Bluefield & Princeton Trollies

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

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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