Around Town

First Class Club: ’The New Canaan Car’

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We all dream about traveling first class.  Big comfy seats, real food and free drinks.  This is the only way to fly. But did you know that there used to be a handful of private, first-class “club cars” on the New Haven Railroad’s commuter trains?  Among the most legendary was one that ran from New Canaan from 1908 to 1976, car # 5113. Fortunately, The New Canaan Museum & Historical Society has preserved all of the original paperwork for the private club known as “The New Canaan Car” (NCC).  And the story is fascinating. Pulled by train #331 in the morning, the private car left New Canaan at 7:43 am, arriving at Grand Central by 8:48.  The return run on train #332 left at 5:09 pm and was back in New Canaan by 6:15. Membership was not cheap. In 1966 initiation fees were $200 ($1900 in today’s money)  and the monthly surcharge was $100 on top of the price of the rail fare.  By 1974 the NCC was paying Penn Central $69,300 a year to haul its private car.

Around Town

Op-Ed: New Canaan Commuters Face Long Hot Summer of Woes

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[Jim Cameron is founder of The Commuter Action Group and writes a weekly commentary, “Talking Transportation,” for CTMirror.org. He wrote this piece for NewCanaanite.com.]
It’s going to be a rough summer for commuters from New Canaan (and Darien) as they cope with the repercussions of Metro-North’s coming shutdown of all trains on the New Canaan branch from May 30 to Sept. 1. Parking will be tight and travel times lengthened. TRACK WORK: The Connecticut Department of Transportation says it’s doing major track work on the branch, including replacement of 8,000 ties, 1,600 feet of rail and needed bridge work.