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106-667: The DCR operates on 188 miles (303 km) of trackage on the Delmarva Peninsula in the states of Delaware , Maryland , and Virginia . The DCR's main line runs 113.79 miles (183.13 km) from Porter, Delaware south to Pocomoke City, Maryland on the Delmarva Subdivision, with the section leading into Pocomoke City called the Pocomoke Industrial Track. The main line trackage continues south 14.8 miles (23.8 km) from Pocomoke City to Hallwood, Virginia on

212-519: A classification system for their freight cars. Similar to their locomotives, the Pennsy used a letter system to designate the various types and sub-types of freight and maintenance cars. As noted, Pennsy colors and paint schemes were standardized. Locomotives were painted in a shade of green so dark it seemed almost black. The official name for this color was DGLE (Dark Green Locomotive Enamel), though often referred to as "Brunswick Green." The undercarriage of

318-462: A clause in the charter granted only that part of the peninsula that had not already been colonized by Europeans by 1632. Over a century later, it was decided in the case of Penn v Lord Baltimore that, because the Dutch had colonized Zwaanendael in 1631, the portion of Maryland's charter granting Delaware to Maryland was void. The peninsula was the premier location for truck farming of vegetables during

424-588: A continuous railroad line ran between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh over the tracks of several entities including the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1853, the Pennsy was granted trackage rights over the Philadelphia and Columbia, providing a connection between the two cities and connecting with the HPMtJ&;L at Lancaster and Columbia. By 1854, the Pennsy completed its line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, eliminating

530-660: A government-guaranteed $ 200 million operating loan forced Penn Central to file for bankruptcy protection on June 21, 1970. In May 1971, passenger operations, including equipment, were transferred to a new government-subsidized company called the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, or Amtrak . This was devised to relieve the Penn Central (and other railroads) of money-losing passenger service. Penn Central rail lines, including ex-Pennsy lines, were transferred to Conrail in 1976, and eventually Amtrak received

636-505: A marketing and business unit to improve customer service and operating efficiency as well as attract customers on its trackage in Delaware and eastern Maryland. The Delmarva Business Unit consisted of 191 miles (307 km) of trackage running between Newark, Delaware and Edgemoor Yard in Wilmington, Delaware , Wilmington and Pocomoke City, and Harrington and Frankford. The business unit, which

742-540: A multi-modal freight transportation subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It owned oil tanker cars and used them to transport refined oil for mostly independent oil refiners during the era of John D. Rockefeller's and Standard Oil's oil refinery mergers of the 1870s. The company also owned grain freight boats on the Great Lakes and oil pipelines in the oil regions of Pennsylvania . When the company attempted to buy and build some oil refineries in 1877, Standard Oil bought

848-469: A percentage of its capital stock. Several lines were then aided by the Pennsy in hopes to secure additional traffic. By the end of 1854, the Pennsy purchased stock in the Ohio & Pennsylvania, Ohio & Indiana, Marietta & Cincinnati, Maysville & Big Sandy, and Springfield, Mt. Vernon & Pittsburgh railroads, totalling $ 1,450,000 (equivalent to $ 49.2 million in 2023). The Steubenville & Indiana

954-835: A series of railroads, inclined planes, and canals was proposed. The route consisted of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad , canals up the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, an inclined plane railroad called the Allegheny Portage Railroad , a tunnel across the Allegheny Mountains , and canals down the Conemaugh and Allegheny rivers to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , on the Ohio River; it was completed in 1834. Because freight and passengers had to change conveyances several times along

1060-499: A stake in Madison Square Garden . The company began to acquire a portfolio of insurance companies in 1988. In 1994, the company reorganized as American Premier Underwriters , a subsidiary of American Financial Group , which continues to operate as a property and casualty insurance company as-of January 2024. Thomson (1808–1874) was the entrepreneur who led the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1852 until his death in 1874, making it

1166-451: A variation of Southern American English which is particularly prevalent in rural areas. Delmarva is driven by agriculture and commercial fishing. Most of the land is rural, with a few large population centers, though tourism has been an important part of the region. Delmarva has longstanding Catholic roots, but now Protestants are more numerous, with Methodism being particularly strongly represented. Numerous Catholic churches dating to

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1272-591: Is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the United States , occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Eastern Shore of Virginia . The peninsula is 170 miles (274 km) long. In width, it ranges from 70 miles (113 km) near its center, to 12 miles (19 km) at the isthmus on its northern edge, to less near its southern tip of Cape Charles . It

1378-660: Is a list of some of the notable cities and towns on the peninsula. At its southern tip, the Delmarva Peninsula is connected to Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads , Virginia, via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel which opened in 1964. The bridge tunnel is owned and administered by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District .     State capital and county seat ‡     County seat † At various times in history, residents of

1484-522: Is a rare breed of chicken created on the peninsula. Tourism is a major contributor to the peninsula's economy with the beaches at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware , Ocean City, Maryland , Assateague Island National Seashore , Maryland, and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge , Virginia, being popular tourist destinations. Salisbury University also adds to the economic activity of the Delmarva, with an estimated $ 480 million in contribution impact. The University

