The Delaware Railroad was the major railroad in the US state of Delaware, traversing almost the entire state north to south. It was planned in 1836 and built in the 1850s. It began in Porter and was extended south through Dover, Seaford and finally reached Delmar on the border of Maryland in 1859. Although operated independently, in 1857 it was leased by and under the financial control of the

Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated independently from 1836 to 1881. It was formed in 1836 by the merger of four state-chartered railroads in three Middle Atlantic states to create a ...

. In 1891, it was extended north approximately with the purchase of existing track to New Castle and Wilmington. With this additional track, the total length was .

Origin

The railroad was conceived in 1836 by

John M. Clayton John Middleton Clayton (July 24, 1796 – November 9, 1856) was an American lawyer and politician from Delaware. He was a member of the Whig Party who served in the Delaware General Assembly, and as U.S. Senator from Delaware and U.S. Secretar ...

, a former United States senator who obtained a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

from the Delaware General Assembly to serve 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. ...

. He was concerned that a proposal in Maryland to build a line along the western side of the peninsula would harm Delaware's economy. Delaware was highly motivated and exempted the railroad from taxation for fifty years and provided other incentives. Clayton, William D. Waples and Richard Mansfield were appointed as

commissioners A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

and a survey of the line was made. The Depression of 1837-1839 prevented investment in the railroad and the charter was forfeited. The charter was renewed in 1848 under the promotion of Samuel M. Harrington (Clayton at this time was serving as the United States Secretary of State). It called for a line from Dona Landing (just east of Dover) to Seaford that would be part of a Philadelphia to Norfolk route. Sufficient investment was secured by 1852 allowing commencement of the operation. In 1853, the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad guaranteed

construction bond A performance bond, also known as a contract bond, is a surety bond issued by an insurance company or a bank to guarantee satisfactory completion of a project by a contractor. The term is also used to denote a collateral deposit of good faith mon ...

s, and the line was built from a junction with the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad in Porter to Dover in 1855 and on to Seaford in 1856. Moving the northern terminus from Dona Landing to Porter added approximately to the originally planned length. The first section was opened with an inaugural eight-car train north from Middletown on September 1, 1855, carrying the president of the railroad and that of the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad, the chief engineer, and railroad contractors.

History

Prior to the railroad, steamship traffic from Philadelphia ran to Dona Landing, a Dona steamship line port on the

Leipsic River The Leipsic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in central Delaware in the United States. It rises in northern Kent County, approximately no ...

just off

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is bordered inland ...

and approximately east of Dover. Passengers would then go by stagecoach to Dover and south to Seaford where they would then resume travel by ship south to Norfolk on the Nanticoke River. Both the stage and steamship lines were made obsolete by the railroad and hence abandoned. The railroad ran inland to avoid

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free ( anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

near the coast through areas that had been sparsely populated. Railroad access spurred the growth of farms in this part of the state as farmers had means to ship produce north to Philadelphia,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

. Land that had not been farmed was cleared as the new access to city markets increased agricultural output. The railroad assisted the Delaware peach industry, allowing faster peach transport to market than had been possible by steamship. It also allowed the introduction of peach orchards to areas without access to river shipping. The industry spread downstate from the Delaware City area where it originated as the railroad extended further south. By 1875, five million baskets (900,000 carloads) of peaches were shipped on the Delaware railroad. The railroad is credited with the peach becoming a "signature crop" in Delaware - the first state from which peaches were a commercial crop shipped long distances to market. In 1863, peach farmers sued the railroad after they grew a

bumper crop In agriculture, a bumper crop is a crop that has yielded an unusually productive harvest. The word "bumper" in this context comes from a usage that means "something unusually large", which is where this term comes from. Though very productive harv ...

but the railroad did not have enough freight cars to accommodate the entire crop, and as a result there was significant spoilage. The railroad felt the judgment was "exorbitant". New towns formed along the railroad including Bridgeville, Greenwood, Clayton (nearby Smyrna did not want the railroad competing with its shipping industry), Wyoming (nearby Camden refused to allow the railroad to be built through the town), Felton (named after David Felton, president of the railroad) and Harrington. In 1855, the railroad located its main office in Clayton.

