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Photos, Video: Farewell, Metro-North's Bar Cars
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published May 10, 2014
Modified May 10, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published May 10, 2014
Modified May 10, 2014
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The last Metro-North bar car pulled out of Grand Central Terminal last night, and though riders may continue to surreptitiously imbibe onboard, the official mobile drinking spot is now a relic of the past. The agency has officially retired the last of its booze-swilling 1970s fleet, —and some people are taking the loss hard.
The bar cars, where riders could procure a couple cans of beer and bond with fellow drinkers on their way home from work, have been phased out in favor of newer, sleeker, bar car-less trains set to shuttle sober commuters in and out of the city. And bar car regulars say the loss of the onboard drinking lounge is nothing short of devastating. "This commute is miserable…and there's one car on this train where everyone is happy," one rider told the Associated Press. Fans say the bar cars offered a sense of community, much like a beloved dive or neighborhood pub. "I know all these people,” Kyle Elliott, who started riding in the bar car 10 years ago, told the Post. “I’ve been to parties in the summer at their homes. I know their children. I’ve been to funerals of people that I’ve known in this bar car. We’ve shared all the things that you share with your friends in life through meeting each other in this bar car.”
But bar cars may not be dead and gone forever: transit officials have hinted at the possibility of designing new trains that can accommodate a special compartment for drinking. Even some commuters have offered to do their part in helping bring the cars back: "I want to get some corporate sponsorship to brand this whole thing, and let them pay for the new retrofitting of the cars,” Terri Cronin a commuter who lives in Connecticut, told CBS News. But for now, though, the retired car—the last of the country's commuter train bars—is relegated to the Mad Men-esque past, a time in which it was as acceptable to get boozed up on a train and embark on a secret Metro-North sex affair as it was to have your small child mix you a pitch-perfect Tom Collins.
On the bright side, luggage-rack luge racing does not require a bar car.
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booze
metro north
Rebecca Fishbein
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