9059 The Telephone Exchange  Preservation Progress at  InfoAge

  Restoration of the Telephone Exchange Building is nearly complete.  Some exterior painting and one sewer connection remains.   The building was a challenge.  BRAC contractors had stripped  telephone equipment and light fixtures leaving live wires exposed.   They also severely damaged the front and side entrance steps while removing the sewers.   They also did not connect the two sewer laterals to the main line when the trenches had been opened twice.   This caused our volunteers considerable unnecessary work.  The refusal to hook up the laterals is another example of the BRAC office's efforts to sabotage our work.

   The exterior of the building was in very bad shape.  Our director prepared the surfaces and repainted the exterior of the building. 

    The restoration of the interior, removal of gutted telephone equipment, repairs to electric, replacement of damaged sheetrock, replacement of missing light fixtures, ceiling repainting  and repairs to exterior stairs was done by employees of Lucent Technologies and members and friends of the New Outlook Pioneers, Penn-Jersey Chapter 132.

    The repainting of the walls in original Army colors was done by volunteers from Landmark Volunteers.  The sewer line hookup was done by our director.  He had to hand dig an eight foot deep trench to connect the pipes.   The final repairs to the clogged waste lines was done by Steve Goulart and our director.

    Today the building has two large classrooms, a small classroom, an office, two restrooms and a utility room.   It is used for science education, boy scout activities, InfoAge activities and
community group meetings.

 

    

 

This is a look of volunteers at work.  We had to work with spot lights until the Lucent electricians got the wires left when ceiling lights and other equipment were removed by BRAC safely terminated or removed . 


Trash and light fixture parts the contractors left behind as the stripped what they
wanted from the building.   In this alcove the original color scheme survived.


 A look at the stripped hulks of equipment left in the room that would be converted into the center large classroom. 


  The InfoAge volunteers go to work......

April 29, 2006 - The advance party of the New Oultook Pioneers spend a Saturday preparing for the many volunteers to follow.

May 5, 2006  -  New Outlook Pioneers arrive in force and attack the telephone exchange building (9059) like a hurricane.  

May 12, 2006 - New Outlook Pioneers from Lucent Technologies return for another volunteer day - a  surprise - day 3!!

May 19, 2006 - !40 New Outlook Pioneers and volunteers from Lucent spend a Global Day of Caring at Infoage


The sewer lateral and the sewer main line have been located.   BRAC could have easily connected these when
the sewer trenches were open.  This was plain sabotage by federal employees.  The folks at BRAC claimed
to have lost the  records of where the sewer mains and lateral were.  We were forced to locate them with the help
of Wall Township.   For the difficult laterials we hired a company with sewer line cameras.  More unnecessary
 work we had to do and expense we had to use our donor gifts. 


The lateral is connected, the clean-out covers needed to be added and then the hole back filled.   At this point
the toilet flushed, but the sink would not drain.


A Landmark Volunteer paints the dark lower color in 9059.
The students did a great job in every room.


Here Steve Goulart and Henry Stinga repair the vent line for the restroom sink.
This was the result of an unexpected problem. 
The sink drain line was clogged. 
An electric drain cleaner can not break the clog.
So we cut into the wall, cut the pipe, put a vacuum hose down the pipe, we
vacuumed all the loose material then
used a bar to break up the clog further, vacuum again, break up more, again
 and again.   Finally the line was clean and the sink would drain.
We replaced the sheetrock and repainted.  


Henry Stinga puts a fresh coat of floor paint in classroom #1.  Note the green cloro scheme is now throughout.


The Garden State Model Rail Road Club gets the Lucent HO Layout ready
for the Holiday Train Display.   Just one of many uses this versatile building
is put to.  Note the gray computer room air conditioner and the computer room
racks to the right of it.  We hope to install computers and storage in these racks
donated by Colgate-Palmolive.   This will allow us to host computer classes.


Bob Pilcher caught in action.  Bob is one of our Super-Star volunteers.  Here he is repairing
an entrance light whose photoelectric cell quit.  As many persons and groups use this building
at night this is a key safety item.   Inside Bob installed emergency exit lights  with battery backup. 
 Thanks to Bob, a licensed electrician, and others who assist him 9059 has a fire alarm system.

Page updated December 27, 2006   page created December 27, 2006