Civil War

Prior to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

, southern sympathizers utilized the railroad as a route south to join the Confederacy. In 1861, Charles du Pont Bird (a descendant of E.I. du Pont) advised General Robert E. Lee that the railroad should be destroyed to prevent its use by the Union Army to ship troops and supplies to Washington, DC. The railroad remained under Federal control throughout the war. The railroad was used to ship contraband south to the Confederacy as its geography placed it in a prime smuggling route.

Later 19th century

In the latter half of the 19th century, 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 ...

had acquired the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad, and several east–west lines serving locations throughout the

in Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland, effectively securing a monopoly over the peninsula. These included the

Junction and Breakwater Railroad Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''H ...

and the

Queen Anne's Railroad The Queen Anne’s Railroad was a railroad that ran between Love Point, Maryland, and Lewes, Delaware, with connections to Baltimore via ferry across the Chesapeake Bay. The Queen Anne's Railroad company was formed in Maryland in 1894, and rece ...

(later the Maryland, Delaware and Virginia Railroad). Opening in 1884, 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 ...

utilized the Delaware Railroad track, with an extension south through Maryland to Cape Charles, located close to the mouth of the

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

Virginia's Eastern Shore The Virginia's Eastern Shore AVA is an American Viticultural Area that includes a length of Virginia's Eastern Shore and consists of the counties of Accomack and Northampton. The topography in this AVA is mostly level and ranges from sea ...

and then by

rail ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...

to Norfolk, Virginia. The New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad was conceived by

William Lawrence Scott William Lawrence Scott (July 2, 1828 – September 19, 1891) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, a prominent railroad executive, as well as a prominent horse breeder and horse racer. Early life Wi ...

, an Erie, Pennsylvania investor and coal magnate, who wanted to build a shorter railroad route between the coal wharfs of

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

by utilizing a ferry line across the Chesapeake Bay and a railroad line up the Delmarva Peninsula to the industrial north. In 1891, the former New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad track from Porter to New Castle and the former New Castle and Wilmington Railroad track was added to the Delaware Railroad (both then owned by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore) extending its northern terminus to the Christiana River in Wilmington. In 1910, the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad (the successor to the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore) renewed its lease of the railroad for another 99 years. The lease included the: * mainline Shellpot Crossing to Delmar * branch (cutoff) New Castle to Wilmington * branch

Centreville, Maryland Centreville is an incorporated town in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States on the Delmarva Peninsula. Incorporated in 1794, it is the county seat of Queen Anne's County. The population was 4,285 at the 2010 census. The ZIP code is 216 ...

to Townsend * branch

Chestertown, Maryland Chestertown is a town in Kent County, Maryland, United States. The population was 5,252 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Kent County. History Founded in 1706, Chestertown rose in stature when it was named one of the English col ...

to Massey, Maryland * branch Nicholson, Maryland to Wharton, Maryland * branch Clayton to Symrna * branch Clayton to

Oxford, Maryland Oxford is a waterfront town and former colonial port in Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 651 at the 2010 census. History Oxford is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. While Oxford officially marks the year 1683 as its ...

* branch Seaford to

Cambridge, Maryland Cambridge is a city in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 13,096 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Dorchester County and the county's largest municipality. Cambridge is the fourth most populous city in Mary ...

Legacy

In 1881, the parent company, the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad, itself came under the control of the

, a larger and dominant railroad of the Northeastern United States. Facing financial difficulties in the 1960s, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with its rival New York Central in 1968 forming the Penn Central which itself filed for what was, at that time, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in 1970. The mainline of the Delaware Railroad was eventually absorbed into

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busi ...

, created by the Federal Government to operate the potentially profitable lines of multiple

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

carriers. Becoming profitable in the 1980s, most of Conrail was sold off to

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

and the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

in 1998. Norfolk Southern then operated the Delaware Railroad mainline until it was spun off in October 2016 to the

Delmarva Central Railroad The Delmarva Central Railroad is an American short-line railroad owned by Carload Express that operates of track on the Delmarva Peninsula in the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The railroad operates lines from Porter, Delaware to ...

