By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The trolley doesn’t stop here anymore — not in Lawrence and not in Princeton.
But it did for about 40 years, and there are still plenty of remnants of the trolley in both towns.
Lawrence Township Historian Dennis Waters will offer a four-hour guided tour Oct. 24 that traces the route — if not the exact tracks — of the “Old Line” and the “Johnson Line” trolley lines that each connected Trenton to Princeton.
The 25-mile round trip starts at 10 a.m., leaving from the Boys & Girls Club on Spruce Street in Lawrence Township. Seating is limited to 18 people. Tickets are $50, including transportation in a small private coach and lunch at Chambers Walk in Lawrence.
Between 1899 and 1940, the two trolley lines connected traversed Lawrence as they connected Trenton and Princeton, Mr. Waters said. The Trenton Street Railway Co. trolley, known as the “Old Line,” ran up Brunswick Avenue and turned onto Main Street/Route 206, continuing on to Fackler Road and Princeton Pike. It terminated on University Place in Princeton.
The Princeton Fast Line, also known as the Johnson Trolley Line, ran across private land in a more direct route, Mr. Waters said. The trolley entered Princeton and ran from the bottom of Witherspoon Street, near the Community Park School, up Witherspoon Street to its terminus or ending point opposite Spring Street.
The Johnson Trolley line cost 10 cents and took about 40 minutes to connect Trenton and Lawrence, while the “Old Line” could take up to an hour to complete the trip because it made more stops. A ticket on the “Old Line” cost 30 cents, Mr. Waters said.
The trolleys have not run since 1941, but there are many remnants of the trolley infrastructure in Princeton, Lawrence and Trenton, Mr. Waters said. Many of those remnants are still visible — bridges, rights-of-way, former stations and even poles.
In Princeton at the Johnson Park Elementary School on Rosedale Road, there are remains of the Johnson Trolley Line bridge over Stony Brook. The school is one of the stops on the trolley tour. The bicycle path behind the school exits at Elm Road, near the Elm Court senior citizen housing complex, is on the trolley right-of-way.
The quarry-stone building at 71 University Place in Princeton, around the corner from McCarter Theater, is the former Old Line station, Mr. Waters said. It, too, is one of the stops on the trolley tour.
Also in Princeton, behind the Princeton Friends School on Quaker Road, is the beginning of the hiking trail along the Old Line trolley track right-of-way. The trail continues behind the Princeton Battlefield Park and the Institute for Advanced Studies.
And on Witherspoon Street, opposite Quarry Street on the east (cemetery) side of the street, there is a pole that is left over from the Johnson Line, Mr. Waters said. It, too, is a stop on the tour.
In Lawrence, the tour will stop on Lawrence Road/Route 206 near Notre Dame High School so tour participants can see the abutments of the Old Line across the Shabakunk Creek.
On Fackler Road, at the Ewing Lawrence Sewage Authority pumping station, there are more remnants of the Old Line as it crosses the Shipetaukin Creek.
And on James Street in the historic village of Lawrenceville, tour participants can see the old Johnson Line station, Mr. Waters said.
To arrange for a ticket, contact Janet Bickal at bickalj@comcast.net or 609-896-0782.
