For decades, it’s been an enduring image of suburbia.
The business executive lingers over a 3-martini lunch. Later, he (it’s always a man) boards the train to Connecticut, heading straight to the bar car. In Westport he steps off the platform and rolls into Mario’s.
You can still order 3 martinis at lunch (unless you have a job). Mario’s will be here forever (we hope).
But — as of Friday — the bar car is gone. It’s joined the coal car and steam engine in that great switchyard in the sky.
Bar cars in 1968 (left) and 2010. (Photos courtesy of the New York Times)
Metro-North‘s bar car — part of the commuting experience since the 1930s — fell victim to (of course) progress. Their design was incompatible with the railroad’s new M-8 cars, which have gone into service at the same time Metro-North has done 2 things previously believed impossible: take longer, and be less reliable.
Yesterday’s New York Times assured readers (and riders) that drinks will still be available at Grand Central, via carts near the tracks.
“It’s a rebranding,” said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. He’s a Staples grad (Class of 1994), so he may or may not have 1st-hand knowledge of the bar car.
But tens of thousands of Westport commuters do. Click “Comments” to share your memories. Due to the what-happens-in-the-bar-car-stays-in-the-bar-car nature of this topic, we’ll allow anonymous comments just this once.
