Were phones ever installed on BR trains?

[Helvellyn]

previous thread on this with a lot of detail re fitted vehicles

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/public-phones-on-trains.100188/
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/onboard-payphones.63220/

Here is what I put in the first of those threads:

[Half the Mark 3B FOs were fitted with payphones, namely] 11083-11094 were the ones branded 'Pullman', whilst 11095-11101 were in effect general FOs (as were non-telephone fitted 11064-11072).

[Two Eastern Region Mark 3 TFs were used in the Tyne-Tees and Yorkshire Pullman sets, namely] 41041 and 41066 were joined by approximately half the WR TFs - 41003-41037 (odd No.s), 41121-41145 (odd No.s) and 41164.

The FOs and TFs had the phone fitted in place of one luggage rack, and could be identified by the fact there was no metal bar splitting the frosted window like those in toilet compartments or behind luggage racks.

A number of Mark 4 FOs were also fitted with payphones. My 1994 Platform 5 book shows 11201, 11203, 11204, 11207, 11211, 11213, 11214, 11217, 11219, 11221, 11222, 11225, 11227-11229, 11231, 11233, 11235, 11237, 11239, 11242, 11243, 11245-11247, 11249-11263 (odd No.s) as being fitted.

Mark 3 TRBs (402xx series), TRSBs (404xx series), TRFBs (407xx series) and the unique TRFM (40619) all gained payphones adjacent to the buffet.

Mark 3A RFMs (102xx) and Mark 4 RFMs (103xx) were also fitted with payphones adjacent to the buffet.

Mark 2F RFBs (12xx series) had payphones fitted in First Class, so Standard Class passengers had to walk along he side corridor, through a swing door and the phone was straight ahead.

Mark 2F RLOs (67xx series) had payphones fitted, but unlike the RFBs this was in place of the luggage rack that wasn't required in a Sleeper lounge car.

Mark 1 RBRs (1647, 1671, 1683, 1686, 1689, 1691, 1692, 1696, 1697, 1699) used on InterCity Anglia services had payphones fitted, as did three Mark 1 RMBs (1842, 1850, 1871) used on CrossCountry services.


If I recall correctly, as others have said, the phone looked like a standard BT payphone that took BT phonecards and they ran off the Cellnet network (Cellnet being BT's mobile network, that became O2 before being spun off). If I also recall correctly the individual coach number was the last four/five digits of the phone number of the payphone. I usually used them to make a quick call 15 minutes before my train was due in to my home station to ensure I would get picked up for a lift home. Minimal call due to the cost.

 

[Cowley]

If I also recall correctly the individual coach number was the last four/five digits of the phone number of the payphone.

That’s an interesting little bit of detail that I hadn’t heard before.

 

[randyrippley]

The Post Office were working on in-vehicle telephony in the 1960's and 70's. One of the problems was with handing the call from one mast to another as the caller travelled. Trivially easy now with cheap modern digital computing and communications, less so with the technology of the day.

I know they experimented with equipment in parts of Suffolk not far from their base at Martlesham, but I've never seen anything published (or on the internet) giving details. It would make a very interesting story if any old PO/BT people are out there and feel like sharing.

By the mid 1980s they had a Manchester based analogue radiotelephone service which covered much of Lancashire and part of West Yorkshire. It was operator connected. Used a full size conventional handset permanently wired into the car. One problem was the limited number of frequency channels available - something like 30, so only a limited number of connections possible. One guy I knew got into trouble when he wired his into a private aircraft - when it started hitting multiple base stations simultaneously BT got very upset...

 

[Helvellyn]

That’s an interesting little bit of detail that I hadn’t heard before.

In the 1980s and early 1990s mobile ownership was very low. If Cellnet allocated BR a range of numbers then it would have any carriage number covered (including multiple units).

E.g 07xxx x10200 shows a Mark 3 RFM, 07xxx x72500 a Gatwick Express 488/2 TFOLH or 07xxx x41164 a Mark 3 TF where xxx x are the same four digits.

Catering vehicles had cab to shore staff phones as well. Probably using the same Cellnet phones but maybe the number was 07xxx y10200?

 

[randyrippley]

Cellnet numbers started 08xx xxxxxx back in those days
Can't remember what Vodaphone used
The 7 was added later to all cellphones to give more numbers so 08xx became 078xx

 

[GusB]

Cellnet numbers started 08xx xxxxxx back in those days
Can't remember what Vodaphone used
The 7 was added later to all cellphones to give more numbers so 08xx became 078xx

This is probably a topic worthy of its own thread, but the conversion of mobile numbers into the 07 range wasn't quite so simple. My ex was on Cellnet back in 1995 (ish), and his number began with 0585 - these became 07885 numbers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Number_Change gives some information, but the usual caveat about Wikipedia information applies.

 

[edwin_m]

I recall great excitement when my brother rang us on a radiotelephone from the car of a friend's rich parents, which was in eastern Scotland so must have been before we moved away in 1981.

Mobiles gradually took up most of the spare "area codes" that weren't already used by landlines, so it became difficult to work out whether a particular number was a mobile or not. As mentioned each of these ultimately became a block of numbers starting with 07.

 

[Busaholic]

They were so expensive.
I remember ringing my mum from a train while on an All-Line in the early 90s and it caned an enormous amount of my money (on the pre paid card) in really not very much time.
God it felt space age though!

I made the huge mistake of calling my wife from one, and the call being cut off after about two minutes when the £5 ran out, and you could buy a row of terraced houses in Plymouth for that at the time

 

[Steddenm]

Didn't the Voyagers have a Trainphone when built? In the shop area below the sign to tell you who it was named after?

 

[Robin Saunter]

Not quite on topic, but back during 1910-1912 a 'Railophone' was trialled on a rural branch line. The idea was to enable signalmen to send electric pulses to a train to stop it in an emergency. Presumably the technology of the time did not allow speech or even Morse code over this experimental network. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratford-upon-Avon_and_Midland_Junction_Railway

 

[WesternLancer]

Great post here = post #7 in this thread - class 158 promotional video from 1991 - complete with film of the phone in action!

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/class-158-153-original-br-interiors.198086/#post-4376845

or direct to this circa 7 mins in