The New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad was a railroad that owned and operated a line that ran down the spine of the

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

from

Delmar, Maryland Delmar is a town in Wicomico County, Maryland, United States. The population was 3,003 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. When the population is added to Delmar, Delaware, the ...

Cape Charles, Virginia Cape Charles is a town / municipal corporation in Northampton County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,178 as of the 2020 census us, 2020 Census. History Cape Charles, located close to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, on Eastern Sh ...

and then by

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

. It became part of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as 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. At its ...

system.

History

The idea of a railroad on the Eastern Shore dated back to the 1853 when the North and South Railroad was chartered by the Virginia legislature. It never initiated construction and in 1878 the Peninsula Railroad of Virginia acquired the rights. In 1882 the NYP&N was created by consolidating the unbuilt Peninsula Railroad Company of Maryland and the Peninsula Railroad of Virginia to create a railroad from the existing southern terminus at Pocomoke City to Norfolk. The rail line to Pocomoke City had been built in stages, first by the

Delaware Railroad The Delaware Railroad Company (DRC) was a railroad company that operated in the US state of Delaware from the mid-1850s until 1976, during which time it was the largest in the state. Its original main line began in Bear, Delaware and extended sout ...

and then by the

Eastern Shore Railroad The Eastern Shore Railroad, Inc. was a Class III railroad, Class III short-line railroad that ran trains on the former New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad line on the Delmarva Peninsula between Pocomoke City, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virgin ...

. The Delaware Railroad was only allowed to construct a rail line within the state of Delaware. After it reached Delmar in 1859, the 1835 charter of the Eastern Shore was revived and, in 1866 - after the disruption of the Civil War, the Eastern Shore extended the line to

Crisfield, Maryland Crisfield is a city in Somerset County, Maryland, United States, located on the Tangier Sound, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. The population was 2,515 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statis ...

. It built a branch from a point at Kings Creek, called Peninsular Junction, to Pocomoke City in 1871; but it struggled and it was foreclosed on in 1879. The NYP&N was the vision of

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, coal magnate, who wanted to build a shorter railroad route between the coal wharves of

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is 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 Point near whe ...

by utilizing a ferry line 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 parts of the Ea ...

and a railroad line up the Delmarva Peninsula to the industrial north. His plan was to continue the rail line from Pocomoke City to Cape Charles and use a rail ferry to reach Norfolk. Scott enlisted engineering help from

Vice-President, Alexander J. Cassatt, who saw the merits of the plan and took a hiatus from PRR to work on the new line. Cassatt surveyed the line on horseback, designed ferries and wharves, and acquired other railroads, most notably the Eastern Shore Railroad. Work began on the line south of Pocomoke City in April of 1884 and the line to what would become Cape Charles was ready for operation on October 25, 1884. Two weeks later the first passenger steamer left Cape Charles for Norfolk. The same year it absorbed the Eastern Shore Railroad. The next year the railroad started using barges, or car floats, to carry railroad cars to Norfolk via Port Norfolk(Portsmouth). The Cape Charles Railroad, a subsidiary of the NYP&N, was incorporated on March 24, 1906 and began building a rail line from a point just east of Cape Charles, which became known as Cape Junction, down the peninsula a few years later. They opened the line to Townsend by December 1, 1910 and it opened to Kiptopeke on March 8, 1912. This was the furthest south any railroad ever reached on the peninsula. The Cape Charles Railroad was folded into the parent company in 1917. The NYP&N was always affiliated with the PRR which would eventually take control of it. In addition to Cassatt the PRR financed construction of the rail line.Staufer, Alvin F., Edson, D. William, and Harley, E. Thomas. Pennsy Power lll. Staufer. In 1908 it purchased a controlling share of the NYP&N's stock. In 1920 it took over operations with a 999-year lease and in 1922 it converted the railroad into the "Norfolk Division" of the Pennsylvania Railroad. When the PRR reorganized in 1930, The Norfolk Division became part of the

Delmarva Division The Delmarva Division is the set of railroads on the Delmarva Peninsula of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia that were part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) through most of the 20th Century. The lines were built by several different companies and t ...

. In 1940, the United States Army built Fort Winslow just south of Kiptopeke and the following summer, the PRR laid track into the fort.

Passenger service

Through the first half of the 20th century, several trains a day ran along the train line. From the 1920s to the 1950s, the PRR operated the day train, the ''

Del-Mar-Va Express The ''Del-Mar-Va Express'' was a named passenger train of the Pennsylvania Railroad that at its peak went from New York City to the southernmost point of the Delmarva Peninsula, Cape Charles, Virginia. Initiated in 1926, the train's north–sout ...

,'' and the night train, the ''Cavalier.'' At peak levels in the mid-1940s, the company also operated southbound, the ''Furlough,'' and an additional night train, the ''Mariner,'' in addition to unnamed local trains. Northbound the PRR added the ''Sailor,'' the ''Mariner'' night train, and an unnamed local train. The PRR began to scale back passenger service in 1949 when they close several stations on the line, including Kiptopeke, Townsend, Capeville, Bayview, Weirwood, Keller, Melfa, Hopeton, Bloxom and Mears. The passenger ferry service from Cape Charles was shut down on March 1, 1953 and by 1957 all that remained was a once-a-day

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

–Cape Charles train. In 1958, passenger rail south of Delmar ended and after the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened in 1964 all ferry service from Kiptopeke ended.

