Surviving AA boxes

[c2R]

Following on from this BBC article about this listing of box 161: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54585748

We list 18 of the boxes here, along with the listing status for them, where listed. However, our page, and the article state that 21 boxes remain
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... _telephone

Does anyone know where the other three are, so that we can complete the list?

[Uncle Buck]

I recently read Peter Hennessey’s “Winds of Change” about Britain in the early Sixties, which contained an interesting snippet about these boxes. At this time, of course, mobile phones had not been invented. What, then, was to happen if, due to the Cold War tensions of the day, the prime minister decided to order the dropping of one of Britain’s new nuclear weapons? The answer: the ministerial limousine had an AA and an RAC key and this would be used to unlock the nearest box!

Even more surreal; the limousine was to have plenty of change, in case a pay phone had to be used; civil servants envisaged a nightmare scenario where a prime minister ran up to a pay phone, didn’t have change, went into a shop to break a note, and an officious shop assistant refused to break it! Some way for the world to end!

[WHBM]

Did the civil servants not notice that the AA and the RAC keys were actually the same ?

[RichardA626]

Did the civil servants not notice that the AA and the RAC keys were actually the same ?

Yale managed to save a bit of development money there!

[c2R]

I've been trying to track down the others... and a few are in museums:
1x in Glasgow, 2x in Bromsgrove, 1x in the Ulster Folk museum

Then there's one that has been moved from Yorkshire to Haddenham, another that has been moved from the Thicket to Eastbourne Seafront, and another that has ended up in a garden in Sleaford.

[WHBM]

The yellow/black AA boxes seem to have been much more of a survivor than the comparable blue/white RAC boxes. I believe they both had some internal agreement to provide equal numbers of them.

[Uncle Buck]

Did the civil servants not notice that the AA and the RAC keys were actually the same ?

Yale managed to save a bit of development money there!

[eifion]

Another forum I'm a member of tried to get its members to photograph each remaining AA box and published a list of 19. The one they listed that isn't on the Wiki here is 687 Trinity, Jersey: at junction of Rue du Presbytere and Rue des Picots, Trinity.

[Glen]

The figure of 21 has appeared in a few news articles on BBC News and other sites, which is why I included it when I wrote the wiki page.
But the list I compiled was by trawling through the likes of Geograph and Flickr and any other sites that mentioned AA boxes, and I couldn't find evidence of any others that weren't in museums or private collections.

[nick_dunn]

I've been trying to track down the others... and a few are in museums:
1x in Glasgow, 2x in Bromsgrove, 1x in the Ulster Folk museum

Then there's one that has been moved from Yorkshire to Haddenham, another that has been moved from the Thicket to Eastbourne Seafront, and another that has ended up in a garden in Sleaford.

There is one in the Cotswold Motoring Museum at Boughton-on-the-Water. Rather annoyingly, I failed to photograph it on any of my visits and the only photo I can find online has the box number partially obscured. The first two digits are 59 and my best guess is that it may be 592 which according to the AA website list was on the Oxford by-pass and the closest to the museum.

[Big Nick]

Box 374 from Maerdy was in the Coventry Motor Museum when I went there in November 2008, next to an AA Landrover.



Box 553 from Newby Bridge was in the Lakeland Motor Museum in September 2014.



A little bit rarer is the RAC box 171 from Chelston, seen in the museum at Gaydon in 2009.

[WHBM]

Did anyone here ever go inside one of these boxes ? What were they like ? Notable there were no windows.

[Ruperts Trooper]

Did anyone here ever go inside one of these boxes ? What were they like ? Notable there were no windows.

My father was an AA patrolman, in the days of motorbike and sidebox - AFAIK there was a conventional phone box inside, with buttons A/B and a small money box with coins to operate the phone to call the rescue centre.

[sydneynick]

Did anyone here ever go inside one of these boxes ? What were they like ? Notable there were no windows.

They were much bigger inside than they were outside.

To give a serious answer, you did not really go into them. You opened the door and used the phone. In the picture of RAC box 171, you can see that only the top half of the door opened.

[Octaviadriver]

This is the AA box on the A470 at Storey Arms, Powys in the winter of 1962/63. I can't remember seeing up there, so I don't know when it disappeared.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/435160382730083819/

[RichardA626]

Police Boxes usually had an opening panel in the door for the public to access the phone, but normally only the police could fully open them.

[Ronnie]

I've been trying to track down the others... and a few are in museums:
1x in Glasgow, 2x in Bromsgrove, 1x in the Ulster Folk museum

Then there's one that has been moved from Yorkshire to Haddenham, another that has been moved from the Thicket to Eastbourne Seafront, and another that has ended up in a garden in Sleaford.

There is one on display in the Grampian Transport Museum at Alford in Scotland. Box 739 according the photo on my phone.

[Isleworth1961]

In the picture of RAC box 171, you can see that only the top half of the door opened.

But both the top and bottom parts of the door appear to have hinges.

[Glen]

Did anyone here ever go inside one of these boxes ? What were they like ? Notable there were no windows.

In their latter years they simply contained a phone which had the options of connecting to the AA, RAC or 999.

[dr hue]

Did anyone here ever go inside one of these boxes ? What were they like ? Notable there were no windows.

My first post on Sabre.

I remember the box near Cadnam and one near Bagshot and still have my RAC key.

Inside of RAC box 335:

I am trying to find any drawings or details of the measurements of these boxes. I know there are at least 3 in museums.

I've updated details on the following page:

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... _telephone