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Since the Sunset has Superliner equipment, the lounge cars have a phone, but I have heard it is very expensive and I have seldom seen anyone use it. Cell phones work on the train as they would in a car, depending on your plan and location (usually best nearer to population centers). Extended station stops usually give you enough time to use a pay phone in the depot if there are not too many other passengers trying to do the same.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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Twin Star - I have never seen a phone in a Superliner lounge car on any train. Is this something new? The only place I have ever seen phones in passenger rail cars has been on VIA Rail's Canadian...
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Phones do show up in the superliner lounges on a hit and miss basis. The Starlight is an exception where (at least when I 've been on-board) there has always been a phone in the superliner lounge and another in the parlour car. As for the Sunset, it is anyone's guess as to whether a phone will make an appearance or not.
Posts: 524 | From: Toronto Ont. Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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I also meant to add that as far as phones on the Canadian are concerned, it would appear that Via never put their satelite phone into service. A few years ago Via installed one of these phones in every skyline car (the economy class lounge) but as they were so very expensive I guess Via decided not to activate them. Regular cell-type phones are to be found in virtually all first-class cars in the Toronto-Windsor-Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City corridor.
Posts: 524 | From: Toronto Ont. Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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Up here in the Northeast, most Amtrak Trains offer some kind of RailFone Service in the Lounge Car but from what I understand, it costs like $2.00 a minute and you need a credit card to use it. I have a Verizon Wireless Cell Phone and I had service all the way into New York Penn Station from Buffalo, including in the tunnels! When I rode the Southwest Chief in Feb '02, there were no phones in the lounge car but that might have changed since then. I'll be riding the Capitol Limited next month (which uses one of the Southwest Chief's train sets) so I'm curious to see if a phone has been added since then...
Posts: 113 | From: Buffalo, NY | Registered: Sep 2002
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Don't count on finding a telephone on board western ld trains. Have seen one in a superliner lounge and a superliner coach (lower level) but that is the exception, rather than the rule. As others noted, if there is one on board, it will only take credit cards, NOT phone cards. Posts: 181 | From: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. | Registered: Jan 2001
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I dont see why people are writing 2+ paragraphs about this...On the lower level of any SUPERLINER II of the Sightseer Lounge by the tables in the Cafe whre they sell Drinks, Candy ETC--There is a Pay-Phone (But its not your typical public phone) it's like the phones in the air you need a MAJOR credit card...not a phone card...and it can run to be alot...
Any other questions contact me !!
Anton L. pillsbury09@excite.com
Posts: 1082 | From: Los Angeles, CA. USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Now I know why I've never seen a phone on the Southwest Chief, since it's been mentioned to show up on the Starlight (an exclusively Superliner II train)
As for finding a phone on the Southwest Chief, I wouldn't bet on it. The odds of getting a Superliner II lounge on the Chief, in my experiences of late, are extremely rare. In fact my last trip on the Chief the lounge was car #33000, the first Superliner lounge! With only 24 Superliner II lounges, and several assigned to the Starlight and Auto Train, there are very few to go around. I would not recommend hoping to use the on board phone on any other train.
I would recommend bringing a cell phone. That's what I use on the Chief.
Posts: 579 | From: San Bernardino Subdivison | Registered: Dec 2001
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