on a tour of a large TXE4 locally and also a System X about 5 miles away). Of all the exchanges, the Strowger was the most mesmerising and entertaining - I even used to walk up to it at night sometimes, and stand next to the air vent outside, so I could hear the
"Clu-clu-clu-clu-clu-clu-clu-clu-CLONK" of the selectors!
I remember, back in the 1990s, our village was upgraded to System Y (Ericcson), and there was a skip outside the exchange FULL of Strowger switches, cable harnesses, power supplies... and a ringing generator which I was given (why did I throw it away... nuts!).
If you've never heard a Strowger exchange, it's high time you did:
The little blue compresser underneath the wall-mounted black telephone, is using the same principle as on the Radio Tx; they blow compressed air into the cable trunks to prevent water ingress & corrosion. The whine you can hear in the background is the ringing generator, which generates all the tones (engaged, equipment engaged, NU tone... etc)
Attached: Ringing generator (cream), cable compressor (blue)
Yes, this was a superb tour, but moving things entertain much more, and that is noone's "fault"
As for the copper being shiny, it's probably lacquered or coated, to prevent corrosion.