1590-753: Is a subsidiary of Carload Express, a shortline operator based in Oakmont, Pennsylvania that also owns the Allegheny Valley Railroad and the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad . Local management of the DCR is based in Harrington while freight operations are based in Dover, Delaware , Harrington, Seaford, and Delmar, Delaware . The DCR consists of 30 employees. The mainline of the DCR between Porter and Delmar

1696-639: Is bordered by the Chesapeake Bay on the west, Pocomoke Sound on the southwest, and the Delaware River , Delaware Bay , and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. The population of the twelve counties entirely on the peninsula totals 818,014 people as of the 2020 census. In older sources, the peninsula between Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay was variously known as the Delaware and Chesapeake Peninsula or simply

1802-460: Is overshadowed by proximate major airports in Baltimore and Philadelphia. Its airports include Wilmington Airport southwest of Wilmington, Delaware, Salisbury Regional Airport to the southeast of Salisbury, Maryland, and Dover Air Force Base to the southeast of Dover, Delaware. Major north–south highways include U.S. 9 , U.S. 13 , U.S. 50 and U.S. 301 . Highways U.S. 50 and U.S. 301 run over

1908-561: Is the largest four year comprehensive on the Eastern Shore , and serves as the largest employer other than Perdue supporting an estimated 3,200 jobs. The area is served by four television markets. Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, Caroline and Talbot Counties in Maryland are primarily served by the Baltimore , Maryland, designated market area and stations WBAL-TV , WJZ-TV , WMAR-TV and WBFF-TV . New Castle and Kent Counties in Delaware are served by

2014-609: The Broadway Limited which became the most famous train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad. This train ran from New York City to Chicago, via Philadelphia, with an additional section between Harrisburg and Washington (later operated as a separate Washington–Chicago train, the Liberty Limited ). In 1890, the Pennsylvania Railroad gained control of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (PCC&StL), itself

2120-618: The Cape Charles, Virginia , ferry docks and it ran the Cavalier counterpart night train. At that point, ferries ran to Norfolk, Virginia . In earlier decades branches ran to Centreville, Maryland ; Oxford, Maryland ; Cambridge, Maryland ; Georgetown and Lewes, Delaware ; and to Franklin City, Virginia . Today, the Delmarva Central Railroad provides freight and tanker transportation on

2226-603: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge on the western side of the peninsula. U.S. 13 at the southern limit of the peninsula connects through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel to the main part of Virginia. Until 1957, the Pennsylvania Railroad provided service to the peninsula. It ran the Del-Mar-Va Express day train from New York City, through Wilmington , Dover , Delmar, Salisbury , and Pocomoke City to

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2332-708: The Chesapeake Peninsula . The toponym Delmarva is a clipped compound of Delaware , Maryland , and Virginia ( official abbreviation VA ), which in turn was modeled after Delmar , a border town named after Delaware and Maryland. While Delmar was founded and named in 1859, the earliest uses of the name Delmarva occurred several years later (for example on February 10, 1877, in The Middletown Transcript newspaper in Middletown, Delaware ) and appear to have been commercial and booster -driven; for example,

2438-642: The Congressional Limited s in both directions were the first trains in regular electric operation between New York and Washington, drawn by the first of the GG1 -type locomotives . In 1934, the Pennsylvania received a $ 77 million loan from the New Deal 's Public Works Administration to complete the electrification project begun in 1928. Work was started January 27, 1937, on the main line from Paoli to Harrisburg;

2544-632: The Delmarva Heat, Light, and Refrigerating Corp. of Chincoteague, Virginia , was in existence by 1913 —but general use of the term did not occur until the 1920s. At the northern point of the peninsula there is a geographic fall line that separates the crystalline rocks of the Piedmont from the unconsolidated sediments of the Coastal Plain. This line passes through Newark, Delaware , and Wilmington, Delaware , and Elkton, Maryland . The northern isthmus of

2650-549: The Hudson River tunnels . The next area to be electrified was the Philadelphia terminal area, where Pennsy officials decided to use overhead lines to supply power to the suburban trains running out of Broad Street Station . Unlike the New York terminal system, overhead wires would carry 11,000-volt 25-Hertz alternating current (AC) power, which became the standard for future installations. On September 12, 1915, electrification of

2756-623: The Indian River inlet in Delaware. The upper peninsula and the Chesapeake shore was the home of Nanticoke -speaking people such as the Nentigo and Choptank . The Assateague and Nentigo made a number of treaties with the colony of Maryland, but the land was gradually taken and those treaties dissolved for the use of the colonists, and the native peoples of the peninsula assimilated into other Algonquian tribes as far north as Ontario . Currently,

2862-581: The Maryland Senate . The following year, a Caroline County representative proposed allowing the Eastern Shore to secede via referendum, but the Maryland House of Delegates voted 60–5 to indefinitely postpone the measure, and that proposal was never taken up again. In 1851, Dorchester County delegate and future Maryland Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks proposed an amendment that would give the Eastern Shore

