The New Jersey Trolley Era
Bibliography, References, and Resources

This work has no copyright. Edited by William J. (Capt. Bill) McKelvey as of 4 January 2020.

Produced in conjunction with the NJ Trolley Era exhibit (to be a part of the exhibit).


Books, Bulletins, Periodicals, Etc.

All aboard the business train: Piscataway shop serves locomotive needs, by Susan Loyer in Courier News, March 5, 2018 (all about Kinkisharyo where NJ trolley cars are stored)````

All-Service Vehicle, by Ralph Leighton in ROLLSIGN, Vol. 9, No. 5, May 1972

All We Want For Christmas is a Trolley Car (originally built by Stephenson in Elizabeth, NJ in 1906), in NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 4, No. 5, December 1995

An American Original: The PCC Car, by Seymour Kashin and Harre Demoro

Atlantic City and Shore in color, by David Cope, in Traction & Models, November 1976

Atlantic City and Shore Line, in Traction Heritage, Vol. 6, No. 6, November, 1973

Atlantic City’s Trolleys Abandoned 40 Years Ago, by Frank Miklos, in Destinations, No. 20, December 1995

The Atlantic Coast Electric Railway Company, The Marker, Vol. 2, No. 2, April, 1943

Atlantic City Transportation Co., by Mervin Borgnis, Trolley Talk, No. 82, December 1970

The Atlantic City Trolley Lines (7 companies listed), by William P. Hamilton III and Edward T. Francis in The Marker, Vol. 10, No. 1, February 1951 (Reprinted for the last day of operation, 12-28-1955)

August 7, 1994 Marked the 45th Anniversary of (Hoboken) “EL” Closure, Destinations No. 18, Vol. 9, No. 2, October 1994

Back on Track for 1913 Trolley (Five Mile Beach Electric Railway No. 20), by Taylor Henry in Cape May County Herald, January 23, 2019

The Bergen County Trolley Lines, by James W. Whittaker, in Headlights, Vol. 30, No. 2, February 1968

The J. G. Brill Co. New Jersey Connection, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 16, No. 6, December 2007

Build a Brilliner, (Scratchbuilding in Brass, An O Scale Brilliner – Atlantic City), by Larry Kline, in Traction & Models, Run No. 172, February, 1980

The Burlington and Mount Holly Trolley Lines: Burlington and Mount Holly Traction RR Co.; Burlington County Transit Co., by Edward T. Francis, The Marker, Vol. 9, No. 1, February 1950

Bus Operations of Public Service Railway, by Albert Warner, Electric Railway Journal, October 20, 1925

By Rail to the Boardwalk, by Richard M. Gladulich

Camden & Amboy/Southern New Jersey Light Rail Transit System Tour Guide, Prepared jointly by the West Jersey Chapter, N.R.H.S., Incorporated and the Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society

Camdenites test shiny New Trackless Trolleys (PSCT All-Service Vehicles): Fire breaks out in new vehicle on its first run – Camden Courier-Post September 3, 1935

The Camden Trolley Lines: Public Service Southern Division, by Edward T. Francis, The Marker, No. 24, January 1952

Camden Trolleys & Red Electrics to the Jersey Shore, in Headlights, Vol. 34, No. 7-8, July-August 1972

The Campaign to Save the Lisbon / Carris / Stephenson Trolley, NJ Transport Heritage, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 6, No. 3, June 1997

Celebrating 75 years of loyal service to New Jersey (A look at New Jersey’s Mass Transit History - Transport of New Jersey), Advertising Supplement to The Star Ledger, December 26, 1978

Chronology of Events in Connection With the “All-Service Vehicle” (unpublished – in McKelvey archive)

The City Subway: Newark’s Best Kept Secret, Traction Extra #1, by Joseph Saitta (1985)

The Clang’s All Here, by William Gordon, in The Star Ledger, August 13, 1992

Climbing the Palisades: P.S.N.J. Electric Rail Lines Once Climbed Famous Cliffs in 13 Places, in Headlights, Vol. 10, No. 8, August 1948 (The ERA was at the time headquartered in Lackawanna Terminal, Hoboken, NJ)

Conquest of the Palisades: A Triumph of Victorian Traction Technology, by Al Mankoff, in ElectricLines, March-April 1992

Co-ordination of Other Forms of Transportation With The Electric Railway, by Paul Shoup, in Electric Railway Journal, October 11, 1924

Cumberland County Trolleys, by Shirley R. Bailey & Don Wentzel

A Description of the All-Service Vehicle, by Martin Schreiber, General Manager in Charge of Plant, Public Service Coordinated Transport, Newark, NJ, Presented at a Meeting of the Bus Division, American Transit Association at Atlantic City, NJ, September 24, 1935

Destinations, Bulletin published by the North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society – various issues have many trolley articles

Development of the All-Service Vehicle, by Martin Schreiber in Electrical Engineering, March 1936 (includes coverage of the “PS new street railway car”)

Discover the New Newark City Subway, brochure published by NJ Transit

Edison Storage Battery Cars, by Edward T. Francis, in Destinations No. 13, Vol. 7, No. 1, May, 1992

The Electric Interurban Railways in America, George W. Hilton and John F. Due

Electric Interurbans and the American People, H. Roger Grant

The Energy People: A History of PSE&G, James C. G. Coniff and Richard Coniff

Family Restores Trolley into New Home, and “TERMINAL”, in NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 14, No. 5, October 2005

Fares Please! A Popular History of Trolleys, Horse Cars, Street-Cars, Buses, Elevateds and Subways, by John Anderson Miller

Fast Line Album – Pictorial History of the Public Service Railroad, The Marker, No. 25, November 1952

Fast Line Rail Recovered From Farrington Lake; Milltown Rail Discovery; “Fast Line Trolley Stock and Bond Certificates” and Tempest in a Trolley, Destinations No. 17, Vol. No. 1, June 1994

Federal Storage Battery Car Co., Silver Lake (Belleville), NJ – Have street cars equipped with the new Edison battery proved a success, and where?  LeRoy Scott, for FSBCC: “We are the exclusive users of the Edison battery in street and railroad cars.  Our cars are now serving over 100 communities or cities, operated by over 30 railroad companies, both steam and electric.  The Edison battery is guaranteed to maintain its original rated capacity for four years.  These cars are operated successfully, among other places, at Rock Hill, SC; Billings, MT; Patchogue, LI, NY; New York City; Brooklyn; Portland, OR; Fairbanks, Alaska; Concord and Hendersonville, NC; Washington, DC; Wilmington, DE; and on branch lines of the Chesapeake & Ohio and Long Island steam roads and other electrical and steam railroads in this country and abroad.” – National Electric Light Assn. Bulletin, Vol. VI, No. 1, September 1912

A Fiftieth Trolley Milestone, (covers the opening of the Newark City Subway, the end of the Union Line, the end of the Clementon  Line, and the beginning of the North Jersey Chapter, NRHS) by John Brinckmann, Crew Caller, September 1985

Fighting the Jitneys: The Origins of Public Service Co-Ordinated Transport: 1907-1928, by Charles D. Wrege, PhD, Cornell University, and Guy Sorbo, The Institute of American Historic Technology, presented at the Eighteenth Annual Friends of the New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center Symposium, Drew University, Madison, NJ, Saturday, April 5th, 2008, S. David Phraner, Moderator; Bill McKelvey, Coordinator.  Note: Copies of this research paper have been placed in Newark Public Library, New Jersey Historical Society, New Jersey State Library and Rutgers Alexander Library.

First All-Service Bus Delivered to Transport, Public Service News, May 1, 1935

“Friends” Rescues Historic Railroad (& Trolley) Crossing, in Destinations No. 13, Vol. 7, No. 1, May, 1992

From Bargeway to Trolleyway, The Newark City Subway, by Edward Hamm, Jr. in Trolley Talk, No. 168, April 1985

Garden State Trolley Pictures, With a NY State Supplement, by Stephen D. Maguire

Henry v. Public Service Coordinated Transport – 3 NJ Super. 140 (1949) – Involves a passenger who slid and fell on the wooden strips on the floor of a trolley car due to “an unusual jerk” when the trolley was started.  It was decided that the “jerk” was incidental to the proper operation of the car.

The “Hoodoo Trolley Car and Other Streetcar Tales (1887-1940s), by Anthony J. Bianculli, Chapter 20 in Iron Rails in the Garden State: Tales of New Jersey Railroading.

