:Princeton Branch

The Princeton Branch provides rail service directly to the Princeton University campus from Princeton Junction, where New Jersey Transit and Amtrak provide Northeast Corridor rail service, heading northeast to Newark, New York City, and Boston, and southwest to Trenton, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. As of 2016, the branch schedule includes 41 round trips each weekday.{{cite web |url=http://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=TrainSchedulesFrom&selOrigin=124_PRIN&selDestination=125_NEC&OriginDescription=Princeton&DestDescription=Princeton+Junction |title=Train Schedules: Princeton to Princeton Junction |publisher=New Jersey Transit |access-date=October 4, 2016 |archive-date=October 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005235740/http://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=TrainSchedulesFrom&selOrigin=124_PRIN&selDestination=125_NEC&OriginDescription=Princeton&DestDescription=Princeton+Junction |url-status=dead }} The line is served by a two-car set of GE Arrow III self-propelled electric coach cars.

In September 2018, New Jersey Transit announced that it would be suspending all service on the Princeton Branch from mid-October 2018 until mid-January 2019, and providing shuttle bus service instead. Restoration of train service was later postponed until May 12, 2019. Systemwide service reductions were attributed to the installation and testing of positive train control, compounded by a shortage of train engineers.{{cite news |last1=McGeehan |first1=Patrick |title=For New Jersey Rail Commuters, a Bad Situation Is About to Get Worse |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/nyregion/nj-transit-trains.html |access-date=September 21, 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 20, 2018}}{{cite press release |title=Governor Murphy, NJ Transit Announce ACRL and Princeton Dinky To Resume May 12th |url=https://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=PressReleaseTo&PRESS_RELEASE_ID=3289 |publisher=New Jersey Transit |date=April 17, 2019 |access-date=May 1, 2019 |archive-date=November 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102163405/https://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=PressReleaseTo&PRESS_RELEASE_ID=3289 |url-status=dead }} The automatic braking system will not be installed on the Princeton Branch itself.{{cite news |url=http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2018/10/save-the-dinky-petition-at-wawa |title=Advertisements for 'Save the Dinky' petition placed at Wawa |first=Rebecca |last=Han |newspaper=The Daily Princetonian |date=October 9, 2018 |access-date=October 23, 2018}}

File:Penn Central EMU Class MP54 -698, The Dinky, the dinky on the Princeton Branch at Princeton Jct on August 1971 (24513832259).jpg "Dinky" at Princeton Junction in 1971]]

File:Penns Neck Dinky station site.JPG site]]

When the Camden and Amboy Rail Road and Transportation Company (C&A) opened its original Trenton–New Brunswick line in 1839, completing the first rail connection between Philadelphia and New York Harbor, the line was located along the east bank of the newly completed Delaware and Raritan Canal, about one mile (2 km) from downtown Princeton. A new alignment (now the Northeast Corridor Line) opened on November 23, 1863, but some passenger trains continued to use the old line until the Princeton Branch opened on May 29, 1865, at the end of the American Civil War. The branch's first train used a Grice & Long wood-burning steam dummy for passenger service, and took about 20 minutes each way. The Pennsylvania Railroad leased and began to operate the C&A, including the Princeton Branch, in 1871. The branch was re-aligned and double-tracked in 1905 to handle popular college football weekends, upgraded from coal to a gasoline-electric train in 1933, fully electrified in 1936, and single-tracked again in 1956.{{cite web |url=http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/Hagley/PRR_hagley_intro.htm |title=PRR Chronology |first=Christopher T. |last=Baer |publisher=Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society |access-date=October 4, 2016}}{{cite book |chapter=A Short History of the Princeton Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad |first=Delmar |last=Lipp |title=Princeton History: Papers presented before the Historical Society of Princeton, Volume 2 |date=March 20, 1939 |pages=14–34 |publisher=Princeton Public Library}}{{cite book |url=http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/Dinky/PrincetonStation.pdf |title=Triumph V: Philadelphia to New York 1830–2002 |first1=David W. |last1=Messer |first2=Charles S. |last2=Roberts |year=2002 |pages=84–93|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005114731/http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/Dinky/PrincetonStation.pdf |archive-date=October 5, 2016 }} The 1956 rail bridge over U.S. Route 1 was replaced in 1994 to allow further widening of the highway.{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/details/towntopicsprince48266unse |title=Dinky? |newspaper=Town Topics |page=3 |date=August 31, 1994 |access-date=February 25, 2019}}

Penn Central Transportation took over operations in 1968, and discontinued the little-used Penns Neck station in 1971. When Conrail was formed in 1976, the Final System Plan called for the transfer of the Princeton Branch to Conrail and then to the New Jersey Department of Transportation, but the transfer to NJDOT was not made until 1984.1975 Conrail Final System Plan

The Princeton train, locally called the "Dinky"{{cite web|title=Princeton University: Train Travel|url=https://www.princeton.edu/pr/visitors/traintravel.shtml|publisher=Princeton University|access-date=October 9, 2011}} or the "PJ&B" (for "Princeton Junction and Back"), is a unique symbol of Princeton University that has grown over time to emblemize the university. It is mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise, featured in the television program Family Ties when young Alex Keaton goes for his on-campus interview, and it is also in the 1934 Bing Crosby movie She Loves Me Not. The theme of Princeton and the train is repeated in the university's own traditional homecoming song "Going Back to Nassau Hall" by Kenneth S. Clark (Class of 1905). In it, the lyric "We'll clear the track as we go back" refers to the Princeton Branch track leading to the campus.

