Today’s Wall Street Journal laments the demise of the bar car (D4, Personal Journal). Rolling imbibers say it’s a crucial aspect of their social lives. The MTA says they’re scrapping them to make room for extra seating. I say keep the bar cars and add more regular cars to accommodate the extra ridership.
But who asked me?
Happy Hour on Rails May Sound Its Last Call
By Jennifer Saranow
For the past 20 years, Charles Lawrence has left his Manhattan office job in time for the New Haven line 6:04 p.m. or 8:04 p.m. train from Grand Central Terminal. There, the 50-year-old commercial real-estate broker from Fairfield, Conn., settles into the bar car, buys a beer and chats with other regulars.
Their latest topic of conversation isn’t just sports or business, but whether the train’s operator will eliminate the bar car itself. “It’s this sense of community that ties people together,” he says. “When there’s no bar, people will just disappear — take a seat and go home.”
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When I lived in Port Chester (now Rye Brook), I took the 5:29 out of GCT. It had an in-seat bar and was a real party car. Sometimes I would make an assignation with a delectable trollop/scampering wench on a Friday and go on to Stamford, returning the next morning to Pork Chop or Rye to search for my vehicle.
Living in Port Chester (now Rye Brook), I often forsaked the New Haven and commuted from White Plains. The 6:51 Express, out of NWP, had the full-length bar car in the consists. If you were a regular, you could get a bit of “the hair-of-the-dog” inbound, or coffee and Danish. You had to be able to stand up, as there were no seats. A real lifesaver, some mornings.
Concluding the thread, the LIRR “Cannonballs” were a real trip, back in the ’60s. Going from Manhattan to the ‘summer place’ in the Hamptons on a full (9- or 10-car)parlor-car consist was outstanding! I had a great collection of purloined LIRR glasses, but, alas, they are no longer in my posession. Sure got the weekend off to a great start! $1.00/# lobster and fresh-dug clams, and maybe a Bloody Mary, or two… Who could ask for anything more?
If I remember correctly (CRS), the LIRR ran as many as three all-parlor car “Cannonballs”, of a Friday evening, all going way out to Montauk and returning Sunday evening and Monday morning. That was a “Class Act”!!!
Check out the MTA / LIRR web-site. They are running a contest to name two little GE 150 hp shop switchers that are being retired. I voted to name them “Joseph Rutigliano” and “Edward Koerber”, the two LIRR humps that got their pictures in the NYT for the Railroad Retirement Act scam. Joe and Ed deserve to be in a museum!