Hudson-Bergen Extension Opens, and Stephenson / Lisbon Trolley Now 100 Years Old!, in NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 15, No. 2, April 2006

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: New Jersey’s New Interurban Electric Railway, Alfred E. Fazio, PE

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: System Configuration & System Operations; Owned by NJ Transit, Operated by @1st Century Rail, a subsidiary of Washington Group International

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Opens; Secaucus Carbarn Demolished; and NCS Connected With Bloomfield, in NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 9, No. 3, June, 2000

Hudson County Trolley Lines, by Mike Schreiber, in Branford Electric Railway Journal, Vol. XXVI, March – April 1980

Hudson River Line, Destinations, No. 26, Vol. 13-2, October 1998

The Hudson River Line: A History of the Bergen and Passaic Divisions of the Public Service Railway, John Harrington Riley

The Hudson River Line, by Howard E. Johnston, The Marker, Vol. 1, No. 3, July 1942

The Hudson River Trolley Line, Bergen Record, August 18, 2013

Hunt v. W. Jersey Traction Co., Court of Chancery of NJ, May 24, 1901 – Centered on the trolley companies (WJTC and Camden & Suburban Railway Company) laying track and setting trolley poles on the Haddonfield & Camden Turnpike Company right of way, keeping the turnpike in an un-toll-able condition.

Ignore the Past and Suffer the Consequences: Decision Making in the 1920’s; The Operation of Street Railway Trailers (a working paper), by Dr. Charles D. Wrege, Cornell University, Prepared for Presentation at the 2006 Symposium for of the NJ Transportation Heritage Center at Drew University, April 1, 2006

The Insull Influence in New Jersey, by William Vigrass in Traction & Models, No. 189, July, 1981

The Interim Report of the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Museum Study Commission, Vol. 1, February 18, 1988, Senator S. Thomas Gagliano, Chairman; John D. Wilkins, Editor

The Interurban Era, William D. Middleton

Interurban Interlude: A History of the North Jersey Rapid Transit Co., by Cdr. E. J. Quinby

Jersey Central Traction, Joseph Eid

The Jersey Central Traction Co. by Howard E. Johnston, The Marker, Vol. 2, No. 3, July 1943

“Jersey Strike Eased By Jitneys”, New York Times, March 12, 1919

Jersey’s Last Interurban (Atlantic City – Ocean City) in Trolley Talk, No. 80, August 1970 and No. 81, October 1970

Jobstown (NJ) Jungle, by George White, in Traction & Models, No. 190, August 1981

Journal Square Transit Memories, by Robert A. McNamara, and Trolley Rail Saved, in NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 15, No. 1, February 2006

The Last Mile: A streetcar named nostalgia: Transit buff (John Brinckmann) remembers final ride on Public Service’s Bound Brook-to-Newark trolley service, by William Gordon, in The Star-Ledger, February 28, 1989

Lehigh Valley Transit Company’s Liberty Bell Route: A Photographic History With Chronology, Historical Recollections, And Bibliography, by William J. McKelvey is NOT about a NJ Trolley Route, but is included in this compilation for the following reasons: 1. It was begun by Albert R. Johnson, who envisioned a triangular system between: Philadelphia and Allentown; Allentown and NYC; and NYC and Philadelphia. 2. One segment, which became known as the Trenton – Princeton Fast Line in NJ was acquired by Johnson interests.  3. A fleet of street cars was ordered for the Johnson lines from the St. Louis Car Co. and three were acquired by the Trenton-Princeton Line.  4. Albert Johnson prematurely died and the expansion of his system beyond the Allentown to Philadelphia route in Pennsylvania (which became known as the Liberty Bell Route), died with him.  5. Both the LVT Liberty Bell Route and the Public Service Fast Line in NJ were interurban routes with many similarities.  6. The former Liberty Bell Route and the PS Fast Line routes are both survived by utility company high tension lines on their former rights of way.  7. The editor and author chose to include his Liberty Bell Route book.

Liberty State Park Circulator Cost – Benefit Analysis, a $300,000 study by Sam Schwartz Engineering was completed in 2013, confirming the viability of the LHRy proposal for an Historic Trolley Shuttle between the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail station and the Central Railroad of NJ Jersey City Terminal, one mile distant on the Hudson River.

Making Things Work, PSEG’s First Century, Public Service

The Marker, bulletin published by the North Jersey Chapter, NRHS, contains numerous trolley features and articles

A Master Plan for the New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center for the New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Museum Commission and New Jersey Transit, prepared by Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC, May 2000 Executive Summary

Merger in New Jersey: Bus and Railway lines of Public Service Corporation to be consolidated under title “Public Service Co-ordinated Transport”, Electric Railway Journal, January 14, 1929

Miklos, Frank S., 1940 – 2013 (much about his work restoring PS trolley 2651, in Trolley Lines, Vol. 10, No. 3, Summer 2013

The Monmouth County Electric Co., The Marker, Vol. 6, No. 1, May 1947

Morris County Traction Company, by Larry Lowenthal and William T. Greenberg (second, enlarged edition by Greenberg alone)

Morris County Traction Co., The Marker, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1942; Vol. 4, No. 2, July 1945; No. 27, February 1956

National Railway Historical Society, by John Brinckmann, in NJ Historical Commission Newsletter, Vol. 16, No. 7, March 1986

NCS PCC Cars Retired: Three to be Donated to “Friends”; NCS Loop Moved to Phillipsburg; Trolley Signals Obtained, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 10, No. 5, December 2001

NCS Trolley Wire & Hardware Saved, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 8, No. 5, December 1999

Newark (City Subway): New Jersey’s Busiest Line (carried 3.68 million system passengers, or 3.5% of the Transport of New Jersey total), in Headlights, Vol. 42, No. 6-7, June-July 1980

Newark City Railway Nears Completion, in Heritage Traction No. 88, Vol. 15, No. 4, Selections from 1934 Electric Railway Journal

Newark City Subway, by John D. Catrambone in NJ Historical Commission Newsletter, December 1982

The Newark City Subway Lines: A History of the Trolley Subway (-Surface) Lines of the City of Newark That Were Operated by the Public Service Co. of NJ, John Harrington Riley

Newark City Subway, Part 1, in The Street Railway Review, Vol. 1, No. 14, 1975

Newark City Subway, Part 2, in The Street Railway Review, Vol. 2, No. 4, 1976

Newarks City Subway …a unique electric traction line, by Joseph Saitta, in his Traction Yearbook ‘83

Newark subway bound for the next century with $17.7 million facelift, by Guy Baehr, in The Sunday Star-Ledger, July 25, 1982

Newark Subway to Open Latter Part of This Month, Public Service News, May 1, 1935

Newark Subway to Purchase PCC Cars, in Headlights, Vol. 15, No. 3, March 1953

Newark: Subway Abandonment Threatened, in Headlights, Vol. 30, No. 4, April, 1968

Newark: Transit Crisis Looms, in Headlights, Vol. 31, No. 5, May 1969

Newark (City Subway) Update in (Electric Railroaders Association) Headlight News Journal, January 1978 

New Car for Public Service Railway (2600 series), by H. A. Benedict, in Traction Heritage, Vol. 15, No. 2, Whole number 86, Selections from 1916 Electric Railway Journal                                   

The New Elevated Railway in Hoboken was tested yesterday and it will be formally opened on Thursday of the present week.  The line extends from the Hoboken Ferry to Jersey City Heights and is a little more than a mile long – fare will be 5 cents., Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 26, 1886

New Jersey All-Service Vehicle (Public Service D-900), by Ralph Leighton, in Rollsign, May 1972

New Jersey & Hudson River Railway & Ferry Co., Map of Northern New Jersey, “Hudson River Line”, Issued 1910

The New Jersey and Pennsylvania Traction Co., including Trenton-Princeton Traction Co. and Pennsylvania-New Jersey Railway, The Marker, Vol. 3, No. 3, December, 1944

“New Jersey Goes on Strike,” Electric Railway Journal, August 4, 1923

New Jersey Interurban Company (Easton & Washington Traction Co.), The Marker, Vol. 2, No. 1, January 1943

The New Jersey Interurban Company, in Short Trolley Routes in the Lehigh Valley, Randolph L. Kulp, Editor

New Jersey Public Service Railroad Fast Line, 2015 Photo Calendar, Published by North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society

New Jersey’s Last Interurban, Trolley Talk, No. 81, October 1971

New Jersey Transport Heritage, bulletin published by NJ Transportation Heritage Center, Edited by Bill McKelvey, for 20 years, contains numerous trolley articles and features

The New Jersey Trolley Era (Exhibit Announcement), Gem of the Mountains, Boonton Historical Society and Museum

New Jersey Trolley “Grand Unions” in Trenton and New Brunswick were unique and complex configurations of track-work for two double track trolley lines located at an intersection of two city streets which allowed a trolley coming from any direction to continue straight or be switched to the right or left.  This required 16 track switches and 92 “frogs” where one rail crossed another per Robert Grant, NYC Model Transit Association.  The Trenton GU was located at the intersection of North Broad Street and East State Street and the New Brunswick GU at the intersection of George & Albany Streets.