2968-1081: The Maryland and Delaware Railroad in Townsend, Seaford, and Frankford. Products carried by the railroad include grain, propane, building materials, and bulk products. The railroad occasionally operates unit coal trains to the Indian River Power Plant operated by NRG Energy near Millsboro, Delaware , running as needed. Other unit trains operated by the DCR include grain trains to Allen Harim Foods near Seaford and Mountaire Farms in Frankford and Princess Anne, Maryland , and aggregate stone trains to H&K Group's Dagsboro Stone Depot in Dagsboro. The Delmarva Central Railroad provides freight service to over 50 customers. The Delmarva Central Railroad operates with 14 locomotives, consisting of EMD GP38-2 , EMD MP15AC , and EMD SD40-2 models. The DCR had EMD GP11 locomotives on

3074-725: The Northeast Corridor and Keystone Corridor lines. After Conrail was divided between the Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation , most of the former Pennsy's remaining trackage went to Norfolk Southern. The few parts of the Pennsylvania Railroad that went to CSX after the Conrail split were: After 1976, the Penn Central Corporation held diversified non-rail assets including the Buckeye Pipeline and

3180-664: The Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, designated market area and stations WPVI-TV , WCAU-TV , KYW-TV and WTXF-TV . Sussex, Dorchester, Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset Counties are served by the Salisbury, Maryland , designated market area, the only based on the peninsula. These stations are WBOC-TV , WMDT-TV , and WRDE-LD . Accomack and Northampton Counties are primarily served by the Norfolk / Virginia Beach designated market area and stations WAVY-TV , WVEC-TV and WTKR-TV . The peninsula has minor airports with few commercial carriers, as it

3286-694: The Piedmont region transitions into the coastal plain. Its Atlantic Ocean coast is formed by the Virginia Barrier Islands in the south and Cape Henlopen in the north, encompassing Ocean City, Maryland, and the Delaware Beaches from Fenwick Island to Lewes. The peninsula has a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ) according to the Köppen climate classification . According to the Trewartha climate classification ,

Delmarva Central Railroad - Misplaced Pages Continue

3392-676: The Senator from Boston to Washington. On July 1, 1869, the Pennsylvania Railroad leased the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway (PFtW&C) in which it had previously been an investor. The lease gave the Pennsy complete control of that line's direct route through northern Ohio and Indiana as well as entry into the emerging rail hub city of Chicago, Illinois . Acquisitions along the PFtW&;C: Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad , Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, Toledo, Columbus and Ohio River Railroad, and Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Ashtabula Railway gave

3498-576: The Union Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads. Its only formidable rival was the New York Central Railroad (NYC), which carried around three-quarters of the Pennsy's ton-miles. In 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with New York Central and the railroad eventually went by the name of Penn Central Transportation Company , or "Penn Central" for short. The former competitors' networks integrated poorly with each other, and

3604-648: The 0.6-mile (0.97 km) Mill Street Industrial Track in Salisbury, and the 1.2-mile (1.9 km) Crisfield Industrial Track in Kings Creek, Maryland . The DCR also has trackage rights on Norfolk Southern Railway tracks from Porter to Tasker near New Castle, Delaware . The DCR interchanges with the Norfolk Southern Railway in Clayton for mixed freight and Tasker for unit trains. There are also interchanges with

3710-537: The 17th century are still operating, such as Old Bohemia Church, which is dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier in Cecil County, Maryland . There are several historically significant Episcopalian churches, such as Old Trinity Church in southern Dorchester County and Christ Church in Cambridge, Maryland . The border between Maryland and Delaware, which resulted from the 80-year-long Penn–Calvert Boundary Dispute , consists of

3816-491: The 19th and early 20th centuries. Though it has been largely eclipsed by California's production, the area still produces significant quantities of tomatoes , green beans , corn , soybeans — Queen Anne's County is the largest producer of soy beans in Maryland—and other popular vegetables. The Eastern Shore is also known for its poultry farms, the most well-known of which is Perdue Farms , founded in Salisbury. The Delaware

3922-461: The 20th century, the Pennsy tried electric power for its trains. Its first effort was in the New York terminal area, where tunnels and a city law restricting the burning of coal precluded steam locomotives. In 1910, the railroad began operating a direct current (DC) 650-volt system whose third-rail powered Pennsy locomotives (and LIRR passenger cars) used to enter Penn Station in New York City via

4028-736: The B&;O's rights void the following August. In 1847, the Pennsy's directors chose J. Edgar Thomson , an engineer from the Georgia Railroad , to survey and construct the line. He chose a route that followed the west bank of the Susquehanna River northward to the confluence with the Juniata River, following its banks until the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains were reached at a point that would become Altoona, Pennsylvania . To traverse

4134-399: The DCR took over operations from the Bay Coast Railroad on trackage owned by the Canonie Atlantic Corporation between Pocomoke City and Hallwood after the Bay Coast Railroad ceased operations on May 18, 2018. The DCR took over the portion of the Bay Coast Railroad between Pocomoke City and Hallwood in order to continue rail service to the remaining customers along the line. On January 1, 2019,

