Jersey Central club cars?

Having grown up in Peapack-Gladstone, NJ, the club car I'm familiar with was the Lackawanna RR club car on the Gladstone Branch, which ran from Hoboken. Built in 1912, it was a select "members only" car for millionaires working in NYC. I believe it ran until around 1960. 

Monmouth was originally 1179, then it became Biela when it ran on The Blue Comet. It was retired around 1973, and is now part of a restaurant in Clinton, NJ.

1178 was the other observation car from The Blue Comet, and it was named De Vico. It simply reverted to it's old number and didn't have a name. It was the last piece of the set to be retired, serving as a NJT inspection car into the 1990's. It was retained for preservation, it's somewhere in Jersey, but not sure where.

Not sure about what happened to the rest of these, but here are the names and numbers of some of the rest:

1171 was Holmes on TBC, then became Seashore. Always a coach.

1172 was Westphal on TBC, then became Tamaques. Coach, may be at Winslow Junction.

1173 was D'Arrest on TBC, became Beachcomber. Coach.

1174 was Faye on TBC, became Echo Lake. Coach.

1175 was Spitaler on TBC, became Wekearny. Coach.

1177 was Brorsen on TBC, became The Suburban. Coach.

Another club coach was named Red Bank. This name may have appeared on two separate cars.

Monmouth and 1178 frequently were coupled to each end of the same train so that only the locomotive had to change ends. After Monmouth went oos, 1178 alternated between the main line and the NYLB.

After the CNJ replaced the Central Railroad of New Jersey on their coach signboard with Jersey Central Lines around 1944, the club cars only had names painted in the center of the body, under the windows, while the regular coaches had their number painted in the same place. 

Earlier, the coaches had their numbers at each end of the body, under the windows, but this probably pre-dates the club car era.

Many thanks Trainman2, for sharing this information!   

S. Islander  

I'm not certain but I think DeVico, Westphal and D’Arrest. Are owned by the United Railroad Historical society of NJ

S. Islander posted:

Many thanks Trainman2, for sharing this information!   

S. Islander  

  

 

 

Glad to help. Also, I believe DOHERTYNJ is correct about the 1178 and the two coaches.

Hope I'm not too late to the party. Just picked up 7 cars that I'm repainting for the CNJ, and was doing a bit of research to figure out what to number/name them as.

Came across the (looks like) "Netherwood" (1111), listed as a club car, pre "Jersey Central Lines". Obviously not one of the BC observation cars (which all had inset ends for larger platforms). Looks like a steel sheathed wooden car by the trussrods.

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/cnj_club1.jpg

Also the above mentioned later era "jersey shore", which, while a club car, retained both vestibules.

http://www.northeast.railfan.n...nj_jersey_shore0.jpg

"westfield" (former 1196), stayed a coach

http://www.northeast.railfan.n...s/cnj_westfield0.jpg

There's also the "jersey coast" (currently at Whippany), which started out as coach 1201, and was converted for club service in 1947. Apparently lost one vestibule for an observation deck later

http://rr-fallenflags.org/cnj/cnj-co00akg.jpg

Other potential club car names: Wilkesbarre, Audenried, Penobscot, Lansdale, Wildwood, Scranton, Lehighton, Surfside, Point Pleasant, Lehigh, Howard, Evona, Raritan.

Suggesting this because they show up on CNJ decals that were commissioned by the late Tom Bavolar of "Tom's Model Trains", and I assume he did some research. These were from the pre-"Jersey Central Lines" era, and also included Tamaqua, Plainfield, Jersey Shore, which were definitely club cars.

Later names, base on the "Jersey Central Lines" era decals are: windowaskin, queen city, baltusrol, bay head.

beachcomber, monmouth, wekearny, the suburban, seashore, echo lake, jersey shore, plainfield, jersey coast,  westfield, red bank are all names on that sheet that correspond to verified club cars.

I believe there was also a "monmouth II", which may have been another one of the Blue Comet observation cars. Just came across a reference saying "monmouth II" was 1178, DeVico.

@Trainman2 posted:

After the CNJ replaced the Central Railroad of New Jersey on their coach signboard with Jersey Central Lines around 1944, the club cars only had names painted in the center of the body, under the windows, while the regular coaches had their number painted in the same place.

Earlier, the coaches had their numbers at each end of the body, under the windows, but this probably pre-dates the club car era.

The club car era goes back at least as far as 1894, when the first "Netherwood" (originally named the "Howard", after the first president of the Plainfield Commuter Club) was assigned to the service. Service was suspended during USRA administration in WW I, but resumed afterwards. The original "Netherwood" burned, but was replaced by a car of the same name either in 1918 or 1919. It was joined by the "Plainfield" and the "Evona".

Good info.  Thanks for sharing and documenting this all in one place.  I have some of this information scattered among my various resources, but having it all here is really helpful. 

I now know that my Athearn / Bev Bel HO CNJ cars are mostly club cars.  I guess lots of commuters wanted to be club members during my HO years.

It's still a work in progress. After reading some of Tom's writings about his modeling, it seems some of the names may have been for "fantasy" cars that didn't exist (I know of at least 3 sets of decals he made with different "club car" names), so if there isn't a picture of it, or it wasn't one of the club cars created from the old BC cars, take it with a grain of salt. The info I got about the Plainfield Commuter Club comes from old newspaper articles that someone posted for me on facebook. If only people had smartphones back in the day and could have taken more photos!