PRINCETON, N.J. — PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J. — A cloudy late January morning sees NJ Transit electric multiple unit Arrow III cars Nos. 1311 and 1329 doing yeoman service on the Princeton Junction to Princeton “Dinky.” This 2.7-mile line offers over 40 round trips a day, connecting with NJT Northeast Corridor trains at Princeton Junction; it is part of the 12 lines and 164 stations that constitute NJ Transit rail operations. NJ Transit started in 1983, having railroad company lineage back to 1834. With its 86 million passengers last year, it ranked number two for passengers carried behind NY MTA’s LIRR. There are 227 locomotives, both electric and diesel, and 1,162 passenger cars, powered and non-powered that comprise 704 weekday trains which travel over 500 route miles under 264 miles of catenary.
Here, carded Princeton Shuttle No. 4127 starts its 5-minute uphill trip by deftly making its way through the large station parking lot and its grade crossing. No one aboard is thinking about the fact that this commuter run is the shortest passenger branch in the United States, as they head towards the famed university town.
The horn is sort of “dinky”, too.
Road it several times while I was working on the commiunications system over at the Wall street Journal headquarters in NJ.
The loss of the “classic stone station” to the Princeton campus was an act of transit vandalism.
What a fine sight when the PRR and its successor, CR, used vintage MP54s. The classic stone station at Princeton was stately, too. At least NJT hasn’t substituted buses… as of yet.
rode this when son in law at Princeton. Kinda fun but does not now go all the way into Princeton U.