4240-421: The DCR took over operations from the Delaware Coast Line Railroad between Ellendale and Milton and Georgetown and Cool Spring, having won the bid to operate the lines under contract from the State of Delaware. On March 18, 2020, DCR announced that they were awarded a federal grant of $ 18.8 million to refurbish three moveable bridges (the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Lift Bridge near Middletown, Delaware ,

4346-524: The Delaware River from Philadelphia) to South Amboy, New Jersey (across Raritan Bay from New York City), as well as a newer line from Philadelphia to Jersey City, New Jersey, much closer to New York, via Trenton, New Jersey. Track connection in Philadelphia was made via the Pennsy's Connecting Railway and the jointly owned Junction Railroad . The Pennsy's Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road opened on July 2, 1872, between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. This route required transfer via horse car in Baltimore to

Delmarva Central Railroad - Misplaced Pages Continue

4452-424: The Delmarva Industrial Track. A branch line runs 39.0 miles (62.8 km) from a junction with the Delmarva Subdivision in Harrington, Delaware to Frankford, Delaware on the Indian River Subdivision to Dagsboro, Delaware and then on the Dagsboro Industrial Track to Snow Hill, Maryland. From the Indian River Subdivision, the Milton Industrial Track branches east from Ellendale, Delaware to Milton, Delaware and

4558-432: The Delmarva Peninsula have proposed that its Maryland and Virginia portions secede from their respective states, merging with Kent County and Sussex County, Delaware, to create the state of Delmarva. A Delmarva State Party with this aim was founded in 1992. A combined population with the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia, with the aforementioned two Delaware counties, would be about 750,000, or 921,739 in 2020, roughly

4664-400: The Delmarva Peninsula help to document a pre-Clovis presence in the Middle Atlantic region. Thus, these sites suggest a human presence in the Middle Atlantic region during the Last Glacial Maximum . In 1970 a stone tool (a biface ) said to resemble Solutrean stone tools was dredged up by the trawler Cinmar off the east coast of Virginia in an area that would have been dry land prior to

4770-441: The Lewes Industrial Track branches east from Georgetown, Delaware to Cool Spring, Delaware . Smaller lines operated by the DCR include the 0.4-mile (0.64 km) Oxford Industrial Track in Clayton, Delaware , the 2.3-mile (3.7 km) Cambridge Industrial Track in Seaford, Delaware , the 3.65-mile (5.87 km) Willards Industrial Track in Salisbury, Maryland , the 0.65-mile (1.05 km) Mardela Industrial Track in Salisbury,

4876-405: The New York Central Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad absorbed the New York Central and eventually went by the name of Penn Central Transportation Company . The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) required that the ailing New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NH) be added in 1969. A series of events including inflation, poor management, abnormally harsh weather, and the withdrawal of

4982-499: The PRR began passenger train service from New York City via Philadelphia to Washington with limited stops along the route. This service became known as the "Congressional Limited Express." The service expanded, and by the 1920s, the Pennsy was operating hourly passenger train service between New York, Philadelphia and Washington. In 1952, 18-car stainless steel streamliners were introduced on the Morning Congressional and Afternoon Congressional between New York and Washington, as well as

5088-420: The Pacific Ocean to a company of colonists in a series of charters from 1606 to 1611. This included a piece of the peninsula. The land was transferred from the Duke of York to William Penn in 1682 and was governed with Pennsylvania . The exact border was determined by the Chancery Court in 1735. In 1776, the counties of Kent , New Castle , and Sussex declared their independence from Pennsylvania and entered

5194-414: The Pennsy access to the iron ore traffic on Lake Erie. On June 15, 1887, the Pennsylvania Limited began running between New York and Chicago. This was also the introduction of the vestibule, an enclosed platform at the end of each passenger car, allowing protected access to the entire train. In 1902 the Pennsylvania Limited was replaced by the Pennsylvania Special which in turn was replaced in 1912 by

5300-443: The Pennsy owned 439 freight cars. By 1857, it had 1,861 cars, and in 1866, 9,379 cars. Freight equipment was either acquired new from builders or built by the railroad itself. The Pennsy acquired more cars from the railroads it absorbed. In some instances, privately owned cars were either purchased from a builder or railroad acquisition. One such example was the 1877 purchase of Empire Transportation merchandise and oil cars. By

5406-412: The Pennsylvania Railroad did not raise enough capital and contract to build enough railroad within a year, then the B&O bill would become effective and the Pennsy's void, thereby allowing the B&O to build into Pennsylvania and on to Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania Railroad fulfilled the requirements and Letters Patent were issued by the Pennsylvania governor on February 25, 1847. The governor declared

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5512-411: The Pennsylvania Railroad gained control of the Northern Central Railway , giving it access to Baltimore, Maryland , and points along the Susquehanna River via connections at Columbia, Pennsylvania, or Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On December 1, 1871, the Pennsy leased the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company , which included the original Camden and Amboy Railroad from Camden, New Jersey (across

