Old style cue light switches

[dbuckley]

It still fascinates me when I think of the old Strowger click-click whirrrr of the original exchanges, much of which had already been in operation for decades. Tracing a call back then was at least a 3 or 4 man task, racing round to identify the physical route through the switches.

 

Which is, of course, the basis for the FBI man urging the parent of the kidnapee to "keep the caller on the line", back from the day where call tracing really was that; observing the positions of uniselectors.

 

Nowadays, with call switching being just another compterised task, "the system" knows the source and route before the first vestige of ring current makes it to the family phone. So plod can be on the way before the phone is picked up. Truth kinda spoils the drama though...