Ferry service

The original ferry crossing was 36 miles. Both passenger and freight ferries existed. Up to 30 freight cars could be loaded on flat barges pulled by a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

for the trip. The original passenger ferries, ''Cape Charles'' & ''Old Point Comfort'', side-wheeler paddle steamers, could hold an entire train on their two tracks. In 1889 the ''New York'' the first propeller-driven ship, 200 feet long, 31 feet beam was built for the run to Norfolk, and in 1890 the ''Pennsylvania'', a larger vessel (260 feet long, 36 feet beam) was added. In 1907 the ''Maryland'' was built with the same dimensions, and the last ship was the ''Virginia Lee''. Because the NYP&N had trouble getting other railroads to interchange with it, it orchestrated the creation of the Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad in 1898, to serve as a "neutral" terminal switching company and interchange rail cars between the various competing railroads near the Elizabeth River. In 1926 the NYP&N built the Little Creek Extension and acquired tracking rights over Norfolk Southern Railroad from the Little Creek inlet, which cut the crossing distance to 26 miles. In 1953, the railroad cancelled rail ferry service from Cape Charles and instead used a ferry running between Kiptopeke and Little River.

Demise

In 1956, the PRR and Norfolk Southern tried to get the planned Chesapeake Bay Tunnel to include railroad tracks but were unsuccessful and when the tunnel opened it dealt a serious blow to rail demand on the peninsula. In 1968 the railroad moved with all of the other PRR properties to the

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

, where the NYP&N ceased as an entity. The Penn Central declared bankruptcy just two years later. Penn Central abandoned the Cape Charles-Kiptopeke branch, which was down to two agricultural supply customers, in 1972. The Nature Conservancy purchased the abandoned right-of-way in 1985 and the track was removed. The remaining rail line became part of

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 busine ...

which first made plans to abandon the rail line south of Pocomoke City, but Northampton and Accomack counties intervened and moved operations between a series of short line railroads. The Virginia and Maryland Railroad owned the line and operated freight service on it between

Pocomoke City, Maryland Pocomoke City, dubbed "the friendliest town on the Eastern Shore", is a city in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland, United States. Although renamed in a burst of civic enthusiasm in 1878, the city is regularly referred to by i ...

, and

from 1977 to 1981. In 1981 the

took over operations and, to keep the line running, Northampton and Accomack counties bought the line in 1986. In 2006, Cassatt Management, LLC. took over the ESHR and changed the name to the

Bay Coast Railroad The Bay Coast Railroad was a Class III short-line railroad that ran trains on the former New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad line on the Delmarva Peninsula between Pocomoke City, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia, interchanging with the N ...

. It ceased operations on May 18, 2018 and 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 Ha ...

took over operations. It merged the line from Pocomoke City to

Hallwood, Virginia Hallwood is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 206. History Wessells Root Cellar was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Geography Hallwood is located at ...

into its Delmarva Subdivision and abandoned the line between Hallwood and Cape Charles. Service on the Norfolk side was taken over by the

Buckingham Branch Railroad Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad operating over 275 miles (443 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headquarters are in Dill ...

Legacy

Railroad

The railroad from Pocomoke City to Hammond is an active rail line owned by Canonie Atlantic Company, which is in turn owned by the Accomack-Northampton Transportation District Commission (A-NTDC). Delmarva Central Railroad operates it.

Rail Trails

The Surface Transportation Board approved the abandonment of the Hallwood-Cape Charles section on 31 October 2019 and in 2021 the state began removing the track. In 2020, VDOT produced a feasibility study for converting the 49 mile long right-of-way into a shared use path called the

Eastern Shore Rail Trail Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

. VDOT started work on two segments of the trail, totaling 3.5 miles in length, in May 2025 and plan to complete it in Summer 2026. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service oversees the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge and has converted most of the right-of-way between Cape Charles and Kiptopeke into the

Southern Tip Bike & Hike Trail The Southern Tip Hike & Bike Trail is a , shared-use rail trail that runs from Capeville, Virginia, to the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. It was built by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the abandoned right-of-way of t ...

and plans to build more. The Nature Conservancy donated part of the easement and land for the trail and the Service constructed 5 miles of trail, in two phases, in 2011 and 2019. The trail extends from the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge north to Capeville Road in

Capeville, Virginia Capeville is an unincorporated community in Northampton County, Virginia, United States. The Arlington Archeological Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal ...

. Future phases are planned to extend the trail all the way to Cape Charles and may or may not use the right-of-way. Along this right-of-way, several bridges and culverts from the railroad remain.

Buildings

Several stations remain * Salisbury Union Station - used for commercial purposes. * Bloxom railroad station - the Cape Charles Museum and Welcome Center built a replica of this station, including roof supports salvaged from the original building, next to their museum. * Hopeton Train Station - The former Hopeton, Virginia station was donated to Parksley in 1988, moved there and restored as part of the Eastern Shore Railway museum. * Onley Historic Train Station - was restored by a local historical group in 2011-15 and is now used by them. * Belle Haven depot - Depot was moved to

Exmore, Virginia Exmore is the largest town in Northampton County on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds gove ...

, after the Exmore station was destroyed by fire * Nassawadox depot - Depot was moved to Smith Beach, Virginia where it still stands. * Cape Junction Depot - used to stand at Cape Junction where the Cape Railroad connected to the NYP&N line, was moved to a nearby farm. *Townsend Railroad Depot - was moved from its original location. The Cape Charles Museum and Welcome Center collection consists of thousands of photographs, documents and objects, many of which relate to the railroad. The pilot house from the barge Captain Edward Richardson, which used to ferry railcars across the Chesapeake, is located on the grounds next door. The Cape Charles Railroad yard was cleared for development and all of its contents sold, donated or scrapped. The owner of the Capeville Station intentionally burned it down in 2018 after they were issued a dangerous structure notice from Northampton County, but the locked safe was salvaged for the Cape Charles Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New York, Pennsylvania and Norfolk Railroad (NYPandN) Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Defunct Virginia railroads Defunct Maryland railroads Defunct Delaware railroads