Try making calls between the different telephones!

1. Lift the receiver on any of the three telephones and wait until the rattling stops.

2. Then dial one of the telephone numbers by spinning the dial. You cannot dial the number you are calling from. The automatic telephone exchange will now connect you to the right telephone. Someone else can now answer where it rings. The exchange can only handle one call at a time.

In the past, all telephones were connected with cords. Until the 1950s, there were often so-called telephone operators who connected the cords so that people could call each other. In the 1940s, many places transitioned to automatic telephone exchanges. This telephone exchange, named OL-45, was used to connect the telephones around a railway station. The model was in use at various locations between 1943 and 1999.