The McTrain: The Rise and Fall of McDonald's Ambitious Plan to Conquer the Railroads

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The McTrain: The Rise and Fall of McDonald's Ambitious Plan to Conquer the Railroads - The Drive

Regardless of where you spot the McDonald's Golden Arches, they always stand for the same thing: A cheap place to get a quick, sometimes-tasty meal made with processed meat, canola oil, and corn syrup. These ingredients commonly take the form of the Big Mac, but also make up various regional offerings, such as McShrimp in Russia, or taro pie in China. The establishments themselves also sometimes deviate from the expected norm, taking the forms of kitschy faux-Bavarian inns, barber shops, and for a brief period in Germany during the 1990s, a train car. Not some decommissioned railcar turned into a diner, but an actual dining car that served on a long-distance passenger route. But as Mickey D's found out the hard way, running a stationary restaurant is one thing, and operating one that crosses a country daily is something completely different.

The "McTrain," as it is unofficially known, reportedly got its start in 1992, when the Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railway) agreed to try outsourcing catering on long-distance routes to McDonald's. The DB allowed McDonald's to refit two of its dining cars for the program, installing deep fryers, coffee machines, soda fountains, water heaters, and multiple walk-ins in a 269 square-foot kitchen—still reportedly more than half the car. After an apparent test period in Switzerland (though there is evidence of a parallel program in that country), the DB allowed the McTrain into service in Winter 1993, assigning it to the country-spanning Hamburg-Berchtesgarden line.
 
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