Lawyers Travel in Style in Nation’s Last Private Rail Car

Lawyers and other professionals willing to pay a $900 membership are packing the nation’s last private rail car.

Car 553, as it is known, is a successor to the original purchased 80 years ago by commuters in Chicago’s elite northern suburb of Lake Forest, the Chicago Tribune reports. Riders get access to the car on the Metra rail line by paying the membership fee and the cost of a monthly pass.

Richard "Buzz" Norton, an antiques dealer who has commuted in the private car since 1971, said the 70 or so professionals who currently use Car 553 include a large share of lawyers.

The car originally had a barber chair, a shower and a steward’s room. The bridge tables remain following rehabs in the 1970s and 1990s, but today they are used mostly to hold laptops and briefcases, according to the story.

Among the riders is lawyer Tom Mullen. "People look in from the outside and think, 'Oh, it's so nice in there,' " Mullen told the Tribune. "But they're surprised it's so old. To me it's like going into your grandmother's parlor."