New Jersey Trolleys in Color, Joseph Eid & Barker Gummere

New Terminal of the Public Service Railway at Hoboken, NJ, reprinted from Electric Railway Journal, August 7, 1909

NJ Trolleys that Never Were, by S. David Phraner, in NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 29, No. 2, June 2019

New York to Washington by Trolley, by Van Wilkins, Electric Lines, Vol. IV, No. 3, M-J 1991

Nine Injured on Trolley hit by Runaway Train: Coupling Snaps on Erie RR Freight (@ Bloomfield Avenue Crossing of No. 29 Trolley), in Newark Evening News, October 28, 1947

The North Hudson County Railway, by Edward T. Francis and George W. Walrath, in The Marker, Vol. 5, No. 2, September 1946

North Jersey Chapter, National Railroad Historical Society was founded in 1935 and held their early meetings in a trolley car parked at the PS Roseville, Newark, Yard.  They ran many excursion trips over the years, with one of their most memorable and famous being the Farewell trip over the PS trolley lines in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic Counties utilizing no less than 7 chartered trolley cars on March 27, 1938.  Their membership dwindled and they returned their charter to NRHS Headquarters in 2017

No. 7 Newark City Subway Fact Sheet, NJ Transit

The North Jersey Rapid Transit Co., The Marker, Vol. 1, No. 4, October 1942

Of Brilliners, War Boards and Fort Wayne: An Atlantic City Memoir, by Robert Tobin, in Electric Lines, Vol. III, No. 6, N-D 1990

One Track Mind, by Tom Drake in Skylands Visitor, Vol. 29, No. 2, Summer, 2019  (about the LHRy initiative for a Transportation Heritage Center in Boonton’s Grace Lord Park)

Operation Big Move Gets Under Way (moving PS car 2651 from Phillipsburg to Piscataway) by Tony Hall and Bob Hooper, in Trolley Lines, Vol. 15, (Run #29), Annual 2018

The Orange Crosstown Line: A History of the Orange and Passaic Valley Lines, Public Service Railway, by Edward T. Francis in The Marker, No. 28, March, 1957

Orange Mountain Traction Company & PS Snow Removal, Destinations No. 27, Vol. 14-1, June 1999

The Orange Mountain Railway, by Herbert L. Taylor in The Marker Vol. 1, No. 2, April 1st, 1942

The “Other Trolley Line”, in Princeton Recollector, Vol. 7, No. 9, June 1982

Paint Removal on Public Service 2651; Visit to Lisbon Car No. 346 in Trolley Lines, Vol. 4, N0. 1-4, 2012

PCC’s Best Buses Again in 1956, in Headlights, Vol. 19, No. 5, 1957

PCC: The Car That Fought Back, by Steven P. Carlson and Fred W. Schneider III

Picture Story of Transit Progress, 1866 – 1966, City of Newark, published by Public Service Coordinated Transport

Pioneers of Electric Railroading: Their Story in Words and Pictures, John R. Stevens, Editor

Plan for a Zone System of fares upon the Lines of Public Service Railway Co., Submitted to the Board of Public Utility Commissioners , State of NJ, March 1919

Pleasure Resorts & Amusement Parks, in Traction Heritage, No. 52, Vol. 9, No. 4, July 1976, Selections from Street Railway Journal, 1908 (overview of the subject, but not specifically NJ)

Point Pleasant Traction, Joseph Eid

The Point Pleasant Traction Co., The Marker, Vol. 4, No. 3, November 1945

The Point Pleasant Trolley Follies, The Marker, November 1945

Postcard Views and Timetables: A Pictorial Review, Public Service Lines, by Ruth Gardner (photocopied, not printed)

Public Service Album, by John P. Hoschek, in Traction & Models, No. 188, June 1981

Public Service (PSCNJ) Album, by John P. Hoschek, in Traction & Models, No. 190, August 1981

Public Service Coordinated Transport: Rules For Operating Department Employees, July 1, 1961 (City Subway)

Public Service Corporation of New Jersey and its Subsidiary Companies, Bonright & Company (1925) – PDF copy is in the Hoboken Historical Museum archives

Public Service Hand-Held Fare Registers, by Margaret & Ed Ruland and S. David Phraner; The Hudson River Line, Public Service Route 1 (Bergen) by Edson L. Tennyson, and Bergen County Transit Notes by Frank Miklos, in Destinations 26, Vol. 13, No. 2, October 1998

Public Service Lines; Fast-Electric-Trains between –Newark-Elizabeth-Chrome-Perth Amboy-New Brunswick-Trenton August 1918 Timetable

Public Service Trolleys, 2016 Photo Calendar, published by North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society

PS 2651 Moves to Phillipsburg & Trenton as a Traction Center, Destinations, No. 30, Vol. 15-1, Dec. 2000

PSCT All-Service Vehicles – Atlantic City Anniversary, Destinations No. 20, Vol. 10, No. 2, December, 1995

PSCT Newark City Subway PCC car on cover of Traction and Models, May 1973

PSCT “Newark Experiment” & Farewell Tour Notes – March 27, 1938, Destinations, No. 24, Vol. 12-2, December 1997

Public Service Coordinated Transport: A Change – An Ending – A Beginning, January 1st, 1935, by John F. O”Connor in Destinations, No. 20, December 1995

Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of, For the year ended December 31, 1044

Public Service, in Electric Railroads (Electric Railroaders Assn.), No. 9, July 1944

Public Service, in Motor Coach Age, Vol. XXIV, Nos. 10-11, October/November 1974 (with Significant coverage of the All-Service Vehicle)

Public Service D900, Motor Coach Age, Vol. 44, No. 9-10, September-October 1992

Public Service 4500 series Street Car Trailers, by Charles D. Wrege, PhD, in NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 15, No. 3, June 2006

Public Service Newark Terminal, in Electric Railway Journal, February 8, 1913, Pg. 247

Public Service Railway, Bergen Division, B.H. Sennstrom & E.T. Francis

Public Service Railway Co. – Middlesex County Lines, The Marker, Vol. 8, No. 1, June 1949

The Public Service Trolley Lines in New Jersey, Edward Hamm, Jr.

Public Service Trolley No. 2651 Moved to Phillipsburg, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 10, No. 2, April 2001

Public Service: The Union Trolley Line, John Brinckmann

Railroading in New Jersey, by John T. Cunningham, originally published in the Newark Sunday News in 1951 and reprinted as a bound volume by Associated Railroads of New Jersey (one seven-page chapter on The Street Railways)

The Region’s Unique Rapid Transit – in Newark, by S. David Phraner, Tri-State Transportation Commission Technical Bulletin, Vol. IV, No. 2, March 1968

Remembering the Streetcars of Roseville, 2014 photo calendar

The Report To The Legislature by the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Museum Study Commission, December 17, 1991, Volume I

Ride Around the Garden State, (July 29, 1938) Part 1, by K.C. Holmes and Stephen D. Maguire, in Traction & Models, No. 123, May 1975 – The trip, an all-day figure-eight circuit through seven counties which operated with 7 trolley cars, appropriately began in the underground station of the Cedar Street Subway below the Public Service Corporation headquarters office building.  The routing was as follows: Belleville, Clifton, Passaic, Broadway Terminal - Paterson, Maywood, Hackensack, Teaneck, Palisades Park, Edgewater, Cliffside Park, Weehawken Terminal, West New York, Union City, Hoboken Elevated Terminal, Jersey City, Harrison, Newark, West Orange, Montrose or Swamp Line, South Orange, Newark, Cranford, Westfield, Plainfield, Bound Brook, Highland Park, New Brunswick, Bonhamtown, Woodbridge, Bayway, Elizabeth, and back to the PS Newark Terminal, this time to the upper level loop and the end of the tour…

