http://www.carneytrain.com Carney’s is a hot dog/hamburger establishment in West Hollywood CA…that is an actual “boxcar” (passenger car).

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SLICES/subway.gold/goldens.html Golden’s Deli is one of our favorite places on Staten Island….with a subway car used…for seating.

Is the “box car” you are talking about a real single width box car or is it one of the ones that have been added on to like the O’Rourke’s?

I’ve been on a couple of excursion trains and they are slightly wider than a school bus (a couple inches under 8 ft). The floor plan for a concession trailer kitchen would work in the case of what I would call a “real” box car (not one with add-on structures).  http://www.samshortline.com SAM Shortline has a narrow pass thru concession car (placed about in the middle of the train cars).  They sell ice cream, hot dogs, sandwiches, popcorn (we didn’t eat on the train, we ate at the Windsor in Americus).  

Here is a pic of the kitchen of O’Rourke’s in 2005.

http://www.pbase.com/panos/orourkes_diner http://www.pbase.com/panos/orourkes_diner

and now…

http://www.thesebells.com/dinersORourkes.html http://www.thesebells.com/dinersORourkes.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHUVJ_Z3_gU DD&D clip

According to this article, O’Rourke’s original diner in Middletown, CT, (before it burned) was a boxcar diner. “O’Rourke’s was far more than just a diner, even by east coast standards. A true boxcar, it sat about 30 feet above the train tracks it presumably rolled into town on in 1946 or so.”   http://mediaboy.livejournal.com/173161.html http://mediaboy.livejournal.com/173161.html
 
I am sure there are a number of people on Roadfood (including the Sterns) who had been there and could describe his kitchen arrangement and size for you.

http://www.ronsaari.com/stockImages/diners/bendixExt.php Bendix is the boxcar/streamline art deco  style diner.

http://www.theticktockdiner.com Tick Tock   as well.

There are plenty of examples of pics on the Bendix link.

http://www.azrymuseum.org/Projects/Dining_Car/Dining_Car.htm Dining Car Project of the Arizona Railway Museum  Good luck….

Only boxcar diner that I have seen up close is at the http://www.choochoo.com Chattanooga ChooChoo . I believe the restaurant’s main kitchen prepares everything and only final prep is done on board in an adjoining car.

http://images.google.com/images?q=Train%20diner&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi Train diner images on Google

What in the world is a box car diner?

I will send you that one so I do not have to hear any s^*t from anyone else! Not that I mind…but I go there at all hours.

Also on that same video list is
White Manna Hamburgers [/h1] and someone owes us a field report from the

White Manna![/h1] LOL

http://dinerman.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/jerry-omahony-dining-cars Jerry O’Mahony was a native of…Bayonne NJ. [:o)]

There is plenty of interest on Diner history topics etc. but many Diner enthusiasts usually focus on the interior (not including BOH) and exterior.

You can research http://www.nps.gov/nr National Register of Historic Places for some detailed  nuts & bolts history on builds restoration/modification etc.

Here is an example….

http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/weekly_features/CentralDiner.pdf http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/weekly_features/CentralDiner.pdf

O’Rourkes was through Mountain View Diner Company. Most of the building/designing  companies went out of business when other types of restaurants starting hitting the scene in the 50s. Sad. Treasures with  charm and character.

http://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/sectione.pdf http://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/sectione.pdf

CC is right and you don’t see the cook BSing with the customers do you. He is far to busy.
Neat video