Bar cars: end of an era?

welcome back bar cars. same timetable but... now we have the Bar cars on it
one thing to note, the 9:07pm train is no longer a bar car as I had someone tell me a few weeks ago. boo
http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/planning/s ... NHL-MF.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 12:08 today did not have a bar car (M-8s), but the 1:08 did. Here's loading the ice onto 8659.

R36 - great pic!

You know what it reminds me of? Think of a guy in a dark blue jumpsuit loading baggage into a round Budd car in NYP...



Clarence Beeks was a bad man.

Last year in the summer 1770 had bar car service, which turned for 1586, the 9:07 to NHV.

Caught a bar car (8661) on the ride back from GCT Sunday. Strictly BYOB, but passengers had a good time anyway. Now when is happy hour?

I'll miss them when they're gone.

Bil

I rode 8665 on Friday afternoon on the New Canaan train, I thought it was wasteful to see it on the shuttle, rather than having it sent down to GCT for the rush, but I suppose it doesn't matter, and NHL riders can buy their booze elsewhere and sit in a seat like Hudson and Harlem riders

Does anyone know how many are left now, I thought I heard somewhere that it was only about 3 or 4.

I recently rode in one briefly on an afternoon GCT to New Rochelle local.

One more round?

"The state's transportation commissioner has given assurances that bar car service along the Metro-North New Haven Line will continue, but a final design for a bar car compatible with the new fleet of M8 cars has not been completed, and the legislature has not approved any funding for them."

http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/L ... 156660.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"This week Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Jim Redeker said there are plans to launch new bar cars at some undetermined point in the future, but if and when could depend on the cost of retrofitting the M-8 cars."

WPIX is reporting that this will be the last week for the bar cars on the New Haven Line.

Story link: http://pix11.com/2014/05/05/last-metro- ... z30mkq4naM

The bar car symbol is nowhere to be found on the new timetables, so it appears to be so. Who knows if this will be a temporary hiatus like last time or if they are now gone for good.

Has there been any official word on why they are being withdrawn from service? Or have we reached critical mass with the new M-8 fleet?

I'm seriously thinking of planning a trip down for "one last ride" but I need to know train numbers of anyone's got them.

-otto-

I don't have them handy, but the trains with bar cars are shown in the timetable. Look at the top of the coulmn right underneath the train number.

NEW YORK (PIX11) — It’s the last call for the Metro-North bar cars.

The four remaining bar cars — a holdover from the “Mad Men” era of suburban commuting — and the last of their kind in the nation, will be taken out of service by the end of the week, PIX11 News has learned.

For decades, the bar cars have been a refuge for weary New Haven-line riders. They’ve also been something of a time machine, featuring poles with bright orange and yellow beverage holders, faux wood paneling and wallpaper with a 1970s stagecoach motif, and ample floor space free of traditional rows of seating that encourage mingling among Connecticut commuters.

Metro-North is apparently the last daily commuter train with a bar car in the country – not counting Amtrak’s full dining areas.

In recent years, the number of bar cars has diminished as the MTA phased out the old trains in favor of sleek new M-8 trains, and the final four cars will be gone by week’s end, according to Connecticut Department of Transportation communications director Judd Everhart. The old M-2 cars, which entered service in 1973, had become so elusive that a fan created a website and Twitter feed to help commuters find the trains.

There are already more than 300 M8s cars in service, and drinking is still permitted on the new models as well as all other trains, which don’t have a “cafe car,” as the MTA calls them.


Read more: http://pix11.com/2014/05/05/last-metro- ... z30tHZ3CkC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Read more at http://pix11.com/2014/05/05/last-metro- ... 4HxhAQE.99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Considering the current "feellings" about MNR after the DV wreck and the FRA "oversight",any chance of a
"Farewell to the M-2's" fantrip including some of the bar pairs?

lirr42 wrote:I don't have them handy, but the trains with bar cars are shown in the timetable. Look at the top of the coulmn right underneath the train number.

Yes, thanks, I hadn't realized the January timetable was still in effect. Still, it looks like they killed all the inbound bar cars - used to be a couple NHL trains I rode that had bar car service into GCT. Here's what's listed in the January timetable:

Train 1526 - Departs GCT 12:08pm
Train 1530 - Departs 1:08pm
Train 1534 - Departs 2:08pm
Train 1456 - Departs 5:26pm (terminates Bridgeport)
Train 1562 - Departs 5:48pm
Train 1368 - Departs 6:15pm
Train 1574 - Departs 7:07pm (terminates Stamford)

Am I reading the schedule correctly that they eliminated inbound staffed bar cars?

-otto-