The Worcester Lunch Car Company was
one of the most enduring of the New England Diner
Manufactures. Founded in the 1920, and building Diners or
"Lunch Cars" until the 1960's. There first Car was Number 201
and their final was #850. The process of starting at
number 201 seems to be an attempt to give the
company the illusion of having built 200 previous Lunch
Cars. In the Shipyard Industry in America is not uncommon to
number the First Hull #100 or higher to give the same
effect.
The Photo on the right shows the
Factory Building as it stands in Worcester, MA Circa 2006. The
Office area is currently a Tattoo Studio. Across the street is
the Miss Worcester Diner, which is a classic unit built by the
WLCC in the 19x. For excellent History of the company, I
recommend Worcester Lunch Car Company by XXXXXXXX. The
books contains many photos from the authors private
collection and an excellent read on the History of
Diners.
When the first Diners were made
they were actually called Lunch Wagon. These units were
still set on wheels and were designed to be horse drawn to the
work site. The first unit was only 8 feet by 16 feet, built of
wood and richly decorated inside and out. These were some of
the last of the Lunch Cars as the industry was about to go a
change to static locations. As the units became permanent,
they the soon took on larger and larger dimensions. These
units came in a few basic models from 10 feet by 22 feet to 14
feet by 40 feet. These units were mostly constructed of wood
and had two distinct styles appearance. The first style
was the Barrel Roof, which was a simple rounded roof.
The second was the Monitor Roof and consisted of a
complex partially rounded roof, with the center section
raised to allow for small monitor windows along its length.
These windows allowed for more natural light to enter the
diner and could be opened to allow for extra
ventilation.
Worcesters Diners were mostly
painted on the exterior and the names of the diner was painted
along the main body of the diner below its row of
windows. Old English lettering quickly became the
style of choice, and the word "Miss" along with the
diners location, was a popular naming convention.
The interiors of the diners started
with a kitchen on one end with a counter separating it
from the rest of the compartment. This kitchen took around a
third of the space. The rest of the space was devoted to the
customer, generally small counters (shelves really)
were fitted below the windows so the patron could stand
or later sit and eat his or her meal. The Upper half of the
customer area was generally in stained oak, with lots of wood
working detail. dimension.
The First units built by the
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