Ride Around the Garden State, Part 2, by K.C. Holmes and Stephen D. Maguire, in Traction & Models, No. 124, June 1975

River LINE: New Jersey’s New Interurban Railway, by Alfred E. Fazio

The Riverside Line – The Story of the Camden and Trenton Railway, by Barker Gummere

Road and Rail; On Lines Where Trolleys Glided, Trails and Maybee a New Trolley or Two, by David W. Chen in The NY Times, June 23, 1996

“Route Numbers for Public Service Cars”, Electric Railway Journal, March 19, 1927

Second Trolley Loop Acquired, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 15, No. 4, August 2006

The Seventh Wonder of the Traction World (Public Service, Park Place, Newark Trolley Terminal), by Al Mankoff, in Electric Lines, Vol. III, No. 4, J-A 1990

Shore Fast Line, by Mervin E. Borgnis, in Electric Lines, Vol. I, No. 6, N-D 1988

SIC Transit…  Warren trolleys recalled on anniversary, by David Vanhorn, The Sunday Star Ledger, November 5, 1989

The Singac Trolley, 1893 to 1927, by John Harrington Riley in HISTORIC Little Falls, Oct. 1993

South Jersey Trolleys That Served During Two World Wars, by John Brinckmann, in Crew Caller, January 1991

South Orange & Maplewood “Swamp Line”, Destinations No. 25, Vol. 13-1

Specifications covering one Mack CQ Bus All-Service Vehicle type, a special bulletin of the Bus Information Office in conjunction with the Motor Bus Society (1935)

Spotlight on History: Sea Isle’s Trolley, Sea Isle News, October 13, 2018

Sprague, Frank Julian, 1857-1934, became a technical assistant for Thomas Edison, but after about a year he resigned and formed the Sprague Electric Railway and Motor Company, producing a number of inventions of major importance.  He built a shop at Watsessing, Bloomfield, NJ (on the East Orange border) about two miles east of Edison’s factories in West Orange, along the same Erie Railroad Orange Branch.  Sprague’s inventions included several improvements to designs for systems of electric streetcars collecting electricity from overhead lines and improved traction motors.  He improved designs for a spring-loaded trolley pole that had been developed in 1885 by Charles Van Depoele.  Sprague also designed a three-point, wheelbarrow suspension of axle-mounted geared motors for electric railways, which was soon used universally for trolley cars.  Sprague incorporated many of his inventions in the equipment his company installed for the Richmond (VA) Union Passenger Railway in 1887-1888, the first large-scale electric trolley line in the world.  In 1890, Edison General Electric Company, which manufactured much of Sprague’s equipment, purchased and absorbed the Sprague Electric Railway and Motor Company and the Watsessing plant became General Electric for many decades thereafter.  

State (of NJ) v. The Inhabitants of the City of Trenton and the Trenton Horse Railroad Company (N.J.L.J. February 1892) The Horse Railroad did not have express permission to erect poles and string trolley wire without municipal approval.

Stephenson – Lisbon Trolley Given to Liberty Historic Railway, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 20, No. 1, February 2011, (Car was subsequently donated to Whippany Railway Museum),

Stories of West Orange, by Joseph Fagan

The Story of Cape May Trains and Trolleys, by Nathan Cope

Street and Electric Railways, US Government Printing Office, 1905

Streetcar Stories: History of the North Hudson Railway Co., by Chris Fry in Jersey Digs, October 30, 2017

The Street Railways, in Railroading in New Jersey, by John T. Cunningham

Street Railways of Trenton, Barker Gummere

Taking the Trolley (NJ Interurban Company, originally Easton and Washington Traction Company), by Dennis Sullivan

“Three Hundred Cars for Jersey”, Electric Railway Journal, May 1, 1920

Time of the Trolley, William D. Middleton

There’s still time to hop a trolley – vintage or modern, by William D. Middleton

A Thumbnail Sketch of the Trenton – Princeton Traction Co., by Charles M. G. Johnston in Central Electric Railfan’s Assn. Bulletin 24, May, 1941

Thumb-Nail Summary of Public Transport in New Jersey, Destinations No. 16, Vol. 8, No. 2, November 1993

A Touch of Public Service, by Mervin E. Borgnis, in Trolley Talk, No. 158

Track Maps of all Lines of the Public Service Railway of New Jersey; Drawn by H.E. Johnston, Edited by Arthur J. Lewan

Train (actually the first RiverLine light rail vehicle) Lands at AC Airport, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 11, No. 6, December 2002

Transit’s Stepchild: The Trolley Coach, Mac Sebree and Paul Ward

The Transportation History of Boonton, NJ, William J. (Capt. Bill) McKelvey

Transport of New Jersey Newark City Subway, July 6, 1976, Electric Railroaders’ Association, New York City

The Trenton & Mercer County Traction Corporation, by Howard E. Johnston, in The Marker, NRHS), No. 26, November, 1953

Trenton & Mercer County Traction Corp. v. Inhabitants of Ewing Township, Court of Chancery of NJ, August 10, 1917, 101A.1037 (NJ Ch, 1917)

Trenton – Princeton Traction Company, Pennsylvania & New Jersey Railway, by Barker Gummere and Gary Kleinedler

Trenton, then and now – four different gauges in one town, by John Derr, in Traction and Models, No. 147, May 1977

A Trenton trolley plunged into the Delaware & Raritan Canal Feeder when the car failed to stop before the open canal bridge due slippery rails and lack of sand.  Daily State Gazette, September 22, 1911 and Street Railways of Trenton by Barker Gummere.

Trivial Trolley Trivia if the Twenty Six Hundreds, by George A. Knopf, in Destinations No. 11, Vol. 6, No. 1, May 1991

Trolley Bridge Moved to Phillipsburg, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 9, No. 4, September 2000

Trolley Cars for N.J. Museum Rot in Field, by Joseph A. Gambardello in The Baltimore Sun, August 9, 2001 (Trolley Valhalla, Jobstown, NJ)

The Trolley Car Stages a Comeback (Hudson County, NJ) by Ruth Bonapace in The NY Times, June 20, 1993

The Trolley Coach in North America, Mac Sebree and Paul Ward

Trolley Days in Camden, New Jersey and the Way They Affected Life in the City, by Robert A. Stanton

A Trolley Honeymoon From (Wilmington,) Delaware to Maine (coast), Clinton Lucas (1904 via the ”Old Main Line” through Dunellen and Plainfield)

Trolley Lines, bulletin published by North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society contains trolley articles and features in every issue

Trolley Loop Acquired, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 10, No. 5, 2001

(Trolley) Memoirs from George Knopf, in The Fast Line Network, Issue #7

Trolley Museum, by Anthony J. Hall in NJ Historical Commission Newsletter, October 1980

Trolley Poles Donated, NJ Transport Heritage, Vol. 16, No. 1, February 2007

Trolley Slid into Train: Orange Car Loaded With Passengers Crashed Through Railroad Gates, NY Times, February 25, 1903

The Trolley That Replaced a Bus: History of the Salem & Pennsgrove Traction Co., Robert Stanton

Trolley Transportation: City of Newark, NJ by Ernest Payson Goodrich and Harland Bartholomew, ca. 1912 Report to the City Plan Commission

Trolley Treasures, Vol. 1, 2, & 3, A. D. Mankoff & C. D. Wrege, PhD.

The Trolley… Triumph of Transport, William M. Moedinger

Trolleys Across the Sand Dunes, Joseph Eid

Trolleys and Interurbans: Bergen’s Electrifying Experiment, by Mel Most in The Sunday Record, November 21, 1971

The Trolleys and Trains That Made New Brunswick the Hub City, by Daniel Munoz, in New Brunswick Today, January 4, 2015

Trolleys in the Coast Cities, Joseph Eid

“Trolleys Over Camden Bridge Assured”, Electric Railway Journal, March 19, 1927 (It did not happen.)

