Nostalgia - Trenton's Transportation

Nostalgia - Trenton's Transportation

My vantage point was Hermitage Avenue, near the canal, between Edgewood and Bellevue Avenues.  Oftentimes stopped by the magnificent rhythmic sound of the engine and the pistons creating a boundless energy that was a magic to a boy.

The engine itself belched out black smoke as if it were breathing in a strenuous task, conquering some impossible impediment.

Then, the freight cars came, the box cars, the coal cars (then the oil cars, the refrigeration cars, the hazardous materials cars.  See below.

The game was to first count how many cars the strong muscled engine pulled. Then, the sub- game was how many box cars, coals cars, hazardous materials cars, etc.

Of course, although the breakthrough originally was in the 1880's, it took decade for refrigerated rail cars to become the norm, significantly refrigerated goods prolonged the live and sanitation of foods.

The line running through Trenton was the Belvidere line running from Trenton to Phillipsburg. The Belvidere Delaware Railroad traversed along the eastern shore of the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey north via Phillipsburg, New Jersey to Belvidere, New Jersey. It served as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) system, carrying  anthracite coal from northeastern Pennsylvania to population centers along the coast..

Passenger travel for the occasional trip to New York meant going on the Pennsylvania Railroad and it's then antiquated station. The passenger trains had open windows and generally uncomfortable but faster than driving.  For passenger trains. See below.

For local transportation, Trenton Transit provided the means. Indeed, all my days at Trenton High, I traveled the Trenton Transit bus.  When I went for a French horn lesson, Trenton Transit carried me to Hamilton Square where my teacher, Herb Pierson, who played in the Philadelphia Orchestra, picked me up.

The Trenton Transit Bus Depot was forgettable. Located on Perry Street that had seen better days, you took your life in your hands if you either got off or departed

Gil Sussman and Arthur Levie (a cousin) bought the Richmond Bus Company (now Starr Transit).  They garnered the interstate franchise from Trenton to Morrisville and Yardley, Pa., thus opening up the suburban living. Its station was on West Hanover Street, near the Elks Club on Warren Street. 

Transportation

As a kid, one of my pastimes was to watch to smoke rise from the locomotive and the pulleys rhythmically churning the pistons to perfect the engine on this magnificent specimen of technology.

I used to count the number of cars; the types of cars (coal, oil, box, refrigeration, caboose, etc) - some to while the time away. My perch was on Hermitage Avenue near the canal.

Watching the Belvidere Line, most of these trains carried freight as the box car below.

For fuel, some carried coal

Later on, oil tankers predominated

The highlight, of course, was the quaint outline of the caboose.

Sometimes, on my occasional trips to Philadelphia or New York, I took the passenger train at the Pennsylvania Rail Road Station on S. Clinton Avenue

Of course, the normal means of my transportation  other than walking, was to take the Trenton Transit (see Trenton Transit tokens).

As Trenton's population spread into  Morrisville and Yardely, PA, Gil Sussman and Arthur Levie (my cousin) bought the Richmond Bus Company (now Starr Bus Company); garnered the franchise to make the Trenton-Yardley run to open new vistas for suburban living. The bus station was right in downtown Trenton on West Hanover Street, near the Elks Club on Warren.