Bluefield & Princeton Trollies

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Gordon: Most interesting trolley story, great picture of trolley. I looked
for the motorman. Cal Reynolds
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "N&amp;W Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 11:40 PM
Subject: Re: Bluefield & Princeton Trollies


> Bob,
>
> Since the trolley system that you asked about connected the N&W station in
> Bluefield with the Virginian station in Princeton, it should be
appropriate
> to discuss it here.  Most of this information came from Bluefield and
> Princeton newspapers.
>
> The Princeton Power Co. was formed in 1908 by Samuel J. Evans to provide
> electric power, coal, ice, and street railway service in Princeton, then
> with a population of 1,500.  The trolley service began operation between
the
> Mercer County courthouse and the Virginian Railway passenger station , a
> little over a mile away, in 1909, the year the Virginian Railway was
> completed.  There was a passing siding midway along the trolley line, and
> two cars provided a seven-minute headway.  Attachement No. 1 shows a rare
> Princeton Power Co. token.
>
> About the same time, the Appalachian Power Company's Bluefield Street
> Railway operated the Bluefield trolley service, which consisted
principally
> of one long "J-shaped" line of some 10.5 miles starting at the Fairgrounds
> near the present- day municipal stadium, continuing east mainly on College
> Avenue, then north mainly on Bland Street, then west a long ways on
> Bluefield Avenue to West Graham, VA (Graham is now Bluefield, VA), passing
> the N&W's station there on the way.
>
> On July 1, 1916, the Princeton Power Company began operation of an
> interurban trolley line of some 13 miles that linked the Mercer County
> courthouse (and connected there with the affiliated Princeton trolley
line)
> and the N&W station in Bluefield (where it connected with the Bluefield
> Street Railway).  This was essentially a side-of-the-road trolley line
> except for two stretches of about a mile each where the trolley line took
> its own course away from the road.  Only nineteen families lived along the
> line when it first opened!
>
> In 1920 the Princeton Power Company purchased the Bluefield Street
> Railway from the Appalachian Power Company, and sold its Princeton power
> plant to the Appalachian to help pay for the Bluefield trolley system.  In
> 1928 the name of the whole trolley operation was changed to the Tri City
> Traction Company.
>
> The Bluefield city trolleys were replaced with buses in 1937 and the
> Princeton city trolleys were likewise replaced on September 17, 1940, but
> the interurban continued on until replaced with buses on April 7, 1947.
> Three interurban cars were needed to maintain a 30 minute
> headway until then, but today some portions of that route have no public
> transit service at all.
>
> I grew up along the interurban line at a time when our family did not own
an
> automobile (imagine that today), so anytime that I went to either
Princeton
> (including to school) or to Bluefield, I rode the Tri City Traction
> Company's Cincinnati Curved Side Lightweight interurban cars.
>
> Attachment No. 2 shows TCTC No. 120 on the last revenue trip into
Princeton.
> The man posing by the door is 84 -year-old Samuel J. Evans, TCTC
president.
> After everyone had left, motorman Aubrey Dangerfield gave me a ride home
as
> he took the car to the barns at Glenwood Park for the last time.  So, I
can
> say with certainty that I was the last member of the public to ride a TCTC
> trolley!
>
>
> Gordon Hamilton
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> To: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2004 11:12 PM
> Subject: Bluefield & Princeton Trollies
>
>
> > Were there two separate trolly companies for Bluefield and Princeton
since
> > the line connected both cities?
> >
> > Bob Riffe
> >
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> > http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
>


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