The ''Del-Mar-Va Express'' was a named passenger train of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

that at its peak went from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to the southernmost point of the

Delmarva Peninsula The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula and proposed state on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore regions of Maryland and Virginia ...

Cape Charles, Virginia Cape Charles is a town / municipal corporation in Northampton County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,009 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 Census. History Cape Charles, located close to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, on ...

. Initiated in 1926, the train's north–south passage through Delaware stood in contrast with the main passenger traffic through Delaware being a brief passage through cities in the upper reach of Delaware, mainly Wilmington. Most importantly, the train served as a more direct path from New York City and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, by way of a ferry from Cape Charles across the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

to Norfolk, a path that bypassed Baltimore and Washington, D.C. This saved time in comparison to travel over PRR, Atlantic Coast Line and

Norfolk & Western The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisi ...

trains through Washington to Norfolk. The ''Del-Mar-Va'' trip, including ferry travel was 11 hours from New York; and the longer all-land route through Washington was 13 hours and 40 minutes. The train succeeded an earlier short lived train, the ''Old Point,'' in the 1890s from Philadelphia to Cape Charles. The ''Del-Mar-Va-Express'' diverged south from the Pennsylvania RR's Washington-Philadelphia route at Wilmington. From there went directly south along the main line of a Pennsylvania Railroad's subsidiary, the

New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad The New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad was a railroad line that ran down the spine of the Delmarva Peninsula from Wilmington, Delaware to Cape Charles, Virginia and then by ferry to Norfolk, Virginia. It became part of the Pennsylvania Ra ...

, through inland towns in Delaware, notably: Clayton, Dover, Harrington, Greenwood, Seaford and Delmar; in Maryland: Salisbury, Princess Anne and Pocomoke City; and finally reaching Cape Charles, where the N. Y. P. & N RR Ferry Company would take passengers to Norfolk. Beginning in the 1940s the PRR began to rely only on the

Virginia Ferry Corporation The Little Creek-Cape Charles Ferry was a passenger ferry service operating across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay from the 1930s until 1964. Known also as the ''Princess Anne-Kiptopeke Beach Ferry'' or ''Little Creek-Kiptopeke Beach Ferry'', th ...

for ferriage of passengers from Cape Charles to Norfolk. This new service showed a cross-channel time savings of 40 minutes. From 1942 to 1947 the train's northern terminus was extended from Philadelphia to New York.

Transfer stations

The stations for Clayton, Harrington, Greenwood, Salisbury and Princess Anne in pre-World War II years of the train were points from which passengers could transfer to trains to the

Eastern Shore of Maryland The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a part of the U.S. state of Maryland that lies mostly on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay. Nine counties are normally included in the region. The Eastern Shore is part of the larger Delmarva Peninsula that ...

or to ocean-side resort towns of

Lewes, Delaware Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delawar ...

and

Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic resort town in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 United States cens ...

Nighttime counterpart

In a parallel period with the ''Del-Mar-Va,'' the PRR operated a night train, the ''Cavalier'' (#469, southbound, #468 northbound), which until the early 1950s carried coaches as well as sleeping cars with open sections and double bedrooms, continuous to New York. In peak years, such as 1941, a separate sleeping car train (in contrast to the New York originating train) left the PRR's downtown Broad Street Station and joined with the rest of the train in Wilmington. Between late 1954 and summer 1955, the ''Cavalier'' no longer had sleeping cars. By summer 1956 the overnight train was terminated.

Decline

The train was discontinued by late 1957. By then, a nighttime itinerary unnamed train was the sole train serving the peninsula.

External links

1943 schedule of Del-Mar-Va at Streamliner Schedules

References

Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in New York (state) Passenger rail transportation in New Jersey Passenger rail transportation in Pennsylvania Passenger rail transportation in Delaware Passenger rail transportation in Maryland Passenger rail transportation in Virginia Passenger trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad Railway services discontinued in 1957 {{PRR named trains

Transfer stations

Nighttime counterpart

Decline

See also

External links

References