Merry Christmas & Happy Chanukah!

Merry Christmas & Happy Chanukah folks! May you enjoy your friends and family during the holiday!

1947 Pennsylvania Railroad's "Twas the night before Christmas..." advertisement painted by Jerome Rozen (1895-1987).

East New Market

Here's a photo of the, then, Philadelphia, Baltimore & Wilmington Railroad's East New Market, MD station in 1919, by an unknown photographer.

PB&W East New Market, MD station in 1919 by an unknown photographer

East New Market was located at MP 19.9 (south from Seaford, DE) on the Cambridge Secondary Track. That put the station 12.9 miles north of Cambridge or 104.2 miles from Wilmington, DE . Note that the directions are railroad employee timetable directions.

The builder of the line, the Dorchester & Delaware Railroad (D&DRR), reached East Newmarket (the town's original spelling until February 1885) sometime between October 12, 1868, & November 1868, but it wasn't ready to see its first passenger train until a year later - November 8, 1869 (the first revenue passenger train run).

Here's a photo of the East New Market station on September 29, 2012, by William T. Miller:

East New Market station on September 29, 2012, by William T. Miller

East New Market is the burial place for “Captain” Thomas B. Sherman (1811-1885), a director of the D&DRR [with William Wilson Byrn (1811-1886)]. Captain Sherman was a farmer, fruit grower, & a large property owner in the town of Cambridge, MD, who also started the Sherman's Collegiate Institute in the 1840's, but by the turn of the century, the Institute closed. In 1860, he received permission, by a Maryland State Legislature act, to build a wharf on the north side of Indian Creek and “charge reasonable wharfage fees for the use thereof” in Cambridge, MD.  He was allowed to extend the wharf far enough into the creek for steamboats and other vessels to enter. The wharf was used for steam shipping between Dorchester County and Baltimore, MD in the second and third quarters of the 19th Century. He received the nickname “Captain” after building the wharves.

Happy Thanksgiving 2018!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

"Main Lines of Commerce," by Grif Teller (1951)

Preservation Maryland's 2018 Plans for the Phillips Packing Company in Cambridge, MD

Wow! I absolutely love the plan for the former Phillips Packing Company property in Cambridge, MD. They're going to include the old smokestacks that are still standing today. It a shame there's no chance of getting a rail-served industry back in town, but boy is this impressive!

Chesapeake Bay Magazine 11.6.18 Phillips Packing House Named Threatened Historic Place

2018 Hurlock (MD) Fall Fest Train Ride Update

Here's an update on the 2018 Hurlock Fall Fest Train rides on Saturday, 10/6/18. Note that only the first 70 people in line for the trains will be permitted to ride.

They had an issue with one of the passenger cars.

Here's a link to their website: http://www.hurlock-md.gov/

Hurlock (MD) 2018 Fall Festival

I may miss posting this every year, but mark the date: Saturday, October 6, 2018, for the Hurlock (MD) Fall Festival. The Maryland & Delaware Railroad will run trains between Hurlock, MD & Federalsburg, MD at 11 AM, 12:30 PM, 2 PM, 3:30 PM, & 5 PM.

Here's a link to the Visit Dorchester County website (run by the Dorchester County Office of Tourism):

https://visitdorchester.org/events/hurlock-fall-fest-train-rides-4/

Phillips Packing Company Army-Navy E Award from World War II

Phillips Packing Company ad for winning the Army-Navy E Award from World War II from the collection of Sally Glynn. It's hard to believe that twelve years after the war's end, Phillips Canning would be no more & part of Consolidate Foods.

I made mention of this award when I talked about Phillips Packing back in 2017, but it's neat to see this ad promoting the award.

Phillips Canning Ad for the Army-Navy E Award

Happy Labor Day 2018!

