Commuting | Snapshot Chronicles

Bar Car - why don't they have these on my train? — Bar Car - Photo credit: bitchcakesny

Of late I have felt a bit like I am living a distaff 21st century version of Mad Men.

I work in advertising, although for a social media publisher, not at an agency. I commute daily on Metro North’s New Haven line and live in Fairfield County, although in far less glamourous Bridgeport, not Cos Cob. And of course I am not a philandering asshole like Pete Campbell. But every time there’s a Mad Men scene on the train, or when the city dwellers venture out into the suburbs, it feels just familiar enough to resonate.

And sometimes my life has echoes that evoke Mad Men.

This was particularly strong the other night. I missed my usual express train, so had to take the slightly later train that runs local from Stamford to New Haven, and the last car (which I prefer for proximity to the parking garage in Bridgeport) was the bar car.

Plus I wanted a drink. It was that sort of day.

Sitting in the Metro North bar car when it is staffed (versus just the car with no bartender) is like stepping into a time warp back to the 60s, and not just because the actual car seems (but probably is not) that old. It’s a semi-private club, with regulars who have been traveling the commuter rails together for what seems like years. Now, the train itself is like that –I see the same folks everyday, some of them on both ends of my commute, and we chat on the platform or in the elevator at the parking garage.

But it is a quiet community.

Not so the bar car. The bar car is the polar opposite of the quiet car. It’s a party on the rails, and the regulars are a mix of modern day Roger Sterlings and Pete Campbells. There are a few women in the bar car, but it is overall a pretty estrogen-light place with a locker-room feel. For example, on this occasion a main topic of conversation was the erotic ebook Shades of Gray, which I had never heard of until the gentleman sitting next to me asked if I had read it.

Yeah, the bar car is that sort of place.

Not sure I have the constitution to ride it every day, especially since it makes me a few minutes late for my sitter when it is the 5:48 train. But I learned last night, I could do so, as there is a website Where’s the Bar Car (wheresthebarcar.com) that reports which MNR New Haven trains have the staffed bar car each day. I’m pretty sure that the folks I was chatting with the other night decide between the 5:26 and the 5:48 depending on which one has the bar.

A votre sante!

More articles about the bar car:

And about Pete Campbell’s commute: http://trainjotting.com/2012/03/26/conn-men/

Strangers on a Train (film) — Image via Wikipedia

Strangers on a train. No, not the Alfred Hitchcock classic film with Farley Granger and Robert Walker where two strangers plot to commit each other’s murder.

Last fall, I started working for BlogHer in the NYC office. I commute every day on the Metro North New Haven line to Grand Central.

Every so often I tweet and post to Facebook about things I observe on the train. Often mini-rants about inconsiderate behavior on the part of fellow passengers but sometimes simple observations or photos, like the first time I rode in one of the new cars.

Last week I posted about a clueless passenger who had placed his coffee on the floor under his seat, which had of course spilled all over the floor, and a college friend asked if I was going to start a blog about things I observe on the train.

Now I barely have time to keep up with the blogs I already have. Poor Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip hasn’t been updated since last summer, so I think we can officially say it is on hiatus! And I don’t want to write ranty posts about the poor behavior one observes on the train because it is pretty much the same stuff on a regular basis – coffee cups spilling on fellow passengers or their belongings. People putting their dirty briefcases on the seats. Their dirty feet on the seats. Taking off their shoes. Talking loudly on their mobile phones. Leaving their trash on the train. And all the possible combinations thereof.

But folks who could do with a refresher course in etiquette aren’t the only people I see on the train every day. Even though one generally doesn’t chat on the commuter train, I’ve managed to run into some interesting folks from Bridgeport to Midtown and back, and I thought it might be fun to start a semi-regular feature here on Snapshot Chronicles to tell you about them.

Right now, because it is summer, I seem to be meeting vacationers. A few weeks ago, coming home on a late train after a function in the City, I met a mother and daughter from Michigan who were on a five week tour of the East Coast. They were staying in Norwalk, had spent their first full day in New York, and were planning at least one more, before making their way up the coast toward Boston. The daughter herself had a 5 year old daughter who had remained back home in Michigan with her grandfather, and we chatted a while about being away from your child that long, and what was the right age to start bringing children on special vacations.

Then, last Wednesday morning, I met a grandmother and granddaughter from Texas who were exploring the city together for the grandaughter’s high school graduation trip. They were going to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and were wondering which subway to take. They too had spent some of their vacation exploring the East Coast, driving all the way to Maine on one day!

I’ve also run into some really nice folks. Like the man this morning who let me take his seat because he was chatting away on the phone in the vestibule. And the gentlemen who held doors open for me this morning and afternoon.

Sometimes the strangers on the train are creepy dudes who take off their shoes and put their feet up on the seat opposite. And sometimes they are delightful people whose lives you get to touch for a moment.

I’ll share them both with you here from time to time.