Dinky Pivot Bridge Question

Does anyone know the date the pivot bridge was built over the D&R canal in the Princeton Basin (off of Alexander Road)? I would imagine it coincided with the building of the now NJT line from Princeton Junction to Princeton, since the canal was there first??

The Princeton Branch opened May 29, 1865, on which date passenger trains stopped running over the old line. The old line was removed between Trenton and Princeton in July; a portion in Trenton was kept to serve businesses. The part from Princeton north to Kingston was removed in September on the start of freight operations on the Princeton Branch; and the part north of Kingston (which was not next to the canal) was kept to serve the Rocky Hill Railroad.
I'm not sure if the bridge is from 1865 or if it's been replaced.

I don't have a picture, but I think I remember taking a canoe on the canal underneath and seeing a date. Sorry I have no clue what it was though!

The 1865 bridge over the canal was replaced in 1905, when the line was doubletracked.

(thus spaketh Pennsy Triumph, vol 5)

Lackawanna484 wrote:The 1865 bridge over the canal was replaced in 1905, when the line was doubletracked.

(thus spaketh Pennsy Triumph, vol 5)

Great book and resource. If you see it around, I HIGHLY suggest it.

Trainlawyer, which side of the canal are you recollecting
for the tracks you mentioned. The south/east or north/west? I think the original PRR was on the south/east,
and later the Reading built north from Trenton on the north/west
side of the canal. I'm not sure how far north the Reading got -- certainly
not as far as Princeton -- maybe to the 2nd (the southest/wester) crossing of the canal by Route 1.
JS

A while ago you mentioned a mile marker of the old Princeton
Branch on the princeton campus -- where dorms were built
in 1930's or so -- and the branch was cut back . Saw it last week!

This 1938 map and this 1956 map show the branch of the Bel-Del (northwest side of the canal) reaching Carnegie Road. The Reading, northwest of the Bel-Del branch, only got just past Whitehead Road.

I haven't found any maps showing the original grade (southeast side) going even to Whitehead Road after the new alignment opened. As for the northern section, I haven't seen anything south of Kingston (where the Rocky Hill Railroad continued along the east side to Rocky Hill).