alcohol in coach

[ehbowen]

When prohibition was repealed one of the trade offs to get it repealed was to vastly limit the application of the interstate commerce clause to a state's regulation of alcohol. I wonder if this is why Amtrak follows state law? The railroad operated passenger services followed local law regarding alcohol.

Yes, and my understanding is that in the old days many a county sheriff would put a plain-clothes deputy aboard the train in hopes that he could catch the lounge car attendant selling liquor in a dry county and write him up....

 

[The Davy Crockett]

I remember more than once on the Montrealer in the '70s and '80s, around this time of year in fact, the LSA in Le Pub would thoughtfully bring a case of beer, which he would generously sell to the captive audience aboard, at a high, but still cheaper than Amtrak, price, when he closed for the night. h34r:

 

[alanh]

The 21st Amendment says

The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

This has been taken to mean that the states have pretty much unlimited power to regulate alcohol. So if a state has a law saying Amtrak can't serve liquor, then Amtrak has to obey it.

It's also why states have goofy state-owned ABC stores or politicially-connected distribution cartels. Because of the states' freedom on liquor regulation, they don't have to follow Federal monopoly laws either. Here in Arizona, John McCain's wife gets a cut whenever anyone buys a Budweiser.

 

[user 1215]

I may have told this story here before; heck, it might even be in this 6-year-old thread. My step-daughter's grandfather told me stories of when he would be on a train around the WWII days and as they would pass from county to county the conductor would take away a beer as they entered a dry county and they would bring a new fresh beer when they passed back into a wet county.

 

[Ryan]

My grandfather has told similar stories. Glad to see that level of ridiculousness has at least passed by.

 

[Nathanael]

We still have county-by-county, township-by-township, and city by city alcohol laws But there are a lot fewer dry counties than there used to be.

https://en.wikipedia...s_by_U.S._state

The reduced number of dry counties, plus the shrinkage of the Amtrak network, means that it doesn't pass through very many dry counties any more. Even some of the apparent dry counties aren't dry for Amtrak purposes; Kentucky, for instance, has a special liquor license applying only to railroad dining cars.

It still must be a huge paperwork hassle for Amtrak, though. For instance, in Pennsylvania, you can sell beer & wine, but not hard liquor. In NY, each town is allowed to set a range of *hours* during which alcohol cannot be sold (though this is usually in the wee hours when the cafe car may be closed anyway). Then there are the places which ban sale of alcohol on Sunday. Kentucky only allows alcohol sales *while the train is in motion*. (I wonder what the dining car and cafe car attendants do about that.)

This was really entertaining to read about actually (and I'm a teetotaler, so it's of purely academic interest). At least the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that states couldn't prohibit people carrying alcohol *through* dry counties, so that eliminates one potential issue.

https://en.wikipedia...wiki/Dry_county