Bring back the bar cars!

This is one topic that cannot be discussed too much. Just think how much money NJT would have made on those stalled trains in the Meadows if they sold drinks and snacks on board! NJT could have given back the state subsidy!

There's a good bar car thread going on the MTA/Metro North forum:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4601

Drinking alcohol is bad for you...............

Drink enough of it, and you won't remember how good, uh, I mean, bad it is for you.... :D

I know a bartender on the MN trains, and we often talk, and he said that htey make money on it hand over fist........but it has been on MN forever, and the passengers are used to it. But it was taken off of NJT years back, and i don't know of it could have a "successful" reintroduction in todays sue happy society, not to mention people not knowing how to "behave" with a bar car on the train, i could only imagine the ruckus it could cause....

Ah yes, them bar cars. A favorite topic of discussion of mine.

I have some questions about the ex-EL NJDOT Comet 1 snack bars. On which routes were they actively run and operated (i.e. staffed) ? Did they run some on the PVL, Boonton, Port Jervis, and M&E lines besides the Main/Bergen ? Did the timetables tell you which train had a snack bar ?

By time I started watching trains those 1600 series bar cars were just used as a coach w/extra toilet capacity. IIRC they were run in the longer sets (upto 9 coaches before the 3/2 seat re-configurations).

Ah yes, the Comet I bar cars. They stayed primarily on the Main/Bergen Line. There was one bar car on the Boonton Line, the 5:35 local to Great Notch.

There were quite a few bar "cars" on the M&E aboard the MUs. The bartender simply slapped a board down between two seats and worked out for a couple coolers and trunks. They could work fast!

The timetables had an "R" in a circle to indicate a bar car on the timetable. I have a few of those. I'll try to scan one and put it up.

There was an article my grandfather clipped from the newspaper when NJT retired the bar cars on the NJCL. IIRC the title was something like "Highballs go into Mothballs" or something like that. Spoke about how the NJCL bar cars were a social club of some sort. Nothing like getting a little 'primed' on a Thursday or Friday evening home to the shore before taking a dip or going out to the bars-n-clubs.

Sometimes, NJCL and NEC train passengers act drunk enough without alcohol being thrown into the equation!

BlockLine_4111 wrote:On which routes were they actively run and operated (i.e. staffed) ? Did they run some on the PVL, Boonton, Port Jervis, and M&E lines besides the Main/Bergen ? Did the timetables tell you which train had a snack bar ?

From the May 19, 1980 Conrail/NJ Transit Coast Line schedule: 3315 4:35, 3317 4:48, 3323 5:16, 3327 5:50 PM out of NY, and 3304 5:31, 3308 6:00, 3312 6:18,3314 6:31 AM out of Bay Head had bar cars.

From the CONRAIL M&E Lines timetable from July 1, 1976: 563 3:00 PM, 623 4:26, 6625 4:40, 627 5:09, 631 5:41, 633 5:56, 635 6:17, 427 6:22, 639 7:04 out of Hoboken.

On the CONRAIL Pascack Valley schedule from July 1, 1976 the only train that had a bar car was 1607, 5:40 PM out of Hoboken.

From the CONRAIL Main/Bergen Line schedule from July 1, 1976: 1251 3:40 PM, 1119 3:24, 1151 5:00, 1205 5:05, 1153 5:24, 59 5:42, 1155 5:47, 1157 6:20, 1159 7:00, 1161 8:00, and 1121 10:00 out of Hoboken

Under the caption on each timetable it says: "Relax on your way home tonight with a man-sized thirst quencher served in our refreshment cars"