Bar cars: end of an era?

[Bill D]

For what it's worth, I caught two trains today (Saturday) with bar cars in the consist. I rode car 8661 (lead car) on the 7:20 am out of New Haven, train 6511 to GCT. On the return, car 8651 was bringing up the rear on train 6548, the 5:37 pm out of GCT. Of course, no bar service on the am train, and the on the pm train the car had a seated load as I passed by, but I'm not sure if drinks were being served.

Bill

[truck6018]

I don't think the bars are manned on the weekends.

[Clean Cab]

Bar Cars are only staffed on weekday afternoons.

[Bill D]

Bar Cars are only staffed on weekday afternoons.

It was interesting to see them on a weekend train though. I assume that MN will use whatever consists are easily accessible on weekends. Most of the time that I ride weekends I end up on an older set of equipment. I might as well enjoy them while they are still around.

Bill

[DutchRailnut]

on weekends they come in handy as bicycle cars.

[Clean Cab]

Bar Cars are only staffed on weekday afternoons.

It was interesting to see them on a weekend train though. I assume that MN will use whatever consists are easily accessible on weekends. Most of the time that I ride weekends I end up on an older set of equipment. I might as well enjoy them while they are still around.

Bill

Correct. They use whatever is available when needed.

[Noel Weaver]

Just a guess on my part but I suspect that the last M-2's on the road will be for the most part the bar pairs.
Noel Weaver

[Clean Cab]

The best guess is yes, the bar pairs will be amongst the last M2's to be retired/scrapped.

[NHAirLine]

They're fun to ride in on the weekends. It seems pretty much every M2/4/6 train on the weekends ends up with one, although my sample size is pretty small.

[Clean Cab]

They're fun to ride in on the weekends. It seems pretty much every M2/4/6 train on the weekends ends up with one, although my sample size is pretty small.

I doubt that. There are only 7 active bar pairs, so I think the odds of catching on weekends is more like 1 out of 8.

[NHAirLine]

They're fun to ride in on the weekends. It seems pretty much every M2/4/6 train on the weekends ends up with one, although my sample size is pretty small.

I doubt that. There are only 7 active bar pairs, so I think the odds of catching on weekends is more like 1 out of 8.

Maybe it's just the times I tend to ride. Or they aren't running many M2/4/6 sets on the weekends anymore...

[ACeInTheHole]

First time I rode an M2 it was a bar car.. Unmanned of course but hows that for luck?

[DutchRailnut]

you call it luck?? to sit in a car that smells like rear wall of a Irish pub ?

[NHAirLine]

you call it luck?? to sit in a car that smells like rear wall of a Irish pub ?

I've always found them to be clean on the weekends, and I like the seating arrangement. Maybe just for novelty's sake, since everything else is 3-2 or 2-2 seating.

[ACeInTheHole]

you call it luck?? to sit in a car that smells like rear wall of a Irish pub ?

I've always found them to be clean on the weekends, and I like the seating arrangement. Maybe just for novelty's sake, since everything else is 3-2 or 2-2 seating.

Sadly, I have to agree with NH on this one. The car did not smell bad at all and I daresay rode better than the Arrows we have down here (which isn't saying much). I had an Arrow a few weeks ago that had just come back into service after flood damage repair, it stunk to the high heavens of cleaning products and a ton of bleach, I had a mind numbing headache from inhaling that garbage after I got off the train that didn't go away for an hour. Now that... that was luck.(sarcasm).