Crusty Old Joe's Place

The Norfolk & Carolina Telephone & Telegraph Companies

Great Bridge

2005

Aerial Photo 1990

Topo map, 1969

GTE South
NPA 757 
NXX 312, 382, 436, 547-9 
V&H Coordinates
Vertical   05934
Horizontal 01200  
Converted
 Latitude   36.7166
 Longitude -76.2360
Central Office GREAT BRIDGE 
 409 BATTLEFIELD BLVD N 
 CHESAPEAKE VA  23320  
Rate Center - NRFOLKZON1
CBSA 47260
 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area
Switch GRBRVAXADS0
Type Northern Telecom DMS100 (Digital) 
Host Tandem GRBRVAXA01T  
CO Features
AA BA DA DD GC GD GE GG GJ GN GR HB HD II RC RD SH SR TD TG TH TI TU UA UG ZZ

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1970-1980

Great Bridge was an all AE Strower exchange with the 101 director. It was and still is part of the Norfolk metro EAS.

We had N cable carrier to many C&P offices as well as three eleven-foot racks of N1 (tube) carrier. This had about 1000 vacuum tubes in these three racks. These three racks required many hours of routine maintenance.

N&CT&T had a commercial office adjacent. The customers could dial 611 for repair service and talk to our operator in Elizabeth City but their toll was handled by C&P at the Bush Street office. We did not have any foreign-exchange line from Elizabeth City to the Norfolk metro, so we had to call Great Bridge and our other Virginia offices via long-distance. The 611 circuits were one-way. Eventually I was able to connect a Hickory number to a spare OW pair and provided a Norfolk metro number to our test board in Elizabeth City. This was not sanctioned but was enjoyed by many supervisors.

Great Bridge was host to a squad of CO technicians who maintained our Virginia offices. The carrier was maintained from the Elizabeth City office run by Morgan Evans where I worked. A few times one of us had to work the graveyard shift to routine carriers in Virginia. We worked with a C&P technician on the other end. Generally we could stay put at Great Bridge and he would have to run all over the metro area because we had carriers to every C&P office in the metro. There was very little tandem switching done for EAS there.

The Southern Railroad had a drawbridge over the C&A canal just east of the Great Bridge CO. This was noteworthy because our equipment required 120 volts AC to function. This was delivered to the bridge over an open wire telephone line belonging to the railroad. There was just enough to run one light bulb for the bridgetender and our Wescom equipment. N&CT&T had about 35 trackside 4-wire telephones all on the same dispatcher's circuit between Edenton and Great Bridge. (FP-44498) I have a few pictures along the line but none of this bridge. Today this line is operated as a short line with no connection south of the Albemarle Sound as the sound bridge is no more.