Trolleys to the Bayshore, Joseph Eid

Trolleys to the Fountain, Joseph Eid

Trolley’s Still Good Business, in Headlights, Vol. 19, No. 12, 1957

Two NJERHS trolley cars depart Nat Cap en-route to Lyons Industries in mid-November 2012, Trolley Lines, Vol. 10, Nos. 1&2, Winter/Spring 2013

The Two Story Street Railway Terminal of Public Service Railway, Hoboken, NJ, Engineering News, Vol. 63, No. 16, April 21, 1910

Vanished Pleasures of the Trolley, Princeton Recollector, Vol. 7, No. 6, 1 March 1982

Way Department of the Public Service Railway Company, by Martin Schreiber, in Traction Heritage, No. 53, Vol. 9, No. 5, Selections from 1908 Street Railway Journal

We Had A Shore Fast Line, by Mervin E Borgnis

West Hoboken, NJ Trolley Car Panic, July 1904 – While traveling at full speed the controller of the trolley burned out with a flash and before the injured motorman could get the car under control many jumped and were injured.

West Jersey & Seashore, by Blair Foulds, in Traction & Models, November 1977

West Jersey & Seashore MU car plans, by Elmer W. Fry, in Traction & Models, April, 1970

“What the Five Cent Fare Means in Jersey”, Electric Railway Journal, October 6, 1923

The White Line, The Marker, Vol. 2, No. 4, October, 1943

Why Trolleys Learned to Fly! Part 1, by Bob Hooper; Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Visit; and Recollections of Revisiting the #27 Pavonia Avenue Car Line, by Ken Roods, in Destinations 28, Vol. 14, No. 2, December 1999

7 – City Subway, by H. Karl Wilhelm in Headlights, Vol. 22, No. 3, March 1960

7 – City Subway: A Fiftieth Anniversary, in Headlights, Vol. 48, No. 4, April 1986

23 Central Line – Memories – Last Run, Destinations, No. 23, Vol. 12-1, May 1997

29 Bloomfield Line Photo Tour, Destinations 29, Vol. 15 No. 1, June 2000

31 South Orange Line – West End, Destinations, No. 31, Vol. 16-1, June 2001

1906 Atlantic City train wreck – Occurred in Atlantic City on Sunday October 28, 1906 when a West Jersey and Seashore Railroad electric train fell off a draw (swing) bridge, drowning 53m people. – Wikipedia

2010 Progress on 2651, Trolley Lines, Vol. 7, Nos. 1-4, 2010


Movies, Videos, DVDs, CDs, Internet Search, Websites, Etc.

Ambulance Call / Ambulance at the Accident, filmed by William Heise for Thomas Edison at the request of the Ambulance Fund – October 8, 1897 – a series of five films shot in downtown Orange showing a horse-drawn ambulance racing from its stable, a man hit by a trolley, picked up, and rushed off by the ambulance, NJ Transport Calendar (became NJ Transport Heritage), Vol. 3, No. 4, November 1994.

Atlantic City Trolley Days, (video) Transit Gloria Mundi

Atlantic City Trolleys, circa 1952, 8mm films of Howard Sell in the NRHS film archives

Celebrating PSEGs First 100 Years – YouTube

Cycle of Service – a promotional film for Public Service of NJ produced by Audio Productions in 1935

Daft, Leo, a pioneer in electric railway engineering is known as “The Father of Electric Railways in the US”.  His Daft Electric Company was begun in NYC but moved to the Greenville and later Marion sections of Jersey City.  In the early 80s at Greenville, a small experimental electric railway and a workshop were driven electrically.  In 1883 he built an electric locomotive, the Ampere.  In 1885 Daft furnished electric equipment for a branch of the Baltimore Union Passenger Railway which successfully demonstrated that several cars could be worked in parallel from the same line.  The editor saw his gravestone in a cemetery in North Arlington, NJ years ago.

A Day on the Newark City Subway, Railroad Video Productions, 1999

A Dedication to the Newark City Subway PCC Cars, Volumes 1 & 2 Train Fans, Inc.

Delivery of Trucks for PSCT No. 2651, February 25, 2006, Trolleybill Videos (Bill Keigher)

The Don Ross Group - www.donsdepot.donrossgroup.net  has a collection of NJ Trolley photos

Essex Passenger Railway / Newark & Irvington Street Railway, Hoboken Elevated Trial Trips – cable-car-guy.com (Joe Thompson)

Fabulous Trolleys: The History of Trolleys in America – www.TheEntertainmentGroup.com    ; www.Amazon.com

Federal Storage Battery Car Company (name later changed to Railway Storage Battery Car Company) was incorporated in November 1909 as a manufacturer of Beach railway cars equipped with Edison batteries.  General office and plant was located on the Erie RR Orange Branch at Silver Lake / Belleville, NJ.  Edison made the motors and batteries at his West Orange plant less than 3 miles to the west on the same Erie Orange Branch.  Beach street railway cars were made for NY Railways Co., NYC; Third Avenue Railways, NYC; Panama Tramways Co. as well as for many others.  Some of their rail cars were test operated on the Orange Branch, as well as on some longer runs to Atlantic City, Long Island, and Albany.

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Opensat Hoboken – September 28, 2002, Trolleybill Videos (Bill Keigher)

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Operations, Vols. 1 & 2, September 1999 – May 2000, Seward’s Trolley Productions   

Interstate Trolley Club of Trenton – see National Railway Historical Society website for early history of their founding

Kresge’s and McCrory’s (Cedar Street Subway, Newark) by Joseph Brennan, Abandoned Stations website

Liberty Historic Railway website documents restoration and preservation projects funded – www.lhry.org

Lisbon and its Trams, (has views of the double truck cars built by John Stephenson Co. in NJ – one of which we brought back to NJ), EK-Videos Germany

List of Public Service Railway Lines - Wikipedia

Montreal & Southern Counties, (video), Produced in1996 (has a clip of the cars they bought second hand from Morris County Traction in NJ)

Mountain Lakes Trolley, Borough of Mountain Lakes website

Newark City Subway Fantrip, WCBS-TV News, April 9, 2001

Newark City Subway, First Days of LRVs; Try Transit Festival @ Hoboken Terminal, Seward’s Trolley Productions

Newark City Subway, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, Newark Penn Station, December 21, 2002, Trolleybill Videos (Bill Keigher)

Newark City Subway, Last Day of PCC’s, 2001, Seward’s Trolley Productions, Seward’s Trolley Productions

Newark City Subway Linear Route Video, Carson Home Video

Newark City Subway, NJ Transit PCC Operations in NJ, 1992, Seward’s Trolley Productions

Newark City Subway: Transition from PCC to LRV, q1999 – 2001, Seward’s Trolley Ptroductions

Newark Public Service Terminal – Wikipedia

Newark – Trenton Fast Line – Wikipedia

New Jersey Light Rail Lines: Newark City Subway; (video) Hudson-Bergen Line, Anchor Videos / Pentrex / Amazon / Valhalla Video

New Jersey Public Service, filmed by Howard Sell

New Jersey Public Service Traction, plus several other systems (filmed by Harold Sell, Louis Buehler, & Mitch Dakelman

New Jersey Public Service Trolleys/Streetcars, (video/DVD) (Vol. 1), Essex County, Bloomfield & Orange Lines and Newark City Subway vintage films by Vincent Seyfried, Rail Tapes VE-9

New Jersey Public Service Streetcars, (video/DVD) (Vol. 2), Newark, Weehawken and Hoboken, by Vincent Seyfried, Rail Tapes VE-8

New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center Annual Symposium Presentations were videotaped and most of the DVDs from the last years are in the McKelvey Archive

New Jersey Trolley Parks included;

Asbury Park: Pleasure Bay Amusement Park: owned by the local Seashore / Seacoast Traction Co.

Atlantic City: Steel Pier; Atlantic City & Shore RR; Atlantic City Transportation Co.

Belleville: Hillside Pleasure Park, later Riviera Park; Washington Avenue & Greylock Parkway; Public Service Railway; PSCT

Bridgeton: Tumbling Dam Amusement Park (on Sunset Lake); trolley line directly to park; Bridgeton & Millville Traction Co.

Camden: Woodlynne Park (1895-1914 on Woodlynne Lake); Camden & Suburban Ry; Public Service Ry

Clementon: Clementon (Lake) Park was at the end of the trolley line from Camden which was extended to the park when it opened and was thereafter designated as the “Clementon” line.  After the trolley ceased operating the park was served by PSCT All-Service Vehicles, and finally by buses of PSCT, Transport of NJ, and NJ Transit.  The park was established by a director of the Reading Ry and in the early years was served by their trains.  Clementon, the last trolley park in NJ, closed at the end of the 2019 season.

