As I expect you’re aware, there are two quite different sorts of diners. First, there are the dining cars on intercity railroads that once served first-class meals and now struggle along on Amtrak. Then there are the very informal lunch-counter sorts of places that cropped up in cities and along highways in what appeared to be railroad cars.

Many of those diners were purpose-built to imitate genuine rail cars, but the earliest actually were retired railway passenger cars, converted for a new purpose. Being less bulky than steam railroad cars and probably more readily available, former interurban cars were especially popular for this use. Once common, they now are becoming very rare, more’s the pity.

The picture, Columbus Metropolitan Library, shows former Ohio Electric Railway passenger car #51.