Remember the Smoking Car on Trains?

[LotusEater]

Good luck finding cribbage players these days

My wife and I play on occasion.

 

[JSPiper71]

When I was traveling extensively for my job, all of the airlines had smoking sections in the rear of the plane. Only Northwest allowed pipes and then only in the very last row. Just once, I got a seat there and smoked my pipe while flying from Minneapolis to Seattle, just for the experience.

I flew to Indonesia when I graduated University to backpack through Asia. Flew Garuda Indonesia because it was cheap. It was an MD11 which had something like 8 seats in the middle. The front of the plane was non-smoking and full, the back had maybe a dozen people who chain smoked the entire 20 hour flight. After an hour or so, the entire plane smelt of an 80’s nightclub, so I opted for comfort over somewhat less smoke and took up an entire middle row in the back to lie down. I probably smoked 10 packs of second hand cigarettes while sleeping. Very happy they’ve shut that insanity down.
Now a dedicated rail car with high back leather chairs, server and a bar!! That would be fantastic.

 

[jpmcwjr]

And, thanks, Jesse. The Irish train offers two day excursions for only 3,000 Euro! Better book now! The sleeping rooms/parlor rooms? are not shabby.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Ah, darn. Further investigation of the Irish luxury train reveals: [Wiki]

"On 19 February 2021 the ceasing of the operation was announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Belmond plans to relocate the train to a new, yet undisclosed place inside Europe."

The company put a fair amount of dough into the rolling stock, and whoever spots this train first will get a tin of tobacco. Has to have dated photo and location.

 

[romaso]

We used to take the Amtrak Coast Starlight down to LA and back. Those with sleeper rooms have their own lounge car. Its non-smoking, but still pretty nice. Scenery is better heading North from LA, due to the timetable. Hope to do it again someday. Love trains.

 

[romaso]

I've been on a bunch of trains. On one from Chicago to NY, I had my own toilet in the room. So I'm sitting on the can watching the scenery go by and suddenly we pull into a station and everyone is right outside my window. Played it cool until we got going again. Good to know the timetable!

 

[goldenmole]

I grew up in Germany where they had dedicated smoking cars until 2007 I think. Of cause at the time I was a non-smoker, plus we are talking 99% cigarette smoke... so we always tried everything to avoid having to even pass through these train cars
Worst memory was taking a long-distance bus overnight from Munich to Istanbul in the 80s (as a teenager), where all the Turkish passengers would chain-smoke cheap cigarettes they bought at the various border stops. Hotboxing basically for 30 hours.
Now living in Copenhagen I am somewhat at the fringe of the European rail network, and connections to almost everywhere are slow (until you reach the German high speed train network). Last summer we did a family trip where you drive your car onto the back of the train (special train cars), and arrive in Italy next morning with your own car. Downside: privatized to a crappy company, 40 year old trains with broken AC, large delays (train driver lost his key in Verona.. but that is another story)..

 

[jaytex1969]

I began US Army basic training in August of '86.

I remember being able to smoke for the first month and a half.

Then, on October 1, with the new fiscal year, the rules changed and the drill sergeants took away all of our tobacco products.

I remember smoking on planes and buses in the 80's, also.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

When I was a kid, I'd ride the commuter train with my dad to his work place in the city on holidays, and we'd ride in the smoking car so he could smoke his pipe and we'd read the newspaper. The cars were pre-World-War-II with velvet like upholstery and dark wood trim, very 1930's. There would usually be a smokey card game going on in one of the four-place seating areas, and before a.c., the windows slid open. Does anyone remember the days of smoking cars? I think I probably got the equivalent of a small cigar of nicotine just riding along in that earlier time. Nostalgia. My trips to his office were one of the treats of the winter holidays, and I'd take adventures around the big office building and down to the newsstand, and lunch was a big deal in a downtown restaurant, sometimes Berghoff's, a German place with gruff middle-aged male waiters and white tablecloths.

I would love to use a train for travel. Some day I would like to take The Southern Cresent with my grand daugther who shares my love of the nostalgia.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

In 1984, I was mistakenly stuck in the smoking section of a twelve hour non-stop flight to Israel. I was green when I got off the plane.

