Trolley Line Coffee opening at former trolley station in Salunga
A coffee shop is set to open at a former trolley station in the village of Salunga in East Hempfield Township on Friday.
Trolley Line Coffee now operates out of the circa-1900 building at 44 W. Brandt Blvd., just off Stony Battery Road, south of West Main Street.
Owners Jeff and Martha Groff also own Fat Cow Coffee Roasters at 3493 Marietta Ave. in West Hempfield Township with their son Matthew. The Groffs live nearby in Landisville and said they had been looking for café space that could feature their own coffees.
Trolley Line Coffee offers coffee, espresso drinks and tea as well as muffins, scones, breakfast cookies, bagels and baked oatmeal from Ric's Bread in Lancaster city. Some breakfast sandwiches may eventually be added. The café has inside seating for around 15 as well as space at some outside tables for another 15.
Once a stop on Conestoga Traction Co.'s Elizabethtown-to-Lancaster city line, the Salunga station, which included a power generator, closed in the mid-1930s. The building subsequently had a variety of uses, including becoming a religious library in 1956. Most recently it was the mail room for Eastern Mennonite Missions & Charities, which had several buildings in Salunga before moving its headquarters to Lancaster city in 2020.
The Groffs bought the building in September 2021 for $155,000 and then oversaw renovations that included tearing out interior walls that were put up to create a mail room. The inside of the coffee shop now showcases some of the building's original features.
The Groffs said they eventually plan to transfer their Fat Cow Coffee Roasters brand to Trolley Line Coffee. After originally thinking they would move their roasting operation to the new café building, they decided to keep it at a nearby facility so they could maximize café space.
