Can anyone tell me what "Rapid Falls" really was? My mother was a 
telephonist during the war. She was based in London - underneath St 
Pauls' When anyone asked for a "Rapid Falls" number she had to call a 
supervisor over who stayed during the duration of the call to make 
sure noone could eavesdrop. 
Evidently this was a code for someone important - all the calls came 
from phone boxes. She has wondered all this time who this was really 
connecting to - any help appreciated.

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 16 Feb 2003 08:36 PST

I recall that you asked a previous question about this topic.  I also
was under the impression that you had received some comments, but I do
not see any here:

"Q: Who / what was "Rapid Falls" telephone exchange during the war?"
Google Answers
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=135708

Do you remember any comments that people on Google Answers, or
elsewhere, have given that might be helpful with this question?

Fascinating!

I hope you get an answer.

I found a reference to Rapid Falls, in the following excel spreadsheet
titled Trunk Training 403/44 (LTR) on a website.

http://www.lightstraw.co.uk/ate/faraday/telephonist/LTR_403_44.xls

Google displaying the page as HTML
http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:O9Q7jp62UZwC:www.lightstraw.co.uk/ate/faraday/telephonist/LTR_403_44.xls+%22rapid+falls%22+code&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

The exchange under St Pauls appears to have been called Faraday.  It
is listed on the page for excahnges within a 12.5 miles of Oxford
Circus.  Interestingly it is shown as a manuscript change.  It appears
someone has crossed it out by hand in the original document.

Thankyou for that - Interesting - that would seem to confirm that it
wasn't a "real" exchange - but perhaps code for something else. (Two
crossed out are NAT=National and RAP=Rapid Falls. Presume first one
was crossed out because it was a link to National Calls, hence my
reasoning)

Now - where / what was it? :)

My guess is that Rapid Falls would have been a 'real' exchange but one
specially designated for some top security purpose.

As the incoming calls were from phone boxes, these may have been from
agents in the field, possibly working for Special Branch or MI5.

Of course, I'm only guessing.

The earlier request gave no responses. This request received the link
to the spreadsheet - but unfortunately no nearer to knowing what Rapid
Falls really was...