Technical Aspects of Experimental Public Telephone Service on Railroad Trains

Telephone service was made available experimentally in 1947 to passengers aboard certain railroad trains operating between New York, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. Communication between these trains and the telephone network is effected through radio stations of the urban mobile telephone services of the Bell System. This paper describes component parts of the train telephone system, results of radio coverage tests on the routes involved, and devices employed to control two-way transmission. Special features of the installations which differ from previous mobile installations and some results of the experimental operation are pointed out.