An antique Ericsson telephone exchange switchboard that was in operation from 1923 until 1983 has been restored to working condition and is back home in Katikati. 

Brian Pinny acquired one of the Ericsson manual switchboards when it came out of service in 1983 when Katikati upgraded to an automatic dialling exchange. 

Russell Hulbert and Brian Pinny met at an “Old F.A.R.T.S.” – Former And Retired Telecom Staff club meeting last year, when Brian discussed with Russell that he had a switchboard that he would love to restore to working condition.  

Russell is an avid collector of old tele phones and switchboards which he restores to working condition, the oldest being an 1895 “Ericsson Exposed Generator” phone. 

Approaching Katikati museum to see if they were interested in displaying their switchboard, to their surprise, it was discovered that the museum already had a second ex - Katikati switchboard that was donated by Telecom in 1983. 

Regrettably, this switchboard was beyond repair, so Russell and Brian embarked on a project to get their switchboard back in working order for display. 

Both of them were Office/Telecom telephone exchange technicians, Russell has the old-tech and refurbishing abilities, and Brian has electronics knowledge. Between them they had a perfect skills match. 

Many afternoons of frustrating fault-finding, reading circuit diagrams, soldering, sanding, and varnishing were lovingly invested into refurbishing many antique telephones and the two switchboards. 

Finally, after many months of work, in November last year the Katikati exchanges including some of Russell’s antique telephone collection were all together for the first time in over 42 years. 

Visit Katikati Museum today and make telephone calls through the 1920’s telephones and  switchboards; you can for the first time ask someone to put you through to the number you want to call.