West Windsor’s trolley line

PAUL LIGETI WEST WINDSOR CHRONICLES

The Historical Society of West Windsor—a 100% volunteer nonprofit that preserves and promotes local history— explores the history of the Trolley Line Trail—which, true to its name, was once an early-mid 1900s interstate trolley line!

Origins

You may very well recognize the Trolley Line Trail—the pedestrian walkway extending from Rabbit Hill Road, running through Community Park, passing through several suburban developments, and ultimately terminating at Village Road West. Or, if not, you might instead recognize the PSEG power lines spanning this very same route, and also stretching northeastward and southwestward into other towns.

But did you also know that the name “Trolley Line Trail” is no accident, and in fact memorializes an actual, early-1900s rail route that traversed this very path?

Let’s take a trip back in time, to the very early 1900s. Back then, West Windsor was an agricultural community of about 1,300 residents, with farmland stretching as far as the eye could see.

At the turn of the 20th century, the era of high speed electric railway was underway. A high speed line between Trenton and New Brunswick was planned by the Trenton and New Brunswick Railroad Company, which bought up land to form a right-of-way from Greenwood Avenue in Trenton to Milltown, just south of New Brunswick.

The Trenton and New Brunswick Railroad formally established regular “Fast Line” service on November 3, 1902. Cars departed once every two hours at first, although high demand necessitated that the frequency eventually increase to once every hour and, later, once every half hour. The trip between Trenton and New Brunswick took about an hour and fi fteen minutes at first, but was reduced over time.

The round trip fare between the two cities in 1902 was 80 cents; this lowered to 60 cents by 1906. One newspaper described the steam-heated electric trolley cars as being “45 feet long, with 50 electric lights and as handsomely upholstered as any coaches now in the trolley service.”

Expansion

Trans-state trolley service improved as further connections—part of a much larger and expanding statewide trolley network - were constructed, ultimately allowing passengers to travel between the Philadelphia and New York metropolitan areas (with transfers). For a reader today, this might not seem like much, but back then—especially before most families owned cars - this was significant. College students could travel to their classes more quickly. Relatives and friends could more easily visit one another. Freight could be