5618-446: The Pocomoke to the Atlantic Ocean. All three counties in Delaware, New Castle (partially), Kent , and Sussex , are located on the peninsula. Of the 23 counties in Maryland, nine are on the Eastern Shore : Kent , Queen Anne's , Talbot , Caroline , Dorchester , Wicomico , Somerset , and Worcester , as well as a portion of Cecil County . Two Virginia counties are on the peninsula: Accomack and Northampton . The following

5724-419: The Seaford moveable bridge in Seaford, Delaware, and the Cassatt moveable bridge in Pocomoke City, Maryland), upgrade over 100 miles (160 km) of track along their main line, and improve nine grade crossings in Delaware and Maryland. Delmarva Peninsula 38°30′N 75°40′W  /  38.500°N 75.667°W  / 38.500; -75.667 The Delmarva Peninsula , or simply Delmarva ,

5830-413: The Spanish believed the Chesapeake to be an opening to the fabled Northwest Passage . However, a storm thwarted their attempts at establishing a colony. The land that is currently Delaware was first colonized by the Dutch West India Company in 1631 as Zwaanendael . That colony lasted one year before a dispute with local Indians led to its destruction. In 1638, New Sweden was established which colonized

5936-414: The United States as the state of Delaware . In the 1632 Charter of Maryland, King Charles I of England granted "all that Part of the Peninsula, or Chersonese, lying in the Parts of America, between the Ocean on the East and the Bay of Chesapeake on the West, divided from the Residue thereof by a Right Line drawn from the Promontory, or Head-Land, called Watkin's Point, situate upon the Bay aforesaid, near

6042-420: The University of Delaware. These factors led Stanford and Bradley to reiterate in 2014 their academic advocacy of pre-Clovis peoples in North America and their possible link to paleolithic Europeans. Native settlements relocated as natural conditions dictated. They set up villages – scattered groups of thatch houses and cultivated gardens – where conditions favored farming. In the spring they planted crops, which

6148-419: The average capacity of a Pennsylvania Railroad freight car increased from 31 to 54 short tons (28 to 48 long tons; 28 to 49 t). This increased to 55 short tons (49 long tons; 50 t) in the mid-1930s and then to 56 short tons (50 long tons; 51 t) in 1945. By the start of 1946, the Pennsy's freight car ownership decreased to 240,293 cars and in 1963, down to 140,535. The Pennsylvania Railroad used

6254-406: The company. The controlling, non-institutional shareholders of the PRR during the early 1960s were Henry Stryker Taylor , who was a part of the Jacob Bunn business dynasty of Illinois, and Howard Butcher III, a principal in the Philadelphia brokerage house of Butcher & Sherrerd (later Butcher & Singer). On February 1, 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with its longtime arch-rival,

6360-403: The east–west Transpeninsular Line and the perpendicular north–south portion of the Mason–Dixon line extending north to just beyond its tangential intersection with the Twelve-Mile Circle which forms Delaware's border with Pennsylvania . The border between Maryland and Virginia on the peninsula follows the Pocomoke River from the Chesapeake to a series of straight surveyed lines connecting

6466-503: The electrified trackage are still in use, owned and operated by Amtrak as the Northeast Corridor and Keystone Corridor high-speed rail routes, by SEPTA , and by NJ Transit . The Pennsylvania Railroad's corporate symbol was the keystone , the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's state symbol, with the letters "PRR" intertwined inside. When colored, it was bright red with a silver-grey inline and lettering. The Pennsylvania Railroad bought its first 75 freight cars in 1849. Two years later,

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6572-476: The end of the century, a third and fourth track were added. Over the next 50 years, the Pennsy expanded by gaining control of other railroads by stock purchases and 999-year leases. At the end of its first year of operation, the Pennsylvania Railroad paid a dividend, and continued the dividend without interruption until 1946. The Pennsy's charter was supplemented on March 23, 1853, to allow it to purchase stock and guarantee bonds of railroads in other states, up to

6678-468: The first passenger train, the Metropolitan, went into operation over the newly electrified line from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. On April 15, the electrified freight service from Harrisburg and Enola Yard east was inaugurated, thus completing the Pennsy's eastern seaboard electrification program. The railroad had electrified 2,677 miles (4,308 km) of its track, representing 41% of the country's electrically operated standard railroad trackage. Portions of

6784-401: The following month. As a result of the acquisition, Carload Express purchased 17 additional locomotives. The DCR began operations in December 2016. In December 2016, the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association union filed a protest with the STB over the transaction, claiming that it did not have the resources to safely operate, but the STB dismissed the case in March 2017. In June 2018,

6890-547: The largest business enterprise in the world and a world-class model for technological and managerial innovation. He served as the Pennsy's first Chief Engineer and third President. Thomson's sober, technical, methodical, and non-ideological personality had an important influence on the Pennsylvania Railroad, which in the mid-19th century was on the technical cutting edge of rail development, while nonetheless reflecting Thomson's personality in its conservatism and its steady growth while avoiding financial risks. His Pennsylvania Railroad

