I think those are train cars in the lower, center of the image.
You mean "train
tracks"? They DO look like train tracks. The auction was for 4 different trolley-related photos, so I wonder if the seller got a train-related photo mixed in there by accident.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Group-4-old-B-W-Public-Svc-N-Jersey-trolley-photos-/160465630645?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255c7f35b5As for your aerial image..........I think you said that River St came about in the 50s? Trolleys were long-gone by then, so I don't think this image will help with that discussion.
However, I
think I see something that could be trolley tracks that seem to come over from Bogota just north of the Susie-Q tracks (there's not enough picture to be sure of that) and they appear to take a very slight turn to the left right before River St.
This could be the old path of the Hudson River Line trolley and that dark patch that it appears to turn into might be the old trolley yard. In fact, something in that yard looks like an old trolley!
But the "trolley tracks" appear to end there instead of continuing to the left and then heading west up Mercer, so whatever's in that yard could just be a remnant of the trolley era - just waiting for progress to sweep it away.
Hey - continuing south on River St, there's a structure on the east side of the street - just past where The Record would be - that I'll bet is the old Municipal Bus Terminal.
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