Dining cars on passenger trains have a small kitchen and dining room for freshly prepared meals. They were elegant during the height of passenger train travel, but have been replaced by informal bars in the 21st century. Short-distance rail travel still exists, but most commuter trains do not have a dining car.
A dining car is a car on a passenger railway train that has a small kitchen where food is prepared along with a dining room where it is served to travelers. Due to size limitations, the dining and kitchen areas of these cars are generally designed to use all available space as efficiently as possible. During the heyday of passenger train travel in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a train’s dining car often offered high-quality food in elegant surroundings. At the beginning of the 21st century, many formal dining cars have been replaced by informal bars.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when long-distance passenger train travel was common, the dining car was a practical necessity. As its name implies, its main function was to provide a space on board where travelers could enjoy freshly prepared meals. With an onboard restaurant at their disposal, passengers need not worry about bringing their own food on their journey or intermittently disembarking from the train for meals. In addition, the dining car offered train patrons an area in which they could mingle and socialize with other passengers.
Due to size limitations, the dining and galley areas of a dining car are designed to maximize all available space. The dining room usually consists of two rows of square or rectangular tables that are separated by a central aisle. The kitchen of a dining car, often located in the back of the car, is generally designed in a galley style. Its two walls are lined with typical kitchen equipment such as cupboards, drawers, refrigeration units, cookers, ovens, hobs, etc. Between these equipment walls is a narrow corridor where one or more cooks can move around, preparing orders.
Despite these size limitations, however, during the height of passenger train travel, dining cars were often very elegant. Many offered pristine linens, expensive china, ornate chandelier lights, and impeccably dressed and polite waiters. With the proliferation of passenger rail lines in the US, Europe, and elsewhere during this era, the creation of increasingly elegant dining cars was in part an effort by these lines to attract customers.
At the beginning of the 21st century, automobiles and airplanes have largely made long-distance train travel a phenomenon of the past. However, in many countries, short-distance rail travel is still a common method of getting around in and out of cities, often for work purposes. While this shortened form of train travel may persist, most commuter trains do not have a dining car. Those who do offer food often do so in an informal snack bar format rather than a formal dining room.
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