6996-414: The largest corporation in the world, on par with the London & North Western Railway . Over its existence, Pennsylvania Railroad acquired, merged with, or owned part of at least 800 other rail lines and companies. At the end of 1926, it operated 11,640.66 miles (18,733.83 kilometers) of rail line; in the 1920s, it carried nearly three times the traffic as other railroads of comparable length, such as

7102-541: The lettering and outlining was originally done in real gold leaf. After World War II, the lettering was done in a light shade of gold, called Buff Yellow. For most of its existence, the Pennsylvania Railroad was conservative in its locomotive choices and pursued standardization, both in locomotive types and their component parts. Almost alone among U.S. railroads, the Pennsy designed most of its steam locomotive classes itself. It built most of them at Altoona Works , outsourcing only when Pennsy facilities could not keep up with

7208-409: The line from Philadelphia to Paoli, Pennsylvania, was completed. Other Philadelphia lines electrified were the Chestnut Hill Branch (March 30, 1918), White Marsh (1924), the main line to Wilmington, Delaware (September 30, 1928), West Chester (December 2, 1928), Trenton line (June 29, 1930), and completed on July 20, 1930 the Schuylkill Branch to Norristown, Pennsylvania, later followed by

7314-423: The line served the coal region of southern Illinois and as a passenger route for the Pennsylvania Railroad's Blue Ribbon named trains The St. Louisan , The Jeffersonian , and the Spirit of St. Louis . By 1906, the Pennsylvania built several low-grade lines for freight to bypass areas of steep grade (slope) and avoid congestion. These included: Some other lines were planned, but never completed: Early in

7420-448: The line temporarily, until operations were well underway, and the October 2018 issue of Railpace magazine noted on page 9 that the last two GP11s on the DCR had departed. DCR 2005 and 2007 were interchanged to Norfolk Southern at Clayton on July 25, 2018, for movement back to the home rails of parent company Carload Express. The magazine added that the DCR now has "an adequate number" of MP15s and GP38s to handle local chores. The railroad

7526-405: The locomotives were painted in black, referred to as "True Black." The passenger cars of the Pennsy were painted Tuscan Red , a brick-colored shade of red. Some electric locomotives and most passenger-hauling diesel locomotives were also painted in Tuscan Red. Freight cars of the Pennsy had their own color, known as "Freight Car Color," an iron-oxide shade of red. On passenger locomotives and cars,

7632-649: The low-grade freight line from Morrisville through Columbia to Enola Yard in Pennsylvania; the Port Road Branch from Perryville, Maryland, to Columbia; the Jamesburg Branch and Amboy Secondary freight line from Monmouth Junction to South Amboy; and the Landover-South End freight line from Landover, Maryland, through Washington to Potomac Yard in Alexandria, Virginia. In less than a year, on January 15, 1938,

7738-634: The merged product of numerous smaller lines in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Commonly called the Panhandle Route , this line ran west from Pittsburgh to Bradford, Ohio , where it split, with one line to Chicago and the other to East St. Louis, Illinois , via Indianapolis, Indiana . In 1905, the acquisition of the Vandalia Railroad gave the Pennsy access across the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri . Double-tracked for much of its length,

7844-448: The mid-1860s, the railroad had 9,379 freight cars; a decade later, 32,718; the mid-1880s, over 49,000; 1896, more than 87,000. The Pennsy changed its car reporting methods around 1900. The railroads owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad system were now included in reports, in addition to the Pennsylvania Railroad proper. So, in 1900, the Pennsy had over 180,000 freight cars; by 1910, 263,039. The zenith of freight car ownership

7950-460: The mountains, the line would climb a moderate grade for 10 miles (16 km) until it reached a split of two mountain ravines which were cleverly crossed by building a fill and having the tracks ascend a 220-degree curve known as Horseshoe Curve that limited the grade to less than 2 percent. The crest of the mountain would be penetrated by the 3,612 ft (1,101 m) Gallitzin Tunnels , from which

8056-519: The native people would abandon the site and move to another location. The primary Indigenous peoples of the ocean side of the lower peninsula prior to the arrival of Europeans were the Assateague , including the Assateague, Transquakin, Choptico , Moteawaughkin, Quequashkecaquick, Hatsawap, Wachetak, Marauqhquaick, and Manaskson. Their territories and populations ranged from Cape Charles, Virginia , to

8162-469: The next day, ending Pennsylvania Air Line service. In the early 1880s, the Pennsylvania acquired a majority of PW&B Railroad's stock. This action forced the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) to build the Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad to keep its Philadelphia access, where it connected with the Reading Company for its competing Royal Blue Line passenger trains to reach New York. In 1885,

8268-411: The north and Salisbury, Maryland , near its center. Including all offshore islands, the largest of which is Kent Island in Maryland , the total land area south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is 5,454 sq mi (14,130 km ). At the 2000 census the total population was 681,030, giving an average population density of 124.86 inhabitants per square mile (48.21/km ). Cape Charles forms