The Great Dinky Robbery was an incident on May 3, 1963, in which four men boarded the Dinky and abducted four passengers. Princeton was not yet co-educational, and the Dinky was the usual mode of transportation for women dating members of the then all-male student body. On a Friday evening, four Princeton University students, riding horses in Western attire, ambushed the train as it was arriving at Princeton station. A convertible was parked across the track, forcing the Dinky to come to an abrupt halt. The men, including George R. Bunn Jr. of the Bunn coffee maker family, who was armed with a pistol loaded with blanks, boarded the train and persuaded four female passengers to leave with them. The Dinky later resumed its trip and arrived at Princeton station. Although the university administrators were aware of the event and may have known who was involved, they took no official action.{{cite news |first=J. D. |last=Reed |title=The Little Engine That Can |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/nyregion/the-little-engine-that-can.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 31, 2002 |access-date=November 9, 2015}}{{cite news |first=David |last=McIlroy |url=http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/04/29/arts/10455.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227210014/http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/04/29/arts/10455.shtml |url-status=unfit |title=The Dinky: Decades of history and lore |newspaper=Daily Princetonian |date=April 29, 2004 |archive-date=February 27, 2007}}{{cite journal |last=O'Bleary |first=Hugh |url=https://www.princeton.edu/~paw/columns/inky/inky_7.html |title=The Great Dinky Robbery |journal=Princeton Alumni Weekly |date=December 20, 2000 |access-date=October 4, 2016}}{{cite journal |last=Edwards |first=Selden |title=The Great Train Robbery |url=https://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW03-04/12-0407/perspective.html |date=April 7, 2004 |journal=Princeton Alumni Weekly |access-date=October 4, 2016 |quote=Two of the kidnapped women were undergraduates from Smith College. Randol Foote Haffner recalls sitting with her friend Susie Wolfe that Friday when Goodridge, Bunn, and Perry explained the plan and recruited them.}}

File:PrincetonStationDecember.jpg station]]

{{Main|Princeton (NJT station)#Relocation controversy}}

In 2006, Princeton University announced its intention to construct a new arts center, calling for the replacement of the 1918 Princeton station house, the shortening of the trackage right-of-way, and the creation of a new terminus {{convert|460|ft|m|abbr=on}} to the south.{{cite web | title = FAQ: The Dinky | work = Arts and Transit Neighborhood | publisher = Princeton University | url = http://www.princeton.edu/artsandtransit/faq/faq-design/dinky/ | access-date =September 28, 2013 }}{{cite press release | title = Renzo Piano selected to design University Place/Alexander Street neighborhood | publisher = Princeton University | date = April 13, 2006 | url = http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S14/48/67Q85/ | access-date =April 2, 2012 }}{{cite news | last = Hersh | first = Matthew | title = It's All Conceptual, but Talk of BRT Has Princeton Buzzing | newspaper = Town Topics | date = November 29, 2006 | url = http://www.towntopics.com/nov2906/story2.html | access-date =March 30, 2012}}{{cite news | last = Hersh | first = Matthew | title = PU Plans Still Relocate Dinky Station |url=http://www.towntopics.com/may2307/story1.html |newspaper=Town Topics |location=Princeton NJ |date=May 23, 2007 |access-date=December 12, 2007}} Rail advocates opposed the relocation, fearing that access to the new station would be less convenient, resulting in decreased ridership that could "threaten the train's existence."{{cite web | title = More on the Dinky | publisher = National Association of Railroad Passengers | date = June 21, 2007 | url = http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/narpblog/more_on_the_dinky/ | access-date = April 3, 2012 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070731162117/http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/narpblog/more_on_the_dinky/ | archive-date = July 31, 2007 | df = mdy-all }} The proposal prompted protest from residents, students, faculty and alumni, and led to the creation of the organization Save the Dinky and a lengthy series of legal challenges.{{cite web | title = Save the Princeton Dinky | publisher = Save the Dinky, Inc. | url = http://savethedinky.org/ | access-date =April 3, 2012}} In October 2010, the Princeton Regional Planning Board passed a resolution supporting the continuation of train service.{{cite news | title = After meeting, no change to Dinky | newspaper = The Daily Princetonian | date = October 1, 2010 | url = http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2010/10/after-meeting-no-change-to-dinky/ | access-date = December 7, 2013 | archive-date = December 11, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131211213704/http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2010/10/after-meeting-no-change-to-dinky/ | url-status = dead }} The new Princeton station opened on November 17, 2014, with construction continuing on a complex of arts and dining buildings in the surrounding area.{{cite news |url=http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2014/11/new_dinky_station_opens_to_public_part_of_princeton_us_arts_and_transit_project.html |title=New Dinky station opens to public, part of Princeton U.'s arts and transit project |first=Mike |last=Davis |newspaper=The Times of Trenton |date=November 17, 2014 |access-date=November 17, 2014}}{{cite press release |url=https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S41/47/84A62/ |title=New Dinky station to open Nov. 17, marking Arts and Transit Project milestone |first=Ushma |last=Patel |publisher=Princeton University |date=November 3, 2014 |access-date=November 6, 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://www.njtransit.com/rg/jsp/rg_station_advisory.jsp?cId=3469 |title=New Princeton Station Opens Monday, November 17, 2014 |publisher=New Jersey Transit |date=November 5, 2014 |access-date=November 6, 2014 |archive-date=November 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107052817/http://www.njtransit.com/rg/jsp/rg_station_advisory.jsp?cId=3469 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://planetprinceton.com/2014/11/17/princeton-today-new-dinky-station-opens/ |title=New Dinky Station Opens in Princeton |first=Krystal |last=Knapp |publisher=Planet Princeton |date=November 17, 2014 |access-date=November 17, 2014}} {{As of|2017}}, weekday ridership was down 20 percent from 2012, the last full year of the old station.

