“Trains,
like time and tide, stop for no one.”
~ Jules Verne
~ 1828-1905
A
mid-April sunset reflects in the windows of The Blue Comet train car at Clinton
Station Diner, Clinton, New Jersey. The windows face Interstate 78.
I
shot this image when stopping for supper at the diner on the way home to
Pennsylvania after a wonderful spring day trip to New York City. The meal was
delicious and served in the cool, unique and historic train car.
Seating
at the diner, which opened in February 2004, is offered in the authentic 1927
Blue Comet Train Car. The Blue Comet was one of the most luxurious and
legendary trains in New Jersey history. It crashed August 19, 1939 in the then
village of Chatsworth in the middle of the Pine Barrens.
The Blue Comet, called “The Seashore’s Finest Train,” was a passenger train
operated by Central Railroad of New Jersey from 1929-1941 between New York and
Atlantic City.
For more information on The Blue Comet and its history, visit the diner’s
website, https://www.clintonstationdiner.com/train-car.
The site includes a video of the train car being delivered to the diner many
years ago.
Clinton is a town in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, located on the South
Branch of the Raritan River.
The town is perhaps best known for its two mills which sit on opposite banks
of the South Branch Raritan River. The Red Mill, with its historic village,
dates back to 1810 with the development of a mill for wool processing. Across
the river sits the Stone Mill, home of the Hunterdon Art Museum for Contemporary
Craft and Design, located in a former gristmill that had been reconstructed in
1836 and operated continuously until 1936. In 1952, a group of local residents
conceived of a plan to convert the historic building into an art museum, which
is still in operation today.