8374-620: The northern half has a temperate or oceanic climate ( Do ). The culture of Delmarva is starkly different from the rest of the Mid-Atlantic region and is much like that of the Southern United States . While the northern portion of Delmarva, such as the Wilmington metro area, is similar to the urban regions of Philadelphia, the Maryland, Virginia, and "Slower Lower" Delaware counties are more conservative than their "mainland" counties. It has been suggested that Delmarva residents have

8480-552: The northern part of the state, together with the Delaware Valley . Eventually, the Dutch, who had maintained that their claim to Delaware arose from the colony of 1631, recaptured Delaware and incorporated the colony into the Colony of New Netherland . However, shortly thereafter Delaware came under British control in 1664. James I of England had granted Virginia 400 miles of Atlantic coast centered on Cape Comfort , extending west to

8586-565: The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 and the beginnings of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in 1828, Philadelphia business interests became concerned that the port of Philadelphia would lose traffic. The state legislature was pressed to build a canal across Pennsylvania and thus the Main Line of Public Works was commissioned in 1826. It soon became evident that a single canal would not be practical and

8692-533: The other lines heading north from the city. On June 29, 1873, the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel through Baltimore was completed. The Pennsylvania Railroad started the Pennsylvania Air Line service ("air line" at the time being understood as a nearly-straight and nearly-flat route with distance similar to "as the crow flies") via the Northern Central Railway and Columbia, Pennsylvania. This service

8798-537: The peninsula is transected by the sea-level Chesapeake and Delaware Canal . Several bridges cross the canal, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel join the peninsula to mainland Maryland and Virginia, respectively. Another point of access is Lewes, Delaware , reachable by the Cape May–Lewes Ferry from Cape May , New Jersey . Dover, Delaware , is the peninsula's largest city by population. The main commercial areas are Dover in

8904-455: The peninsula is within the traditional territory of the Piscataway , Nentego, and Lenape peoples. In 1566, an expedition sent from Spanish Florida by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés reached the Delmarva Peninsula. The expedition consisted of two Dominican friars, thirty soldiers and an indigenous Virginia boy, Don Luis , in an effort to set up a Spanish colony in the Chesapeake. At the time,

9010-439: The peninsula. 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. At its peak in 1882, the Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest railroad (by traffic and revenue), the largest transportation enterprise, and

9116-511: The population of South Dakota . Including New Castle County, Delaware , the combined population would be 1,492,458 in 2020, roughly the population of Hawaii or New Hampshire . Legislative attempts to break away the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and join them with Delaware were made several times. In November 1776, delegates from the Eastern Shore attempted to insert a clause into the Maryland Declaration of Rights that would allow

9222-445: The railroad filed for bankruptcy within two years. Bankruptcy continued and on April 1, 1976, the railroad gave up its rail assets, along with the assets of several other failing northeastern railroads, to a new railroad named Consolidated Rail Corporation , or Conrail for short. Conrail was itself purchased and split up in 1999 between the Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation , with Norfolk Southern getting 58 percent of

9328-466: The railroad's needs. In such cases, subcontractors were hired to build to PRR designs, unlike most railroads that ordered to broad specifications and left most design choices to the builder. The Pennsy's favorite outsourced locomotive builder was Baldwin Locomotive Works , which received its raw materials and shipped out its finished products on Pennsy lines. The two companies were headquartered in

9434-440: The rest of the main line to Trenton, New Jersey. In 1928, PRR's president William Wallace Atterbury announced plans to electrify the lines between New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Harrisburg. In January 1933, through main-line service between New York and Philadelphia/Wilmington/Paoli was placed in operation. The first test run of an electric train between Philadelphia and Washington occurred on January 28, 1935. On February 1

9540-414: The right to vote itself into Delaware, but the amendment failed 51–27. Some studies have shown that Native Americans inhabited the peninsula from about 10,000 BC to 8000 BC – since the last ice age . Recent research indicates that Paleoamericans inhabited Maryland during the pre-Clovis period (before 13,000 BP ). Miles Point, Oyster Cove, and Cator's Cove archaeological sites on the coastal plain of

9646-613: The rising sea levels of the Pleistocene Epoch. The tool was allegedly found in the same dredge load that contained a mastodon 's remains. The mastodon tusks were later determined to be 22,000 years old. However, studies conducted on nearby Parsons Island demonstrate that the stratigraphy of the region is disturbed. In addition several archaeological sites on the Delmarva peninsula with suggestive (but not definitive) dating between 16,000 and 18,000 years have been discovered by Darrin Lowery of

9752-795: The river Wigloo, on the West, unto the main Ocean on the East; and between that Boundary on the South, unto that Part of the Bay of Delaware on the North, which lieth under the Fortieth Degree of North Latitude from the Equinoctial, where New England is terminated" to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore , as the colony of Maryland. This would have included all of present-day Delaware ; however,

