PRR Delmarva Branches - Assorted Questions

Hi All:

Just did some railfanning down on the Eastern Shore. Always great to get
down to God's Country and see what's left of the PRR down there.

A few questions come to mind:

1. Clayton - Easton. Is this formally abandoned? When was it last used? Why
are the rails still in place (I know it's railbanked, but it's been OOS for
at least the 25 years I've been railfanning the area.

2. Hurlock - Preston. Is this formally abandoned? When was it last used? My
photos from the 1990's show rusty track in Preston.

3. Hurlock - Vienna. Is this formally abandoned? When was it last used? I
know it was kept in place for that power plant in Vienna, right? But it's
been rusty and weedgrown since I've been coming down.

4. Ellendale - Milton. Now OOS and used for car storage, correct? When was
last freight customer? I was lucky and got to Milton one morning when the
DCL was making a run to the Conrail interchange. It was a long, slow, but
very fun cab ride out & back.

5.Clayton - Smyrna. When was this out of service?

6.Centerville - Centerville Junction. When was this line abandoned, and what
was it mainly used for?

7. Vienna - drawbridge. Anybody have any photos of this bridge? When was it
torn down?

8. Tanyard - drawbridge. Anybody have any photos of this bridge? When was it
torn down?

9. Love Point - anything left to see there? Can you still make out where the
pier was?

10. Henderson - I know that Goldsboro station used to be in the trailer park
there. But is there an actual "Henderson" station still standing in/around
Henderson?

11. Easton - can anybody talk about the junction between the PRR and the
BC&A? I'm guessing this was a diamond crossing, right?

12. Worton - Nicholson. When was this line abandoned, and what was it mainly
used for?

13. Chestertown - Belair. When was this line abandoned, and what was it
mainly used for?

Thanks in advance for any/all help given!

Frank Garon
BIG fan of the PRR in Delmarva

I am a relatively new employee of the MDDE, so I feel as if I can partly answer some of your questions.

#1 Yes, abandoned.

#2 The line is mostly abandoned, but you will see car storage on the line during the winter time. LPG tanks are parked there for Williamsburg. The sole customer on that line now uses the transload facility in Federalsburg.

#3 In the past 5-6 years. The MDDE moved a high wide transformer down that line to some point, where it was craned off and trucked to its final destination. Not sure where though.

#6 Not sure where you mean by Centreville Junction, but the last customer in town went offline about 1990 or so. In the next few weeks, the MDDE will be parking covered hoppers from the detention center east in anticipation of a good grain season. The MDDE has already brought about 55 C/Hs online (all PFMX marked - Perdue Farms), and we were told to expect about 175 cars for Perdue to be stored.

5. This line hosted a few experiments in the early days of the RDC as it was a very short branch connecting Smyrna to Clayton. It went oos when the gain mill in town closed in the 80's

7. I can't speak for photos, but it was abandoned in 1932. There was also a parallel vehicle drawbridge that was removed in the early 90's after the completion of US 50 around the town. There's a few traces of the old highway left in the marsh, but thats it.

8. That bridge was abandoned in 1938, dunno when it was removed.

9. The ROW at Love Point is just a grassy area now. There is a pier near where the ferry used to dock, but I'm not sure if its the original pier.

10. There is no other station in Henderson.

12 & 13. During the construction of the railroad into Chestertown the railroad was brought into town then extended west. A bypass was later constructed around the town leaving extra trackage which was then abandoned.

What branch used to service Crisfield?

1. Clayton - Easton. The last movement on this line was in October 1998 when the state arranged for a line-clearing move using a crew from the MD&DE RR and one of the two Whitcomb 80-ton centercabs of the Chesapeake RR. The CHRR had let its operating insurance lapse the previous summer and didn't run any more trains by itself. The two Whitcombs sat for years at the Clayton interchange and were badly vandalized before being shipped via TTX flatcar to Topton, PA, for use by a buff group's excursion operation. Instead, they were eventually scrapped in place a couple of years ago. The two privately-owned cabooses on the CHRR moved to the Walkersville Southern RR near Frederick, MD, in early 1999. A third caboose with fire damage reportedly is on display somewhere. A large ex-RF&P heavyweight car, in very poor condition, was probably scrapped at Clayton, and the former SAC car was reportedly to be purchased by an excursion railroad several states away, but I'm uncertain if the purchase ever actually took place or if it too was scrapped. The state has been slowly moving toward making the old right-of-way available as a trail.

2. Hurlock - Preston. A local gent in Hurlock has been working for years to get this route going as an excursion line, but the many hurdles he faces will probably be insurmountable.