Every "emergency engine" I ever saw in a telephone building was a
> conventional diesel engine. My father-in-law was shop foreman for a
> company that sold and service large earth moving equipment in Enid,
> Oklahoma, and from time to time they were called upon to routine the
> auto-start emergency engine in the Enid c.o. It was a conventional GM
> diesel engine like those used on earth moving equipment and
> locomotives.
> Wes Leatherock
> snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
> snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com
My memory is not as accurate as it used to be, but I have a dramatic memory from around 1968 of seeing a turbine-powered generator in the basement of 185 Franklin Street in Boston. A bunch of M.I.T. students were getting a tour of the #4 crossbar tandem, and the gentleman showing us the building actually threw the switch to fire up the turbine in test mode. I think it took over a minute to get up to full speed.
-- George Mitchell
P.S. The roar and clatter of those card translators is still in my memory, too.