 

[Hampshire Pipes & Cigars]

Of course we could also smoke on the London Underground (Subway) in those days too - I remember seeing all the cigarette stubs stuck between the slatted wooden floor panels ?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Gosh, what a memory flashes into my brain about the Underground! I remember how disgusting the butts were, often wedged between slats.

Were there non-smoking cars back then? (1962)

 

[tzinc]

I took a train trip from Toronto to Vancouver when I was younger amazing how long before they are gone too?

Don't want to sound like a smoking snob but for some reason I can't stand cigarette smoke and I love pipe smoke. Maybe the chemicals? I went straight into pipe smoking in part because of the delightful smell.

 

[FurCoat]

I remember being able to smoke just about anywhere...work, grocery store, pharmacy, you name it and I'm jusy fifty. It took awhile for the non-smoking craze to hit NC. I still have four cars with ash trays and working cigarette lighters.

 

[monty55]

I remember airplanes segregated with smokers consigned to the back, but still circulating their smoke throughout the plane, depending on how far back you were seated. Those were also the days when people would go to the airport for fancy dining, and nearly every passenger on flights would be dressed in a jacket and tie, with women dressed up as if for church or important business.

Rail travel is still pretty interesting. My wife and I took a train from North Carolina to New York City where she lived for years. The track bed runs through the older parts of most town and cities, so there is a time machine effect that makes everything look like it is in the late fifties and early sixties or before. The buildings date back even to the 1920's and before. The train gently rocks and the scenery is hypnotic. If it has been a long time since you've ridden a train, it is worth the fare just for the experience. I think it was Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens who commented that nothing made ham and eggs taste better than eating it while watching the scenery fly by. I'm the same way on boats and ships. I can get mesmerized just watching the water flow past in fair weather. One of the best buzzes I ever had was drinking fruit wine on a ferry across Lake Michigan on glass smooth water.

I've never had the privilege to ride a train yet, but I was on the last International Delta flight flying to the U.S. that allowed smoking. I think that was 93' or 94'

 

[monty55]

If I ever win one of those gigantic lottery's I'm going to build a resort just for pipe and cigar smokers where you can smoke wherever you like! I've actually dreamed about it lol.

 

[romaso]

When I got my first office job in the 1980's, I'd already missed the indoor smoking days. I remember one hobo used to come around and collect the butts from the outdoor ashtray. Tax free!

The old timers also waxed nostalgically for when you could also discretely keep a bottle in your desk...

 

[Egg Shen]

McDonald's had smoking into the late '90s.
View attachment 120423

I knew they were glass and not brass. I wanted to correct whoever it was above who said the MCDonald’s ones were brass. Not that it matters. I worked at Burger King in ‘98 for my 1st job ever. We had the lightweight cheap brass ones. They came in sleeves. Fun job and people, good times. 86’d a lot of camels in those trays on lunch break…

The smoking car wasn't just a standard passenger car where you could smoke. They were a lounge, often with a bar and food service:

The smoking car wasn't just a standard passenger car where you could smoke. They were a lounge, often with a bar and food service:
View attachment 120460

Luxurious comfortable and sophisticated.

View attachment 120461

View attachment 120462

Wow, this is what I envision rail travel used to be like. I was looking online a week or so ago and you can still travel on the orient express and the transcontinental railroad. One of them was pretty expensive- especially if you purchase a more private sleeping arrangement and one of them mentioned you’ll be on vintage cars from the 40’s. I would love this. Not sure if you can still smoke on these. To me, this is a critical element, being able to.

 

[Egg Shen]

When I got my first office job in the 1980's, I'd already missed the indoor smoking days. I remember one hobo used to come around and collect the butts from the outdoor ashtray. Tax free!

The old timers also waxed nostalgically for when you could also discretely keep a bottle in your desk...

Sheeeeiit. I work for a big corporation and lotsa folks unabashedly keep liquor at their desk. I saw some guy’s bourbon on a Teams meeting the other day. And the office refrigerators always have beer too. We work hard, so I guess they look past it. But there is no way they aren’t aware

 

[Chasing Embers]

I knew they were glass and not brass. I wanted to correct whoever it was above who said the MCDonald’s ones were brass.

They had both though the picture above is amber glass. This is what their brass ones looked like.