Downtown Plattsburgh, New York lost a bit of its history this week-- at least for a while-- when a converted railway car that served as a diner for decades closed its doors.

Customers say they will long-remember the place because of the good times and food they had there.

The diner on Clinton Street opened in 1928, just before the devastating Wall Street crash. It survived the depression that followed by becoming a meeting spot for Plattsburgh residents and merchants.

For the past decade, Chris Duquette has been serving heaping plates of food to customers with a friendly atmosphere thrown in.

"I have a lot of people come in here I don't know. They surface again and again. It's kinda like a home atmosphere. I have business people to common people here," says Duquette, who ran Duke's.

Duquette likes sports and that is reflected here. During school holidays many of the university teams stay in town to train. Although school kitchens are closed, Duke's provide meals for the athletes.

Everyone finds lots of reasons to settle into a booth here.

"You get to meet a lot of friends and talk about politics and things happening and what's going on in sports... It's just a fun time," says Keith Defayette, a long-time Duke's customer.

"I think it's the old time music he plays and the home-made cooking and the large portions. Everyone likes to come here. It's like when grandma used to cook," says Duke's waitress Sharon Willette.

But after ten years in this diner, Duquette is ready to move on to a bigger place. He doesn't know if anyone else will reopen the downtown landmark.

"I think it's going to be tough to see someone else coming in here. They are going to have to be here every day. It will be hard to fill it for another ten years and just the economics of downtown... Not a lot to offer right now," explains Duquette.

Duquette left Duke's on Wednesday night for the last time. He's moving to a bigger place on the Tom Miller Road. He said he expects to see a lot of his former customers there.

Everyone said that they were sad to see the downtown eating place close. Old customers are wondering if someone will reopen the the restaurant or will it go the way other rail road lunch carts have?

Originally published online here: http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=8085373&nav=4QcS