Cliffside Park/Fort Lee: Palisades Amusement Park; Public Service Ry; PSCT

Irvington/Maplewood: Olympic Park; Public Service Ry; PSCT

Little Falls when park opened; became part of West Paterson, now known as Woodland Park: Idlewild Park; served by Public Service Ry Singac Line

Millville: Union Lake Amusement Park, later Luna Park; served by Bridgeton & Vineland trolley lines; Millville Rapid Transit Co.; South Jersey Traction Co.

Mount Arlington: Bertram Island; served by Morris County Traction

Newark: Electric Park (Vailsburg Motordrome; Vailsburg Velodrome; Vailsburg Park 1903-1912); Newark Rapid Transit Ry; Public Service Ry

North Bergen: Columbia Park (Union Hill); served by trolleys on Plank Road, three blocks distant; Public Service Ry; PSCT

North Bergen: Schuetzen Park; served by trolleys on Plank Road; Public Service Ry; PSCT

Paramus/Rochelle Park: Arcola Amusement Park; served by the Hudson River trolley line of Public Service Ry; PSCT

Pennsville: Riverview Beach Amusement Park (on Delaware River and also served by steamboats); Salem & Pennsgrove Traction Co.

Secaucus: Trolley Park is a town park at the NW end of Paterson Plank Road where the trolley crossed the Hackensack River on a trestle to East Rutherford where the “American Dream” is now located.  The park has swings and slides and a bit of the original trolley rail. 

Sewaren: Boynton Beach (on Arthur Kill, closed 1914); served by the Woodbridge & Sewaren Electric Street Ry, owned by and an extension of the Rahway Electric Street Ry, Cassimer W. Boynton, President.

Singac: Grandview Park; Public Service Ry; PSCT

Trenton: NJ State Fairgrounds, served by Trenton & Mercer County Traction Co.

Trenton: White City Park; Trenton & Mercer County Traction Co.

Trenton: Woodlawn Park; Trenton & Mercer County Traction Co.

Verona: Verona Lake; Public Service Ry had a sidetrack from the Bloomfield Avenue Line for picknicking and boat rental

Weehawken, Highwood Section, Eldorado Amusement Park was accessed by trolley using the Eldorado Elevator which rose from the West Shore Railway and Ferry Terminal on the Hudson River.  The development of the streetcar system (w/became known as the North Hudson County Ry and was later absorbed into Public Service Ry) as well as Eldorado Amusement Park was all part of H.J. Bonn’s extensive real estate developments.

West Orange: Crystal Lake Park; served by the Orange and Passaic Valley Ry

West Orange: Highland Park; Mountain Ry Co.

Westville: Washington Park was served by the Camden Gloucester & Woodbury Ry and was also served by steamboats on the Delaware River.  It was known as “The Greatest Pleasure Resort in the World”

Wildwood: The Five Mile Beach Electric Ry paralleled the boardwalk and provided access to amusement attractions all along their line, including: The Ocean “Fun” Pier at Anglesea; Roller Coasters, Carousels, bowling and dance halls and an arcade and Casino between Schellenger and Cedar Avenues.  Note: the Five Mile Beach Electric Ry Co. also owned the Blaker Rolling Chair Co. which patrons could rent by the hour with and be pushed along by an operator.  After the trolleys ceased operating, the FMBERy began operating “trams” on the boardwalk.  They were small trains of cars with rubber wheels, pulled by a battery powered tractor.

New Jersey Trolley Oral History (video) Project, by William Keigher, PhD, with Ira Deutsch interviewing: Harold Geissenheimer, 2005, two  tapes; Frank Miklos, 2006, one tape; Dr. Chuck Wrege, 2008, two tapes; Joe Eid, 2008, one tape; Dave Phraner, 2008, two tapes

New Jersey Trolley Terminals: (Note: the editor gives preference to terminals which had intermodal connections.  Modern light rail lines are included because they are basically the reincarnation of the old trolley and interurban lines.);

Atlantic City, Virginia Avenue & Boardwalk: Atlantic City & Shore RR (Shore Fast Line); Atlantic City & Suburban RR; West Jersey & Seashore RR

Atlantic City (prior to 1934), Tennessee and Atlantic Avenues: West Jersey & Seashore RR terminal at the local Atlantic City and Shore trolley line and one block south of the Pennsylvania RR (Camden & Atlantic  RR terminal at South Carolina Avenue).  WJ & SS used big wooden interurban cars powered via third rail and trolley pole.

Bayonne: Public Service Ry; PSCT Greenville Line terminated at the PS owned Bergen Point and Staten Island Ferry Co. ferries to Staten Island

Brigantine (a sandy barrier island north of Atlantic City): Brigantine Transportation / Transit Co. operated a ferry service from their trolley terminal across Absecon Inlet to Atlantic City for transfer to Longport Division trolleys.  Note: The Brigantine trolley system was the first in NJ to “call it quits”.  Many NJ trolley lines were built after their 1904 closure.

Camden, Kaighn Avenue Terminal: Public Service Ry; PSCT; Reading RR; Ferries to Philadelphia

Camden, Federal Street Terminal: Public Service Ry; PSCT; Pennsylvania RR; Pennsylvania- Reading Seashore Lines; PRR Ferries to Philadelphia

Camden, Walter Rand Transportation Center: Currently: RiverLine Light Rail; PATCO (Lindenwold High Speed Line)

Camden: Currently: RiverLine Light Rail; River Link Ferries to Philadelphia (seasonal)

Cape May: Cape May – Delaware Bay & Sewells Point trolley line terminated in North Cape May at the wharf of the ferry to Wildwood and connected with the West Jersey & Seashore RR near its southern terminus

East Paterson: North Jersey Rapid Transit, Public Service Ry

Edgewater: Public Service Ry Hudson River Line; PSCT; Ferries to 130th St., NYC

Elizabeth: Morris County Traction; Central RR of NJ; Pennsylvania RR

Hoboken: Public Service Ry; PSCT (including A-SV’s); Jersey City, Hoboken & Rutherford Electric Ry; Hudson & Manhattan RR; Lackawanna RR; Ferries to NYC; Currently: Hudson-Bergen Light Rail; NJ Transit; PATH; Ferries to NYC

Hoboken (14th Street): Public Service Ry; PSCT (Note: the trolley terminal had a turntable to turn single ended cars); Ferries to NYC

Jersey City, Exchange Place: Public Service Ry; PSCT; Pennsylvania RR; Hudson & Manhattan RR; Ferries to NYC; Currently: NJ Transit Hudson-Bergen Light Rail; PATH; Ferries to NYC

Jersey City, Journal Square Terminal: Public Service Ry; PSCT; Hudson & Manhattan RR

Jersey City, Pavonia Avenue Terminal: PUBLIC Service Ry; PSCT; Erie RR; Ferries to NYC

Jersey City, Transfer Station: Summit Avenue and Paterson Plank Road

Landing: Morris County Traction; Lackawanna RR; Black Line and White Line steamboats for hotels on Lake Hopatcong 

Maplewood: Morris County Traction; Public Service Ry; PSCT

Newark (PS Terminal): Public Service Ry & RR; PSCT (including A-SV’s); Morris County Traction; Cedar Street Trolley Subway; Newark City Subway; Hudson & Manhattan RR

Newark Penn Station: Public Service Ry; PSCT (including A-SV’s); Newark City Subway; Hudson & Manhattan RR; Pennsylvania RR; Lehigh Valley RR; Baltimore & Ohio RR; Jersey Central RR; Currently: Newark Light Rail; NJ Transit; Amtrak

Newark, Broad Street Station: Currently: Newark Light Rail; NJ Transit

North Cape May: The Cape May – Delaware Bay & Sewells Point trolley line terminated at the wharf of the ferry to Wildwood

Ocean City: The Shore Fast Line was extended to terminate at the West Jersey and Seashore RR 8th Street, Station in 1908.  It also connected with the Atlantic City & Shore RR.  Note: The OCERR was the only municipally operated trolley road in NJ.

