[GreenKeys] Fwd: Re: What brought you here?

[Paul Wills (CKT&T)]

My introduction was a bit indirect.

Out of college, in 1977, I started working for the Amtrak Communications 
and Signal department in Philadelphia.  This was just after Amtrak took 
over the Northeast Corridor.  The communications facilities between 
Washington to Boston and Philadelphia to Harrisburg were basically what 
the Pennsylvania Railroad built in the 1930s concurrent with the 
electrification of the railroad.  With a few modern additions (such as 
N1 Carrier) the system was a snapshot of what long distance telephony 
was in the 1930's.  I consider myself very fortunate to have seen it in 
action.

The PRR had a pretty extensive Teletype plant but, by the time I got 
there, there was only one major circuit between Washington and New York 
used to carry train consists between those cities as well as some 
printers at the intermediate points.

I experienced a bit of "sensory overload" the first time I went into the 
Wire Chief's office in Philadelphia.  In addition to the telephone 
equipment, there were racks of 40AC1 tone carriers, one model 19 for the 
wire chief, and an incredible "home built" unit that decoded message 
headers via a stunt box to route them to specific printers.  It was an 
incredible place.  The sequential selector unit (as they called it), by 
the way, can be seen here: http://www.cedarknolltelephone.com/prr/po5.jpg

At the same time, I had assembled an IMSAI 8080 so I could keep my hands 
on a computer after entering the "time warp" I found at Amtrak.  One day 
my boss asked me if I has a printer to go with it.  Of course, in 1977, 
printers were not something the average out-of-college student could 
afford so he suggested that I grab one of the many retired model 15s 
that were in storage.

Out of ignorance, I thought this was a pretty good idea.  It was only 
after I got it home that I discovered Baudot code and had to design the 
serial interface as well as the 8080 assembler program to send and 
receive it.  It was quite an educational experience. I have to say I had 
as much fun cleaning up the printer as I did using the computer.  I was 
hooked. I eventually wrote a CP/M IO driver that allowed treated the 
Teletype just like another IO device.

I started making plans to replace the stunt box with an 8080 based 
decoder but it was not to be.  Within the year, the train consist 
information was moved to Amtrak's reservations system and the Teletype 
network was retired.

I made contact with some organizations for the hearing impaired in New 
York and Philadelphia to spin off the surplus equipment but managed to 
snag a couple extra printers and the wire chief's model 19 which still 
sits near the test board (which I also acquired when the railroad plant 
was upgraded to a fiber optic based system).  I also ended up with some 
very nice test equipment. Regretfully, I did not get any 40AC1 equipment 
or the Sequential Selector.

I'm not sure when I discovered Greenkeys.  I'm sure it was while I was 
looking for anything I could find about Teletype.  I believe it was 
there that I discovered Heavy Metal* which allowed me to move the 
Teletype into the Windows world (but never completely out of the CP/M 
world.)

It's inspiring to read about so many people working to keep this stuff 
alive.  Hopefully, we can hook a new generation when it's time to pass 
it on.

I ended up building a 3 way interface box that allows me to use the 
IMSAI, Windows machine, and a TU to receive ITY.  The loop from there to 
the telegraph position of the #5 testboard where it's distributed to two 
printers now (The 19 in the equipment room and 15 in the study.)  I have 
a 15 pin feed and a 28 which I would also hook up but there's no more 
room to put it.

Every so often, I like to start it up to just listen.  Even the sound of 
the selector magnet operating with the motor stopped brings back 
memories.  Did anyone ever hear the sound of 30-40 215 relays all 
chattering in unison?

That's about it.  I could write about the telephone equipment but that's OT.

PDW

*I still don't know how I did it but using Javier Albinarrate's user 
interface as an example, I was able to update Bill Buzbee's Heavy Metal 
program to work with the more updated Perl environment.  I am certainly 
indebted to both gentlemen for their work.

On 4/7/2020 1:44 PM, Jeff G wrote:
> I'm sure this has been done in the past, but figured I'd ask as I'm a 
> bit of a newb here and it would give me something to read. What got 
> you into Teletypes, and ultimately to Greenkeys? Can be a simple 
> answer or a short story!
>
>