Fire on 'Dinky' line delays evening travel

At approximately 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night a small fire broke out on the Princeton Shuttle Line — on which the "Dinky" operates — a representative from the Princeton Fire Department said.

"[The fire] occurred on the older, extra-wide section of the bridge crossing Lake Carnegie and involved about 10 railroad ties," said Pat McAvenia, the Princeton Fire Department Deputy Chief.

Officials emphasized that the tracks themselves were not damaged.

The West Windsor Fire Department first received a dispatch regarding the fire at 8:35 p.m. After reaching the fire, they determined that it was actually not in West Windsor, but instead in Princeton Township, and alerted the Princeton Fire Department, said Ted Cashel, Princeton Township Fire Marshal and Emergency Management Coordinator.

The Princeton Fire Department received the second dispatch at 8:45 p.m. and extinguished the fire shortly afterward. Because of the small size of the fire, the fire-fighting went smoothly and there were no injuries.

"It really was a dinky fire," Cashel noted.

Though the exact cause of the fire is not known, officials said they believe its source was either a discarded cigarette or sparks from the train and the rails scraping. "I'm 90 percent sure that the fire came from sparks from the train," McAvenia said.

"Although these fires aren't so common with a train like the Dinky, because it goes so slowly, [they] do happen elsewhere, especially on something like the Northeast Corridor where the trains are moving fast," he added.

"There was nothing suspicious about the fire," Cashel said.

Because of the fire, law enforcement officials attempted to delay the Dinky, but it had already left Princeton Junction. When the train approached the bridge, they flagged it down, and it was subsequently allowed to proceed to Princeton Station.

Once at Princeton Station the train was delayed for 45 minutes to an hour, during which time New Jersey Transit provided busing service to the Northeast Corridor Line. Service was fully restored by 10 p.m.