Mechanic on ladder servicing K4s engine, by Don Wood, undated photo, Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Collection

(Neg. 0391, Box 2, RR2016.18)

Happy Labor Day 2018 everyone! I'm sharing this photo from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It's a photo by the famous late Don Wood of a machinist working on a Class K4s (4-6-2). It's not labeled, but it could be in South Amboy, NJ in the early 1950's because that was a place that Don frequented at this time. Either way, what a neat shot (like a lot of Don's photos).

Cambridge, MD Station on June 10, 1965, by John P. Stroup

From the Morning Sun book: “Trackside on the PRR Delmarva Lines 1965-1967 with John P. Stroup”

This is a photo of the Cambridge station on June 10, 1965, by John P. Stroup on Page 113 of the excellent Morning Sun book “Trackside on the PRR Delmarva Lines 1965-1967 with John P. Stroup” (2008, ISBN 1-58248-162-8). It's located on (roughly) the corner of Trenton Street & Market Street/Maryland Avenue in downtown Cambridge, adjacent to Cambridge Creek.

If you haven't read or own a copy of this book (or the other Morning Sun book “Pennsylvania Railroad Facilities in Color, Volume 4: Chesapeake Division" by Robert J. Yanosey [2009]), you need to buy it.

At the time of John's photo, the PRR had already sold the station to Trailways bus company & they were using it as a ticket agency & bus stop. It would change hands over the years & now is occupied by Charles C. Powell Realtors.

What I like with this shot is that you can see the PRR's freight station adjacent to the passenger station. Look at the "Railway Express" sign on the side of the building facing the passenger station! The PRR was using the freight station as a freight agency & the crew sign-up location for the trains running on the Secondary Track (down to only one crew at this time in the PRR's history).

Unfortunately, the freight station doesn't stand today, but it's neat to see things from the past. (Man - I wish I owned that "Railway Express" sign!).

Happy 4th of July 2018!

"Declaration of Independence," by John Trumbull, 1818

Happy 4th of July everyone! This the "Declaration of Independence," by John Trumbull in 1818 (oil on canvas, 12' x 18'). It was placed in the U.S. Capitol's Rotunda in 1826. What's interesting is this actually depicts June 28, 1776 (not July 4, 1776 as a lot of folks [including me] thinks is the actual date of this painting).

Phillips Delicious Soup Pirate

Phillips Delicious Soup Pirate

I find this undated Phillips Delicious advertisement (possibly in the late 1920's or 1930's?) just so darned cute! This young little lady (dressed as a pirate) is holding a can of "Pepper Pot" soup & they used a Phillips Delicious cardboard box as the "treasure chest." Inside you can see a can of "Vegetable" & also a can of "Chicken Gumbo" soup.

What's interesting: notice the cardboard box is actually labelled for their "Tomato Juice" & not for soup.

This is Carol McCabe, daughter of the photographer George Levarn.

I'd love to know the actual date Phillips ran this advertisement.

http://www.dorchesterlibrary.org/digitization/?fbclid=IwAR3z3v8t_KmXTOcgUGfDmdNYx-auvbrmx8DJ3e5gDEUppN_207OVf1wjrtk

PRR Cambridge, MD Val Maps

I thought I'd post two ICC Valuation Maps (or Val Maps) for the track approaching & in Cambridge, MD from 1923 & 1924. Basically, the ICC wanted the railroads to show what property they owned (including structures) & their general track layout. 

PB&W.DRR.v03.MD-68 c1923 Delaware Div Cambridge Branch 200g, PRRT&HS files

The first map is the approach from the south & it is from 1923 & it shows the wye at the Phillips Packing Company.

PB&W DRR.v03.MD-69 c1924 Delaware Division Cambridge Branch - Cambridge, MD, PRRT&HS files

This second map is downtown Cambridge in 1924. The 2 tracks on the top of the diagram (above the circled #1) go to the team tracks used by various industries that didn't have direct rail access (i.e., small seafood & agricultural jobbers, hardware stores, etc.). The track on the bottom right goes to Cambridge Manufacturing & Dorchester Fertilizer. The track going straight across the Maryland Avenue crossing & to the harbor (where it says, "end of track") went to E.M. Skinner, Jr. & Company (wholesale grocers).

