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Bar cars may be eliminated on Metro-North New Haven Line
Or, perhaps the loss of bar cars, civilization in a glass as they were originally, is equivalent to the added “security” offered by the TSA. Now consider the economic “value added” by each. And BTW, the facts of the matter don’t matter.
“Bar cars…is…”?
We could use the bar cars on Amtrak’s Albany-NYC Empire Service!
One of my Ridewithmehenry riders decided to sample the Snack/Bar Car Wed. 1/15/14 on train 1575 to GCT from Bridgeport. He was disappointed in that there were only peanuts and beer being offered. It might have been because 1575 is an inbound to GCT train, or it might be because of the lack of business as stated in this article.
Amazing how the commuter trains operated by our railroads understood travel and service.
I thought only Metra in Chicago put on its PC hat and eliminated bar cars. But the New Haven commuter zone? Are you kidding me? Unless it became too much for bartenders to handle the kiddie requests of those born after the “baby boomers” desiring chocolate and apple martinis, hold the vermouth?
When I was brought into a major turnaround at a Chicago teaching hospital in 1991, the highlight of my day for 6 years was the Metra bar car on either the 450 or 517 back up the line to Big Timber (Elgin, IL=“a cemetery with lights that was not at the end of the world, but you could see it from there!”) Funny how nobody minded SRO cross in the bar car then…
Sounds like BOYB!
I like coffee in the AM and early afternoon, and a couple of glasses of wine later PM or evening (others a mixed drink). Were it OK to buy them from a cart it would not reduce my experience going north or south to or from Seattle.
The thing is with the carts on the platform is that everybody has to pass them and can clearly see the items for sale and are more likely to buy something. If the new M8 bar cars had some form of way either a wrap on the outside of the car or an announcement onboard, that would attract more people to the cars on the train. I would hate to see the bar car tradition fade away 
Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Having commuted on the New Haven line, 1964-1968, the ‘Bar Car’ was a feature! Some of the MU, and LD trains, only had ‘seat service’: four seats taken over for the bartender’s coolers, Other LD trains had old observation cars (e.g. " Watch Hill"), converted to thru-passage, as full bar cars. Great times, and moneymakers.
I commuted on NYC, off-and-on, from 1956 to 1968 from WPNS. We had a ‘full-length’ bar car on the Harlem Division. Coffee served, with pastries, in the morning. Yes, if you were a regular, you could get a bit of the “hair-of-the-tail-of-the-dog that bit you!”
Wunnerful times! Don’t let the MADD loons kill the service!
I rode Metra Burlington line and the Heritage lines for a number of years. Both did not have bar cars. Some of the (then CNW) lines still had them but not those two lines that I rode. Alcohol was allowed but was not sold on board. The bars in Union Station had their act together and it was quite easy and fast to purchase and go. Virtually no waiting and no hassle. So I don’t see it as a really a problem
Most of the other comments about the impending discontinuance of bar cars are tinged with more than a bit of wistfulness for times past. I’m sure that the liability issues involved with their operation were also a factor in their phase-out, not to mention the fact that they took up seat space and served no useful purpose in the morning rush.
Helas! First they eliminate the Club Cars and now this. No more fun for the Mad Men.
New Yorker cartoon from years ago. Passenger to conductor and collector. “You call this a dry martini? That’s a h–l of a way to run a railroad.” E-T-T-S, indeed.
Perhaps this is a failure to anticipate the future, additional revenue could be generated selling pot… and Cheetos.
I once heard that the NEW HAVEN was the only railroad that made money on their dining car service – riders were not on the train long enough to eat but they were there long enough to have a dtink!
I had the misfortune of having to ride Metro-North from New Haven to NYC as a daily commuter some years ago - about a 2 hour ride each way. I remember some commuters who had been doing that commute for 20 years or more. They rode the bar car…both ways!
Only a railroad - especially a public railroad - could LOSE money on bar car service.
Witness no food/bar service between NYP and Albany on
Amtrak because of losses.
Union work rules and wages combined with railroad “management”.
LMAO.