Re: (erielack) Re: Subscription cars

[The Jordans <"pamela_@_blast.net">]

The subscription car that I remember was chartered by a group of bankers
and stockbrokers in the Morristown, New Jersey area (Mendham, possibly) and
had a membership requirement to ride in it.  This group paid for the
maintenance of the car and paid about four times the regular fare for its
use.  I believe it also had a porter assigned to it and at least coffee
served in the morning.  It was used on one train into Hoboken in the
morning and one train for the return run at night.  

My father was a member on the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange in New
York City and a lot of his friends rode the subscription car in from
Mendham.  Particularly on Friday night, a group of these men would meet at
the Hoboken Terminal Bar, have a few drinks and then board their trains for
the trip home.  I worked in New York with my father for a while and was
privileged to imbibe with some of these gentlemen occasionally at the
aforementioned tavern whose speciality was a Rye Manhattan in a coffee cup
for traveling.  The gus from the subscription car would all leave at one
time in a large group, laughing and sometimes singing (depending on how
good the market was that day) to their awaiting subscription car.  Dad and
I caught our train back to Rutherford, strictly Stillwell coach or in the
summer time, up to Dover and then by car eventually to our summer house in
Lake Hopatcong, but still by MU coach.  The subscription car to Mendham
always rode the same trains in and out of Hoboken.  Sorry, I don't remember
which train numbers they were.

As I remember there were other subscription cars, one was a heavyweight,
and yes, full of wicker rocking chairs, that went up the old Erie main to
Tuxedo/Harriman, NY I believe.  And the one Joel was talking about that
went to the Bernardsville/Basking Ridge, NJ area on the Gladstone branch.
This one was still running in the 70's when I occassionally went to New
York City, but I again rode in a regular MU coach. 

- -Joe Jordan

At 10:01 AM 12/29/99 -0500, Joel McEachen wrote:
>Now I am going back a long way (in my life) but I vaguely remember
>seeing Lackawanna MU's on the Gladstone Branch (I think) with wicker
>armchairs inside.  I don't remember how I saw them, but I was told the
>car was "owned" (or chartered) by a private club and the seats paid for
>by members.  I also remember similar cars with fancy interiors on the
>Jersey Central north Jersey coast line.  I can certainly imagine scions
>of Wall Street taking the ferry to Hoboken and riding out the Gladstone
>branch, or to Jersey City for Deal or other upscale Jersey shore towns,
>etc.  I can only guess that the Erie or Susquehanna had similar upscale
>commuters.  The Jersey Central/Reading "Wall Street" and "Crusader"
>boasted quite an upscale crowd, too, as I remember.  
>
>(Required content over) In CT, the CTDOT purchased "refreshment" cars,
>when Metro North declared them non-p/c, CT representatives ordered them
>to remain on the CT trains.  Although smoking was discontinued, they
>still had a distinctive odor last time I looked in one.  I was never
>anti-smoking, but I remember gagging when walking through smoking cars
>or, worse, the "bar" car.
>Joel McEachen
>
>> Erielack Digest      Wednesday, December 29 1999      Volume 02 : Number
557
>> 
>> The NJDOT purchase new equipment for the E-L commuter service included "Bar
>> Cars".  These were used as smoking cars and, up to the mid or late '70's,
>> were used as bar cars for the commuters.  Prior to the NJDOT equipment, a
>> temporary bar was installed on a couple of seats in the smoking car for the
>> same purpose.
>> 
>> On a similar note, there was a subscription car on one of the Boonton Line
>> commuter trains (Lakeland Express, maybe?) dating back to the DL&W that was
>> continued until the E-L put the new Pullman Standard equipment in
service in
>> 1971.  It was quite a sight during the summer of 1970 to see E8A #833
>> followed by a half dozen ex-Santa Fe coaches trailing an E-L heavyweight
>> coach in G/M/Y!  Does anyone know the story behind the car?  How did one
>> join? What was the history of the car and the subscription?
>> Thanks.
>> Pete S
>
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>
Joe Jordan
mailto: "pamela_@_blast.net"
http://www.blast.net/pamela for the Jordan Comedy Network & 
http://TrainNut.Railfan.net/ for the Train Nut Central page

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