Period Telephone – Isle of Wight Steam Railway
Blackbox-av provided us with the period telephone and a microcomputer, which is very easy to plug in and install… Our visitors can sit and listen to the memories of those who have worked with us, and our volunteers’ voices have been captured for the future. We will definitely use Blackbox-av for any future oral history projects.
– Sarah Girling – Heritage and Learning Manager at Isle of Wight Steam Railways
Operating from 1862 – 1966 the Isle of Wight Steam Railway was the first in the area, stretching 5+1⁄2 miles from Smallbrook Junction to Wootton Station it is now preserved and maintained as a heritage railway. With a clear strategic vision the Bard of the Steam Railway alongside staff and volunteers have ensured the preservation and operation of the Railway as a popular visitor attraction.
Our Period Telephone audio point was utilised in a recent preservation project at the Railway. Sarah Girling, the Heritage and Learning Manager at Isle of Wight Steam Railways, goes on to explain;
Isle of Wight Steam Railway has been restoring, maintaining and running steam engines over the last 50+ years, since the start of the Steam Preservation era. Many of our volunteers have worked with us for years and have been a part of the incredible development of the organisation. We wanted to interview past and present volunteers, and older people in local communities about their reminiscences of steam trains on the Island.
Following a successful Arts Council England funded project ‘Island Railway Voices’, led by Freelance oral historian Lisa Kerley, we asked volunteers at the Railway how they wanted to share some of the oral histories collected. After presenting some options they chose Blackbox-av’s Period Telephone from the 1940s to tie in with our main station’s theme, in our small artefact museum. Blackbox-av advised us to use short sound-bites of around 2 – 4 minutes.
Blackbox-av provided us with the period telephone and a microcomputer, which is very easy to plug in and install. We had a small problem, but Blackbox-av were friendly and very responsive and so it was resolved quickly over the phone. Our visitors can sit and listen to the memories of those who have worked with us, and our volunteers’ voices have been captured for the future. We will definitely use Blackbox-av for any future oral history projects.
This is the perfect setting for a genuine period telephone to be used as an audio point. Visitors simply input a number on the old rotary dial to access a range of oral histories while the control box as mentioned above can be used to update content as and when required by the client team.
