The Eastern Shore Railroad, Inc. was a Class III short-line railroad that began operations in October 1981 on the former Virginia and Maryland Railroad line on the Delmarva Peninsula. The line ran between Pocomoke City, Maryland, and

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 ...

, interchanging with 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 ...

at both ends. Delmarva had been previously served by the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Company (NYP&N) led by William Lawrence Scott which ran south down the peninsula to a freight depot, terminal and harbor at the headland point at Cape Charles, Virginia, a town which it founded and laid out in 1883–84. A ferry barge system then operated crossing the lower Chesapeake Bay to the Norfolk piers. The NYP&N was later absorbed by 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 ...

, which dominated the eastern U.S. along with the New York Central Railroad and the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

in the first half of the 20th century. A rail ferry service was used to span the water route across the Chesapeake Bay between Cape Charles and Norfolk. The ferry service used two barges (car floats) of 25 and 15 car capacity, moved by contracted tug boats. This car float operation has been in continuous service since April 1885, and is one of only two remaining in the United States (the other being New York New Jersey Rail, LLC). The Eastern Shore Railroad was taken over in February 2006 by Cassatt Management, LLC., and was operated and renamed as the Bay Coast Railroad. The Bay Coast Railroad operated the line until May 18, 2018. In June 2018, the Delmarva Central Railroad took over the portion between Pocomoke City and Hallwood, Virginia where the remaining customers were located. Service on the Norfolk side was taken over by the Buckingham Branch Railroad. Image:ESHR2014.jpg, LLPX 2014, a leased EMD GP38, was used for switching the ferry terminal in Little Creek, Virginia. Image:ESHR8096.JPG, ESHR 8096, a GP10, named the "Cape Charles" was parked at the headquarters in

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

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Defunct Maryland railroads Defunct Virginia railroads Spin-offs of Conrail {{US-rail-transport-stub

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