Looking for Princeton Branch Info

[EStreet]

Hi Everybody,
I'm new here, and in need of help. I'm a student at Princeton University studying creative non-fiction with John McPhee. I'm looking to write my last paper for the course on the history of the Princeton Branch, but I'm having trouble getting a hold of some resources. I've read that there is a June 1987 issue of Trains that features on article on this topic, but I'm unable to get my hands on a copy in time (the paper is due this Friday). If there is anyone on these boards who has a copy and would be willing to scan it, I would be eternally grateful. Also, I've read that Triumph V features a section on the Princeton Branch. Again, none of the libraries on campus have this book. Is there anyone here who might be able to help me out with that? If there are any other resources you might be able to recommend or point me towards, it would be a huge help. I've managed to get a number of photos out of the University archives, but there doesn't seem to be much on campus in terms of textual histories of the railroad and its relationship with the University. Thanks in advance for any help!

Best,
//Anthony

[BaltOhio]

Hmmm....looks like you're cutting it a bit thin and need to do a lot of research quickly. Unhappily, I don't have the Trains article any more, but can give you a little historical background:

-The original rail line between Trenton and New Brunswick was built by the Camden & Amboy RR and opened 1/1/1839. This line served as a direct connection between the Phila. & Trenton RR at Trenton and the NJ RR & Transp. Co. at New Brunswick, which continued the route to Jersey City. The original line followed the east bank of the Delaware & Raritan Canal between Trenton and a point west of Kingston, where it veered east to what was called Dean's, just east of Monmouth Jct., where it then followed the present NEC alignment to New Brunswick. There was a depot of some sort where Alexander St. crossed the canal and, until maybe 10-15 years ago there was a wood-frame railroad hotel that probably served also was the passenger station.

-During the Civil War (the exact years varied because the rerouting was done in stages) the present "straight line" NEC alignment was built between Trenton and Monmouth Jct., eliminating the old line except for its easternmost segment, which became part of the Kingston branch. (This branch was later extended to Rocky Hill and lasted at least into the 1970s, if not later.) It was at this time that the Princeton branch was built.

-Corporately, all three companies that made up the Philadelphia-Jersey City-New York rail route were part of the Pennyslvania R. R. (The story of the Camden & Amboy would fill a book by itself. Suffice it to say here that it was once the most politically powerful entity in New Jersey.)

-The Princeton terminal was cut back at least twice as the campus expanded. The original site was fairly near Nassau St., about opposite Witherspoon. It was then (c. 1904) cut back to a point just east of Blair Hall. Finally, in 1916, it was further cut back to the present station.

-In addition to the passenger stations, a yard was built in 1898 to serve special trains for football games and the like. This yard, just to the east of the present station, was expanded in 1919 and, later, another (and larger) yard was built to its east. All this area is now occupied by university buildings and there's no trace of the once-elaborate yard facilities, but the yards were there during McPhee's time as an undergraduate (he graduated in'53 -- my class), so he should remember them. I'm sure he should also remember picking up dates at the Princeton station. As I recall, there were also a few freight sidings east of the station.

-The branch was originally single-track, and was double-tracked in 1905 and included a new deck girder swing bridge over the canal that's still there. It's since reverted to single track.

-There was one intermediate station at Penn's Neck, at US Rt. 1.

-The Burgess & Kennedy "Centennial History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company" (PRR, 1949) will give you some basic facts and should be available at the university library. (George H. Burgess and Miles C. Kennedy, that is.)

-As an anecdotal aside, in PRR days the train crews on the "PJ&B" were the most senior on the division, as might be expected given the very cushy nature of the job. In the early '50s I remember talking to one engineer who was so old he literally drooled, who told me about his days running the "Broadway."

-Too bad your time is so short, since there should be a lot of excellent "McPhee" material in the stories of riders and crews. Not many other rail lines that had this kind of steady clientele. Did Woodrow Wilson and Albert Einstein ride it? I imagine so, although probably not as regularly as students heading to New York for a drunken weekend or girls from Smith, Vassar, etc. coming in for football and other party weekends. The glory days of all those football specials must have been something, especially during the Fitzgerald era. It was quite something for a little 3-mile branch line.

[EStreet]

Thanks so much for replying. We usually have about a week to write each paper, so there's unfortunately never much time for research when the piece requires it. However, the township's historical society was open this afternoon and they let me into their library, where I was able to find a copy of Trains as well as several other articles and documents. Thanks again for the information you posted--that along with what I got today should be enough for my paper.

best,
//Anthony

[JimBoylan]

Recalled from some forgotten history article: The 2nd track in double track days, probably the NorthEastern one, not next to the Princeton Jct. station platform, was the "Tiger Track", where the shuttle was banished when special trains were run through to the football games.
Early in ConRail days, about 1977, the engineer from the Extra Board who was covering for the regular man's absence, did not prize the job, because the pay was poor. There was no way he could get paid for running more than 100 miles on such a series of short trips. He could only get paid for the 8 hours he actually worked, the same money as if he had run 100 miles at high speed in a shorter time, and a lot less than if he had been paid for running many more miles on a high speed train in those same 8 hours!

[RussNelson]

And don't forget the two trolley lines to Trenton, one going south of town:
http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?prince ... y.nj.track
and the other north:
http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?prince ... y.nj.track

When last I was in Princeton, you could see the trolley tracks sticking through the pavement in front of the public library. Undoubtedly been repaved since then, and maybe the tracks removed. But all the reasons for leaving the tracks there still apply, so maybe you want to go out with a metal detector! You can usually rent them.

[BaltOhio]

Both trolley lines connected Trenton and Princeton. To the north (or rather west) was what became the Trenton-Princeton Traction Co., a genuine high-speed interurban line that operated mostly on private right-of-way and entered town on Witherspoon St. Interline freight was handled at least as far as Lawrenceville. The Reading later bought the TPT and after passenger service ended it cut the line back to Lawrenceville, bringing in coal for the Lawrenceville School power plant.

The southerly (or, more accurately, easterly) line was an extension of the Trenton city streetcar system and was a mixture of city street, side-of-the-road, and wander-through-the-woods operation. It eventually came out in Princeton on University Place and the track shows up in some of the old photos of the Princeton railroad station. It ran down the center of the street through Lawrenceville, with a passing siding in the center of town. When I went through there in the late 1940s, the track was still in.

I don't have my dates handy, but the streetcar route, always the weaker of the two, died about 1930 or so; the interurban lasted to about 1940, although it was kicked off Witherspoon St. before that and had to tie up at the beginning of its own r.o.w.

[RussNelson]

Why do you say "more accurately, easterly"? To my eye, one exits Princeton on the north side, and the other on the south. Both lines head in a south-westerly direction towards Trenton, and are within a block of each other in Lawrenceville.

You can still see bridge piers in the creek that often floods Quaker Bridge Road.

[BaltOhio]

By "easterly", I guess I meant the relationship of the two lines to Rt. 206, the main highway corridor between Trenton & Princeton (and the predecessor of US Rt. 1 through this area).

[RussNelson]

Then I guess both of our compass directions are accurate depending on your point of reference!