9858-514: The route and canals froze in winter, it soon became apparent that the system was cumbersome and a better way was needed. There were two applications made to the Pennsylvania legislature in 1846. The first was for a new railroad called The Pennsylvania Railroad Company to build a line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The second was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), which wanted to build to Pittsburgh from Cumberland, Maryland. Both applications were granted with conditions. If

9964-643: The route descended by a more moderate grade to Johnstown . The western end of the line was simultaneously built from Pittsburgh, eastward along the Allegheny and Conemaugh rivers to Johnstown, while the eastern end was built from Harrisburg to Altoona. In 1848, the Pennsy contracted with the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mountjoy and Lancaster Railroad (HPMtJ&L) to buy and use equipment over both roads, providing service from Harrisburg east to Lancaster. In 1851, tracks were completed between Pittsburgh and Johnstown. In 1852,

10070-520: The shore counties to secede from Maryland, with the clause being defeated 30–17. In 1833, the secession movement came close to succeeding: a Delaware resolution proposing the Eastern Shore of Maryland be absorbed into Delaware passed the Delaware Senate and Delaware House of Representatives , then passed the Maryland House of Delegates with a 40–24 vote, but failed to be voted out of committee by

10176-539: The southern tip of the peninsula in Virginia . The entire Delmarva Peninsula falls within the Atlantic Coastal Plain , a flat and sandy area with very few or no hills; the highest point in the peninsula is only 102 ft (31 m) above sea level. The fall line , found in the region southwest of Wilmington, Delaware, and just north of the northern edge of the Delmarva Peninsula, is a geographic borderland where

10282-430: The system, including nearly all of the remaining former Pennsylvania Railroad trackage. Amtrak received the electrified segment of the Main Line east of Harrisburg. The Penn Central Corporation held several non-rail assets which it continued to manage after the formation of Conrail. It reorganized in 1994 as American Premier Underwriters , which continues to operate as a property and casualty insurance company. With

10388-647: The use of the inclined planes of the Allegheny Portage Railroad. In 1857, the PRR purchased the Main Line of Public Works from the state of Pennsylvania. This purchase included 275 miles (443 km) of canal, the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad, and the New Portage Railroad (which replaced the now abandoned Allegheny Portage Railroad). The Pennsy abandoned most of the New Portage Railroad in 1857 as it

10494-423: The women and children tended while the men hunted and fished. In the fall they harvested crops, storing food in baskets or underground pits. During the harsh winter, whole communities would move to hunting areas, seeking the deer, rabbit and other game that kept them alive until the spring fishing season. When the farmland around their villages became less productive – the inhabitants did not practice crop rotation –

10600-464: Was 54.5 miles (87.7 km) longer than the old route but avoided the transfer in Baltimore. The Union Railroad line opened on July 24, 1873. This route eliminated the transfer in Baltimore. Pennsy officials contracted with both the Union Railroad and the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) for access to this line. The Pennsy's New York–Washington trains began using the route

10706-537: Was assisted by the Pennsy in the form of a guarantee of $ 500,000 worth of bonds. In 1856, a controlling interest was purchased in the Cumberland Valley Railroad and the Pennsy constructed additional lines in Philadelphia. In 1857, the aforementioned Main Line of Public Works was purchased for $ 7,500,000 ($ 245 million in 2023). The Empire Transportation Company was founded in 1865 by Joseph D. Potts and became

10812-530: Was headquartered in Wilmington, had its own local management team. In October 2016, the Norfolk Southern Railway selected Carload Express to lease and operate its Delmarva Peninsula trackage between Porter and Pocomoke City and Harrington and Frankford in an effort to turn around the underperforming lines. The DCR filed its application to begin operations with the Surface Transportation Board (STB)

10918-548: Was in his day the largest railroad in the world, with 6,000 miles of track, and was famous for steady financial dividends, high quality construction, constantly improving equipment, technological advances (such as replacing wood fuel with coal), and innovation in management techniques for a large complex organization. The railroad's other presidents were: The Pennsylvania Railroad's board chairman/CEOs were: The railroad's vice-presidents were: The Pennsy's main line extended from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1861,

11024-470: Was now redundant with the Pennsylvania Railroad's own line. In 1861, the Pennsy leased the HPMtJ&L to bring the entire stretch of road between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia under its control. The Johnstown to Pittsburgh stretch of canal was abandoned in 1865 and the rest of the canals sold to the Pennsylvania Canal Company in 1866. The main line was double track from its inception, and by

11130-672: Was originally part of the Delaware Railroad while the mainline south of there was part of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad . These lines were later acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad and passed to the Penn Central Transportation Company in 1968, Conrail in 1976, and the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1999. On April 1, 2006, the Norfolk Southern Railway established the Delmarva Business Unit as

11236-416: Was reached in 1919 when the Pennsy owned a reported 282,729 freight cars. Steel in freight car construction began during the later part of the 19th century, when cars were now being built with a steel underframe and wooden bodies or were all steel. The Pennsy steadily replaced their wooden cars with steel versions until there were no more wooden cars by 1934. During the first quarter of the 20th century,

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