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and New Jersey Transit have conducted studies to develop the Central New Jersey Route 1 Bus Rapid Transit Project. Parts of the proposals call for the construction of a "Dinky Transitway" along the Princeton Branch right-of-way, which would incorporate the rail service and add exclusive bus lanes and a greenway for bicycle and pedestrian traffic.{{cite web | title = US 1 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) | publisher = Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission | year = 2012 | url = http://www.dvrpc.org/LongRangePlan/CentralJerseyForum/brt.htm | access-date = March 30, 2012 | archive-date = March 5, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120305002529/http://www.dvrpc.org/LongRangePlan/CentralJerseyForum/brt.htm | url-status = dead }}{{cite web | title = Fact Sheet 2008 | work = Central New Jersey Route 1 Bus Rapid Transit Project | publisher = New Jersey Transit | year = 2008 | url = http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=Project072To | access-date = April 1, 2012 | archive-date = October 14, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131014165432/http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=Project072To | url-status = dead }}{{cite web | title = Central NJ Route 1 BRT | work = NJ Transit Bus Service: The Next Generation | publisher = New Jersey Transit | date = July 26, 2010 | url = http://www.apta.com/mc/multimodal/previous/2010/Presentations/New-Jersey-Transit-BRT-Initiatives-Go-Bus28-and-Reuse-of-a-Right-of-way-in-Union-County.pdf | access-date = March 30, 2012 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131013230233/http://www.apta.com/mc/multimodal/previous/2010/Presentations/New-Jersey-Transit-BRT-Initiatives-Go-Bus28-and-Reuse-of-a-Right-of-way-in-Union-County.pdf | archive-date = October 13, 2013 | df = mdy-all }}

File:"Dinky" Sign at The Dinky Bar & Kitchen in Princeton, NJ.jpg

In April 2012, the university submitted a revised plan for the arts and transit center, calling for the extension of the station's freight house onto the right-of-way for possible use as a restaurant. The Regional Planning Board introduced an ordinance requiring the land be preserved for a transportation right-of-way that could eventually extend farther into Princeton's central business district at Nassau Street. According to the university, ownership of the trackage would have to change hands in order for the transitway to be implemented.{{cite news | last = Cherkin | first = Bridget | title = Princeton University submits revised plan for $300M arts and transit center | newspaper = The Times of Trenton | date = April 25, 2012 | url = http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/04/princetion_university_submits.html | access-date = April 25, 2012}} Approvals were subsequently issued for converting the station house and the extended freight house into a pair of restaurants.{{cite news |url=http://allprinceton.com/content/arts-and-transit-nj-transit-weighs |title=Jim Nawn has big plans for Dinky Bar & Kitchen |first=Pat |last=Tanner |newspaper=Princeton Echo |date=September 2016 |access-date=September 25, 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018222612/http://allprinceton.com/content/arts-and-transit-nj-transit-weighs |archive-date=October 18, 2012 |df=mdy-all }} The station house is now occupied by The Dinky Bar & Kitchen, which opened in 2016.https://www.dinkybarandkitchen.com/about/

{{Reflist}}

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{{Attached KML |display=title,inline}}

• {{official website|1=http://www.njtransit.com/rg/rg_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=LineDetailsTo&selLine=PRIN}}
• {{cite news |url=http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2004/04/n-j-transit-tests-luxury-locomotive-on-dinky-line/ |newspaper=Daily Princetonian |title=N.J. Transit tests luxury locomotive on Dinky line |first=Christian |last=Burset |date=April 30, 2004 |access-date=October 4, 2016 |archive-date=October 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005135736/http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2004/04/n-j-transit-tests-luxury-locomotive-on-dinky-line/ |url-status=dead }}
• [http://berlin.bahninfo.de/newjersey.htm History of Dinky with photos and map (in German)]

{{New Jersey Transit Rail}}

Category:NJ Transit Rail Operations

Category:Pennsylvania Railroad lines

Category:Princeton University

Category:Railway lines opened in 1865

Category:Transportation in Mercer County, New Jersey

Category:1865 establishments in New Jersey