The track didn't change much, other than there were sidings added around Phillips Packing Company &, in Cambridge, the yard had a few tracks removed & one of the team tracks actually became a siding for several companies (more on that on another post).

Modern-Day Cambridge Cannery Park

This is a really neat plan for the former Phillips Packing Company property in Cambridge. I love the fact that they're going to put pavers down to make it look like the track is still there. Awesome!

Here's a link to their flyer:

http://visitdorchester.org/wp-content/uploads/Cannery-Park-Master-Plan-Flyer-050818.pdf

Dorchester & Delaware Railroad Combination Car of 1874

Here's a really neat builder's photo of the Dorchester & Delaware Railroad's combination smoking, baggage, & mail car at Jackson & Sharp Works in Wilmington, DE in 1874 (the exact date is not known). This is from the Delaware Public Archives collection. She arrived in the D&D's 5th year of operations.

Dorchester & Delaware Railroad Baggage car in 1874, Jackson & Sharp Works builders photo, 

Delaware Public Archives collection.

I'd love to build this car as a display item (it's a little too early for my model railroad operations). Of course, that Bachmann American-type (4-4-0) still looks enticing as a “W. Wilson Bryn” stand-in. Although it would require a lot of re-working the boiler, moving the stack & headlight forward, replacing the tender trucks, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Dorchester & Delaware Railroad's "W. Wilson Byrn" on an unknown date, an unknown location & by an unknown photographer, Delaware Department of Transportation collection.

Bachmann Trains' DCC Ready (HO American 4-4-0) Pennsylvania Railroad 51005, Bachmann Trains photo.

I can always dream.

PC 7757 Heading to Seaford, DE in 1975

PC 7757 on train D-200 near Seaford, DE on the Cambridge Branch in 1975, by Jim Shaw (Ed Sharpe collection)

Here is Penn Central GP38 7757 on train D-200 heading railroad northward (geographically eastward) near Seaford, DE on the Cambridge Branch in 1975, by Jim Shaw (Ed Sharpe collection).

What's interesting is that PC kept the former Pennsylvania Railroad job symbols right up until the formation of Conrail.

Although not published in the employee timetables anymore (that stopped after the PRR Chesapeake Region ETT #10 in April 1961), the D-200 signed-up in Cambridge & ran daily (except Sunday) to Seaford, DE. It operated to Preston, MD on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays & to Vienna, MD on Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Saturdays. It returned to Cambridge as the D-201.

The 7757 (built by EMD in August 1969, B/N 35384) is one of 6 GP38's that were assigned to the Delmarva to replace the old former PRR Baldwin S-12's. This would be PC 7754-7759 block of GP38's. All of these GP38's would make it to Conrail, only to be sold to the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad in the early 1980's. She would become P&LE 2036 (then to Central Oregon & Pacific 5536, & then Northeast Kansas & Missouri 3860 & I'm not sure where she is now being the Northeast Kansas & Missouri sold their line to the Union Pacific back in 1999).

While working on the design work for the layout, I've (more than once) thought to be able to operate the layout during different eras. The Penn Central era will definitely be one of them & I'm slowly gathering equipment to do this.

Phillips Packing Company by the J. Victor Dallin Aerial Survey Company on May 7, 1937

Here's another photo from my files of Phillips Packing Company by the J. Victor Dallin Aerial Survey Company on May 7, 1937, from the Hagley Museum and Library (ID 70_200_09931). Dallin (& Company) took a lot of photos in May 1937 around Cambridge. This is looking northeast (roughly).

Phillips Packing Company by the J. Victor Dallin Aerial Survey Company on May 7, 1937, from the Hagley Museum and Library (ID 70_200_09931)

Cannery Park Restoration in Cambridge Begins

More plans for the former Phillips Packing Company property in Cambridge, MD. I can't wait to see what happens to this property. This news item is from WBOC16 (Salisbury, MD) on January 23, 2018.

Cannery Park Restoration in Cambridge Begins