Tavern-lounge cars, alternatively called tavern-observation cars, were lounge cars often with partitions, where refreshments were offered for sale. They came in either round-end or flat-end configurations. In use from the post-World War II years, into the 1970s, these appeared on long-distance routes, such as the
Atlantic Coast Line's
Champion, the
Erie Lackawanna's
Phoebe Snow, the
Kansas City Southern's
Southern Belle, Louisville and Nashville's
Humming Bird, Georgian, the
New York Central's New York-St. Louis
Southwestern Limited, and the
Seaboard Air Line’s
Silver Meteor. As apparent in the ACL's all-coach
Vacationer, this sub-class of car was not only used in Pullman trains. Like standard lounge cars, these had seats and couches facing away from windows and toward the aisles. Many of these were equipped with
radios with which to play music via radio or recordings. The Seaboard’s
Silver Meteor in particular was well known to have kept its tavern-lounge-observation car on the end of the train where it was supposed to be until Amtrak’s inception in 1971. This was after many railroads had discontinued the practice, and would place the car wherever it needed to be in the train. File:Southern Pacific Railroad Shasta Daylight Timberline Tavern.JPG|
Shasta Daylight Timberline Tavern lounge car File:Southern Belle tavern lounge observation car Kansas City Southern Railroad.JPG|Postcard depiction, circa 1948, of the tavern-observation car. A radio allowed broadcasts and music to be heard throughout the train. File:Seaboard Silver Meteor observation car.JPG|Publicity photo of the
Silver Meteor’s round-end tavern-lounge-observation still bringing up the rear in the 1960s. ==See also==