On Apr 3, 3:12*am, wrote:
I recall a trip to Scotland in the 1950s where a payphone was wheeled
into the restaurant car whilst at Waverley, much as we used to drop
one into ships arriving at Boston Docks.

These were merely tied in by extension cords to a landline, right?

Oh yes. There was a fairly lenghty layover while they changed
engines, filled water tanks, and replenished the galley.

The US used to do that with premium trains when at major stations or
terminals.
It's a good thing. They could do with it now, there are huge chunks
of the praires where I can't get a cell signal!