, a short-line railroad that operates of track on the Delmarva Peninsula. The majority of the Delmarva Central Railroad is the track of the former Delaware Railroad. The railroad extends past the southern terminus of the Delaware Railroad at Delmar another into Maryland to Pocomoke City. The railroad's station in Felton was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and was renovated for use as a museum. The station in Wyoming was listed in 1980.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book, last1=Munroe, first1=John A., title=History of Delaware, date=2006, publisher=University of Delaware Press, isbn=0874139473, edition=Fifth, access-date=10 September 2017, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vs7NcOKnlNUC {{cite book, last1=Rendle, first1=Ellen, last2=Cooper, first2=Constance J., title=Delaware in Vintage Postcards, date=2001, publisher=Arcadia Publishing, isbn=0738513806, access-date=10 September 2017, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LaB7GfUZfPgC& {{cite book, last1=Caoace, first1=Nancy, title=The Encyclopedia of Delaware, date=2001, publisher=Somerset Publishers, isbn=9780403096121, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u9StYwbI_F8C, access-date=10 September 2017 {{cite book, last1=Morgan, first1=Michael, title=Civil War Delaware The First State Divided, date=2012, publisher=The History Press, location=Charleston, isbn=9781609494452, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFB_CQAAQBAJ, access-date=10 September 2017 {{cite book, last1=Miller, first1=Richard F., title=States at War, Volume 4: A Reference Guide for Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey in the Civil War, date=2015, publisher=University Press of New England, isbn=9781611686227, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=weA7BgAAQBAJ, access-date=10 September 2017 {{cite book, last1=Kee, first1=Ed, title=Delaware Farming, date=2007, publisher=Arcadia Publishing, isbn=9780738544496, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvoEPLNCfc8C, access-date=11 September 2017 {{cite book, last1=Vernon, first1=Edward, title=American Railway Manual, Volume1, date=1873, publisher=American Railway Manual Company, page=277, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aLopAAAAYAAJ, access-date=11 September 2017 {{cite book, last1=Conrad, first1=Henry Clay, title=History of the State of Delaware, Volume 2, date=1908, page=650, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkYVAAAAYAAJ, access-date=12 September 2017 {{cite book, last1=Burns, first1=James B., title=Railroad Mergers and the Language of Unification, date=1998, publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group, isbn=9781567201666, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H_YEIj8AMEcC, access-date=12 September 2017 {{cite web , url=http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2016/10/19-delmarva , title=UPDATED: New short line to take over NS's Delmarva Secondary , publisher=Trains Magazine , date=October 19, 2016 , access-date=September 12, 2017 {{cite book, editor1-last=Thomas, editor1-first=Selma, title=Delaware: an inventory of historic engineering and industrial sites, date=1975, publisher=US Department of the Interior, pages=20, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxD0cNU0FTcC, access-date=14 September 2017 {{cite book, last1=Hansen, first1=Jess, title=Smyrna, Clayton, and Woodland Beach, date=2013, publisher=Arcadia Publishing, isbn=9781467120333, page=8, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fRv5AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8, access-date=14 September 2017 {{cite book, last1=Clemons, first1=Denise, title=A Culinary History of Southern Delaware: Scrapple, Beach Plums and Muskra, date=2016, publisher=Arcadia Publishing, isbn=9781625858153, pages=35, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skB8DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA35, access-date=15 September 2017 {{cite book, last1=Hayman, first1=John C., title=Rails Along The Chesapeake: A History of Railroading on the Delmarva Peninsula, 1827-1978, date=1979, publisher=Marvadel Publishers, asin=B0006DXHV0 {{cite book, last1=Badger, first1=Tom, last2=Badger, first2=Curtis, title=Accomack County, date=2009, publisher=Arcadia Publishing, isbn=9780738567846, page=77, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xc5sGWx3FSIC&pg=PA77 {{cite news, title=Opening of the Delaware Railroad to Middletown, url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12890341/1855_sep_5_delaware_railroad/, access-date=17 September 2017, work=Public Ledger, date=September 5, 1855, location=Philadelphia, via=

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

{{free access {{cite news, title=Lease of the Delaware Railroad, url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13876144/the_news_journal/, access-date=20 September 2017, work=The News Journal, date=February 16, 1910, location=Wilmington, DE, page=2, via=

{{free access {{cite book, title=Annual Report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs: Railroad, canal, navigation, telegraph and telephone companies. Part 4, date=1908, publisher=Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs, pag
215
url=https://archive.org/details/annualreportsec10affagoog, access-date=20 September 2017 {{NRISref, version=2013a, refnum=83000843 {{NRISref, version=2010a, refnum=80000931 Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Defunct Delaware railroads