Paterson: North Jersey Rapid Transit (ran into PS Paterson Terminal only from February 28, 1926 to August 21, 1927); Public Service Ry; PSCT

Pennsauken Transportation Center: Currently: RiverLine Light Rail; NJ Transit Atlantic City Line

Perth Amboy: Local PS Ry / PSCT trolley lines as well as Jersey Central Traction Co. trolleys connected with the Ferry to Tottenville, Staten Island, NY where passengers could transfer to the Staten Island Rapid Transit Co.

Phillipsburg, Old Town Hall, So. Main St.: Easton & Washington Traction Co. / NJ Interurban Co.; Phillipsburg Horse Car RR / Phillipsburg Transit Co.; three blocks west: Central RR of NJ; Lackawanna RR; Lehigh Valley RR; Pennsylvania RR

Princeton: Trenton Street Ry, later Trenton & Mercer County Traction Co. terminated at the Pennsylvania RR Princeton Branch Terminal

Trenton, Cass Street; Public Service RR (from Newark); Public Service Ry (from Camden); Trenton & Mercer County Traction Co./Trenton Transit

Trenton, West Hanover St. @ Warren: Trenton-Princeton Traction Company; Pennsylvania-New Jersey Traction Co.; Trenton & Mercer County Traction Co./Trenton Transit

Trenton, Perry Street between N. Broad & Montgomery Streets – after 1927: Trenton & Mercer County Traction Co./Trenton Transit

Trenton RR Station: Currently: RiverLine Light Rail; NJ Transit; South East PA Transportation Authority; Amtrak; and Several bus lines, including a SEPTA route

Weehawken: Weehawken Ferry & Guttenberg Ry; North Hudson County Ry; Public Service Ry; PSCT; New York Central RR; NY, Ontario & Western RR; Ferries to NYC; Currently: Hudson-Bergen Light Rail; NY Waterways Ferries to NYC

West Orange: Public Service Ry; PSCT, Montrose or Swamp Line; Erie RR Orange Branch.  Note: In the early years, there was a direct track connection between the Swamp Line and the Erie Orange Branch.  The Erie had a freight station west, on the Swamp Line and their express cars were moved west and east by the Swamp Line.  We have heard that Erie express cars were also moved to the business district of Orange over PS Ry track, loaded in the street, and returned to the Orange Branch for fast movement to Chicago via the Erie.

Wildwood - Anglesea: Atlantic City RR; West Jersey & Seashore RR; Five Mile Beach Electric Ry; Nearby charter fishing vessels; Plus steamboats to Stone Harbor.  And, Charles Mace’s miniature steam railway provided rides.

NJ Trolleys Surviving and/or Preserved (includes those that were built in NJ, but not operated in our state);

Baltimore Streetcar Museum;

No. 26, a PCC car built for Twin City Rapid Transit Co. in 1949 by St. Louis Car Co. was acquired by Public Service Coordinated Transport in1953 and acquired by BSM in 2014

Branford Electric Railway Association (now Shoreline Trolley Museum), Branford, CT;

Car 34, a single truck, Brill open car built in 1899 for Lynchburg, VA, acquired second hand by Five Mile Beach Electric Railway, Wildwood, NJ, first car acquired by BERA in 1945;

Public Service Railway/PSCT car No. 2431, a double truck closed car built by Cincinnati Car Co. in 1913

Public Service Coordinated Transport PCC car No. 27, built for Twin City Rapid Transit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN in 1949, sold by PSCT to Shaker Heights, then Minnesota Transportation Museum, acquired by BERA in 2001

PS Ry Trailer #549_ acquired from Union, NJ where it was used as an office after retirement from PSCT; PSCT “ROSEVILLE” plow

Connecticut Trolley Museum, Warehouse Point, CT;

No. 36 Five Mile Beach Electric Railway, a single truck open car, built by J. G. Brill Co. in 1895 for Lynchburg (VA) Traction & Light Co. and later sold to Wildwood, NJ

No. 15 NJ Transit PCC car built in 1946 by St. Louis Car Co. for Twin City Rapid Transit Co. and acquired in 1953 by PSCT

Electric City Trolley Museum (adjacent to the Steamtown National Historic Site), Scranton, PA;

No. 24 Five Mile Beach Electric Railway, a double truck open car, built in 1908 for Third Avenue Railway, NYC, by J. G. Brill Co. and sold second hand to Wildwood.  The car has been fully restored as Third Avenue Railway Co. No. 651. 

MacAndrews and Forbes Licorice Co., Camden, No. 10, a small, 250 volt, trolley electric plant shuttle locomotive built by GE in the 1920s.  On static display in front of the Lackawanna Trolley Museum.  A  second, similar locomotive was saved by the Trolley Valhalla group, but was eventually cut up for scrap at Jobstown, NJ.  M&F was established in 1850 and has become the world leader in licorice products.

Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL,

No. 36, an interurban car built for Chicago Aurora & Elgin Ry by John Stephenson Car Co., in Elizabeth (now a part of Linden), NJ

Kinkisharyo International LLC, Eastern Rail Maintenance Division, Piscataway, NJ;

No. 28, Single-end PCC car built for Twin City Rapid Transit Co., Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; sold to Public Service Coordinated Transport, Newark, NJ in 1953; restored by Kinkisharyo and displayed at their plant

Market Street Railway, San Francisco, CA: Single-end PCC cars built 1946-8 for Twin City Rapid Transit Co., Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; sold to Public Service Coordinated Transport, Newark, NJ in 1953; Acquired by SF in 2004 and modified/restored for service on the Embarcadero Line in SF have been repainted/renumbered as;

Car 1070 Newark, Former Newark No. 14

Car 1071 Minneapolis-St. Paul, Former Newark No. 23

Car 1072 Mexico City, Former Newark No. 20

Car 1073 El Paso, TX & Juarez, Mexico, Former Newark No. 22

Car 1074 Toronto, Canada, Former Newark No. 2

Car 1075 Cleveland, OH, Former Newark No. 17

Car 1076 Washington, DC, Former Newark No. 12

Car 1077 Birmingham, AL, Former Newark No. 21

Car 1078 San Diego, CA, Former Newark No. 19

Car 1079 Detroit, MI, Former Newark No. 11

Car 1080 Los Angeles Transit Lines, CA, Former Newark No. 9

Muskoka Heritage Place, Huntsville, Ontario, Canada;

Is the owner and operator of a 12 bench open trolley car which has been said to have come from the Seaview Railway in or near Atlantic City, NJ.  However, we have been unable to identify a Seaview Railway or verify the origin of this car other than “South Jersey”.   Some other possibilities might be the Seacoast and/or Seashore trolley companies in Monmouth County or Brigantine, north of Atlantic City.  The Muskoka Heritage Place website states that the car was built by the Delaware Car Works, Wilmington, DE. and it arrived at the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Ry in Ontario in the summer of 1922.  In any event, they identify the car as the “Iroquois Coach” and it is pulled by a small diesel electric locomotive.     

City of Windsor, Ontario, Canada;

A former Richmond Light and Railroad Co. (Staten Island, NY) car was acquired by the Sandwich, Windsor & Amhurstberg Railway Co., a subsidiary of the Ontario Hydroelectric Commission when Richmond Railways or City of New York, Department of Plant and Structures replaced all trolleys with buses in 1927.  It was part of an order for 20 cars allotted to Staten Island by the WW I Emergency Fleet Corporation in 1918.  The cars were of standard Cincinnati Car Co. compromise roof design and were built alongside similar cars for Public Service Coordinated Transport at the PS Plank Road shops on the eastern edge of Newark.  When the SW&A Ry ended trolley service, one                                                                                   of the cars was sold as a residence.  That car, the only known survivor of the fleet, was eventually acquired by the City of Windsor and is now undergoing restoration.

North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society;

No. 5221 Public Service Railroad/Ry Line Car/Locomotive/Snowplow

No. 2651 Public Service Railway trolley

No. 5223 PS Ry flat car

No. 5173 PS Ry sweeper 

No. 5246 PS Ry sweeper

Nos. 1, & 13, Public Service Coordinated Transport/NJT PCC cars

No. 250, former Atlantic City “Hog Island” car

Rockhill Trolley Museum, Rockhill Furnace, PA;

No. 6 Public Service Coordinated Transport/New Jersey Transit PCC car originally built by St. Louis Car Co. for Twin City Rapid Transit Co. and acquired by PSCT in 1953 serving the Newark City Subway for 48 years!

Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennybunkport, ME

No. 41 Lexington & Boston Street Ry, a single truck, double ended car built in1901 by John Stephenson Car Co., in Elizabeth (now a part of Linden), NJ

No. 1160 Connecticut Company, a double truck, double end car built in 1906 by John Stephenson Car Co., in Elizabeth (now a part of Linden)

No. 299 Atlantic City & Shore RR, built in 1925 by St. Louis Car Co., originally came from Indiana Service Corp., Fort Wayne, IN and was purchased after WW II by Atlantic City Transportation Co.

No. 5 Public Service Coordinated Transport/New Jersey Transit PCC car originally built by St. Louis Car Co. in 1946 for Twin City Rapid Transit Co. and acquired by PSCT in 1953 serving the Newark City Subway for 48 years!

Whippany Railway Museum, Whippany, NJ

No. 346, former Lisbon, Portugal double truck car built in 1906 by John Stephenson Car Co., in Elizabeth (now a part of Linden), NJ

New Jersey Trolleys, Vol. I, by Victor Gordon, Jr. with films of Vincent Seyfried

New Jersey Trolleys, Vol. II, by Victor Gordon, Jr. with films of Carl Groh and John Tolley

New Jersey Trolleys and Lehigh Valley Transit, John Piculius Video, Anchor Videos

Northern New Jersey: Light Rail’s Spectacular Comeback – Light Rail Progress, Jan. 2004 website

Northern New Jersey Trolley Slide Show, by Bill Volkmer, (Powerpoint), 2-24-2011

North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society website focuses on the NJ trolley collection  www.njerhs.org

PCC Trilogy, (video) Major Focus on Toronto, but is an excellent overview which covers the major operators, including the Atlantic City “Miss America” fleet of Brilliners

A Pictorial History of Trolley Cars in New Jersey, a CD ROM, North Jersey Chapter, NRHS, Marie Wright editor, published in 2004

The Point Pleasant Trolley Follies, by Jeff Heim – www.pointpleasanthistory.com

PSCT 2651 Update, given by Bob Hooper @ Friends of the NJTHC Symposium @ Drew University, 2008

PSCT 2651 video clip, by Bob Hooper

Public Service Coordinated Transport Trolley Routes in Hudson and Essex Counties, Mark 1 Video

Public Service Coordinated Transport Trolley No. 2651 Preservation and Restoration Power Point Program by Robert Hooper

Public Service All-Service Vehicle Photos website

Public Service Corporation - Wikipedia

Public Service New Jersey Hoboken – Jersey City Elevated (www.nycsubway.org)

Public Service Track Layout Maps, a CD ROM by Marie Wright published in 2005

Public Service Trolleys, Mark I Video

Public Service Trolley Bus photos - website

Public Service Trolley Photos - website

A Romantic Trolley Ride Through Morris County, by Linda Ross, February 2, 2016, North Jersey History and Genealogy Center

Shore Fast Line, Circa 1948, 8mm films from Howard Sell in NRHS film archives

Snowy Day on Newark City Subway and Northeast Corridor, December 6, 2002, (poor quality), Trolleybill Videos (Bill Keigher)

Stephenson, John, Car Company was established in NYC in 1831 and became an important manufacturer of street cars and trolleys; they opened a new, larger plant in Elizabeth (now a part of Linden), NJ early in 1898; All stock was purchased by the J. G. Brill Company in 1905 and Brill closed the NJ location and consolidated operations at their main plant in Philadelphia. – Wikipedia

Streetcar Stories: History of the North Hudson Railway Co., by Chris Fry, October 30, 2017 – Jersey Digs website

Tour of PSCT 2651, March 29, 2003, Trolleybill Videos, (Bill Keigher)

Tour of PSCT 5223, August 1, 2003, Trolleybill Videos, (Bill Keigher)

Transport of New Jersey – Wikipedia

Trolley Films – NJ Public Service, several other systems, and canal films

The Trolley in Ho-Ho-Kus, official website of the Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus

Trolley: The Cars That Built Our Cities, (video) Transit Gloria Mundi

YouTube.com has thousands of video clips – you can find almost anything…

www.trolleybuses.net


Broadsides & Other

Atlantic City License for 1 Atlantic City Transportation Company Street Car for 1 year - $100

Go By Streamlined Trolley To See The Gorgeous Cherry Blossoms Now In Full Bloom At Branch Brook Park - notice posted in trolleys and buses announcing the introduction of PCC cars for the Newark City Subway, printed by PSCT 3-29-1955

The Great Interstate Fair, Trenton, September 1916, Directly Reached by the Fast Line, Public Service Railroad

Jersey Central Traction Co., Timetable (and map) (undated)

Map of Electric Railway Lines Controlled by Public Service Corporation of New Jersey (undated, but the map shows the uncompleted line of the Morris County Traction Co. between Morristown and Madison)

Morris County Traction Company schedule of May 21, 1926 with map of system, Boonton Historical Society and Museum

New Jersey and Hudson River Railway and Ferry Company, Edgewater – promo pieces for the Ferry Ride from NYC; Palisades Amusement Park; The Palisades; and The Palisades Interstate Park (undated)

New Jersey horse car, trolley, street railway and traction company stock certificates (various) are in the collections of Friends of the NJ Transportation Heritage Center, No. Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society and Liberty Historic Railway

NEW! NEW! FEDERAL STREET CAR LINE - Exchange Place, Jersey City, to Federal Shipyards and Western Electric, South Kearny - SERVING ALL SHIFTS - This new line will run via Montgomery St., West Side Ave. and Communipaw Ave. – FARE 5¢ – USE THE NEW STREET CAR LINE TO CONSERVE GASOLINE AND RUBBER (PSCT 6-25-1943)   Note: This line operated from July 1, 1943 to August 31, 1945, and the South Kearny Line (Journal Square, Jersey City to Western Electric and Federal Shipyard) operated from May 25, 1942 to May 15, 1948 .  Together, these two lines carried tens of thousands of wartime workers to and from their jobs around the clock.  By 1943 Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. employed 52,000 people and built Navy Destroyers, Destroyer Escorts and Cargo ships faster than any other yard in the world.  Jeff Marinoff Collection.

North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society archives contain thousands of books, periodicals, photographs, post cards and other items on the NJ Trolley Era.   www.njerhs.org

Notice to Patrons – Change of Route (April 24, 1916 – Public Service Railroad) Trenton Cars Will Be Operated to and From PS Terminal Instead of Lackawanna Depot, Newark

PSCT Trolley No. 2651, promotional postcard published by NJERHS 2013

Public Service Lines Daily Excursions to Philadelphia via Trenton and Camden, Public Service Railroad

Public Service Railway Company Proposed Terminal – Hudson Place, Hoboken, NJ, 1909

Public Service Railway Company Snow Plow line drawing, March 14, 1921

Public Service Railway trolley No. 2683, promotional postcard published by NJERHS 2015

See New Jersey First via the Fast Line (Newark to Trenton trolley) Public Service Railroad Co.

TO USERS OF ORANGE TROLLEYS NO. 21 – STARTING MARCH 1 (1951) Buses will replace Orange trolleys on through service between Newark and the Oranges.  The new Orange Bus Line No. 21 will run in Newark on Market and West Market Streets and on Main Street through the Oranges.  Orange trolleys will continue to run ONLY between P.R.R. Station and the Newark, East Orange City Line via Orange Street.  Note: This trolley service was needed to access the Roseville shop and yard until June 5, 1952 when the new shop under Penn Station was opened.   Jeff Marinoff Collection.

Trans State Trips via the Electric Route (new trolley route between Trenton and Newark), advertising poster by Public Service Railway Co.

Trolley Tours in Jersey Over Mountains and Through Dells via Public Service System ca. 1904 (a broadside - map)

A Vision Plan for Grace Lord Park, by John Madden for Liberty Historic Railway for a Transportation Heritage Center at Boonton, NJ with trolley operation (two sheets – Satellite View / Plan and Text Description)

Visit the Boys in Cap at Wrightstown via the Fast Line to Trenton (With Connections via Trains or Buses to Camp Dix) Public Service Railroad

You’ll Be Riding In Them Soon – notice posted in trolleys and buses announcing the introduction of PCC cars for the Newark City Subway, printed by PSCT 1-6-1954

The “29” Car, Public Service, litho by Dick Miller, limited edition of 500 prints, broadside view