Would you know if the British railway system ever had radio phones for
use by passengers as premier American trains did?

They were introduced at about the same time that the original analogue
cellular 'phones were starting to become generally available, but not
many people had them. *The ones I saw, on the 125 mph Diesel High
Speed Trains, probably around the early to mid '80s took only BT
Phonecards, not cash.

Not sure but I think Bomo line 4Reps had them for a while in the RB.

--
Nick