Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas!

East New Market, MD Update

Back in December 2018, I had a post on the former East New Market, MD station & the shot was kinda far away. Here's a closer shot of the station taken recently at kilduffs.net.

East New Market, MD station, kilduffs.net collection

Shifting Seaford - Today

As a follow-up to my October 2020, post on Seaford, DE - here's what the location looks like today (on November 4, 2020) at the former Southern States, now Perdue plant.

Welded rail has replaced the jointed rail & you can also see the track structure - no weeds!

Seaford, DE Perdue Plant on November 4, 2020, by J.F. Walder

PRR Branchline Passenger Train in Seaford in 1939

PRR Class H9s 1296 at Seaford, DE in 1939, by an William Grant, North East Rails collection.

PRR Class H9s (2-8-0) 1296 at Seaford, DE on the Cambridge Secondary Track in 1939, by William Grant, North East Rails collection. The station's roof can be seen in the background (above the tender). The Main Line (between Wilmington, DE & Cape Charles, VA) can be found in the background, just below the telephone pole on the extreme right side of the photo (the Nanticoke River bridge is off the photo, to the right).

Follow along as I try to narrow down what train this could be: Being the photo's from 1939, but without an exact date, one can assume it's from late April to September 1939 (because the leaves are still on the trees in the background). Also, with how the sun is striking the locomotive in the photo, this has to be in the afternoon (from the west, behind the photographer - we're looking east). Without a date, we can't narrow down what day of the week it is, so that's a complete guess on my part.

So, looking at just the April 30, 1939; June 1, 1939; and September 24, 1939, PRR Public Timetables, this could either be Train #492 (weekdays) or #494 (Sunday only). In both the April & September Public Timetables, the train would arrive in Seaford from Cambridge, MD at 2:55 PM. In the June Public Timetable, the train would arrive in Seaford at 2:09 PM.

So, this has to be the train returning from Cambridge in the afternoon to either let off passengers or to get in position for the next day's run [Train #493 (weekdays) or #495 (Sunday only)].

Man! If I only knew the exact date, it would make life a lot easier.

The 1296 was assigned to the Delmarva Division from as early as May 1939 (& possibly earlier) until November 1944.

Shifting in Seaford

PRR Class BS-12m 8747 at Seaford, DE in the late 1950's or early 1960's, by an unknown photographer, Jim Bowden collection.

PRR Class BS12m (Baldwin S-12) 8747 on what is now the modern-day Delmarva Central Railroad's Cambridge Industrial Track at what is today the Perdue plant in Seaford, DE in the late 1950's early 1960's, by an unknown photographer, Jim Bowden collection. We're looking towards Cambridge, MD & the Seaford station is behind the photographer (the Nanticoke River is off to the left).

Today, Perdue uses the Nanticoke River & trucks to serve this plant. Rail cars haven't been parked on the sidings for at least twenty years now & there doesn't appear to be any changes to Perdue's plan anytime soon. This building still stands today, but it doesn't appear to be in use. There's silos behind the overhead conveyor today - those are used. The building - not so much.

Look at those box cars being used in grain service!

Flying Switch

Here's a video of a PRR local performing a "flying switch" (frowned upon by management, but necessary when there's no physical way to run-around a train to spot a car in a facing point switch). It was posted by Ed Calvello on Facebook's "The Newtown Square Branch & Cardington Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad." It's pretty neat. Take a look at the 37 second video here (I think you have to be registered on Facebook to see it):

PRR Flying Switch or a Drop 

Cambridge Wholesale - Is it E.M. Skinner & Company?

Cambridge, MD from a 1937 Dalin Aerial Survey, Hagley Museum collection. Maryland Avenue is located on the bottom & Hayward Street can be seen going up on the left.

Ah the elusive “angled building” (as I like to call it). It's been a mystery in my research about the building you see to the left side of the photo, across from the block of 4 box cars on the right (it's also been the banner photo for 4 years now). It's dark & angles not only off of Hayward Street, but also along the PRR's tracks. I guessed at what the building was, but without a lot of information, it was just guesses.

Portion of the 1930 Sandborn Map of Cambridge, MD. Cambridge Wholesale is the large pink/red block on the center, bottom of the photo.

Then Patrick Kelly shared a Sanborn Map of Cambridge from 1930 & lo & behold – it's Cambridge Wholesale (thank you Patrick)! He shared the Sanborn map with me back in May 2020 & you can clearly see “Cambridge Wholesale” on the map.

Portion of the 1918 Sandborn Map of Cambridge, MD. Lots 217 & 219 can be seen centered in the photo.

Take a look at the 1918 Sandborn Map. You'll notice that Lot 217 & 219 are occupied by residential buildings, but in the 1930 Sanborn Map, Cambridge Wholesale occupies both lots.

I don't have a ton of information on Cambridge Wholesale other than they dealt with getting groceries wholesale & selling & distributing to the surrounding area. They don't show on the PRR's C.T. 1000 E, dated November 1, 1923 (which makes sense because they're not showing in the 1918 Sandborn Map, but show on the 1930 Sandborn Map). I don't know how long they were in business, but they don't show on the PRR's C.T. 1000 E, May 1, 1945, but E.M. Skinner, Jr. & Company does.

So now this begs the question – did Cambridge Wholesale change hands & become the E.M. Skinner, Jr. & Company? E.M. Skinner was also a wholesale grocer.

Looks like I need to do more research, but this appears to be a start.

Who Loves You Baby?

Frank Sinatra at Columbia Records Recording Studio

Frank Sinatra or the "Chairman" may ask, "Who loves you baby?," but he's also staring out waiting for a post on the PRR Cambridge Secondary Track page.

He's been waiting for 2 months now!

Um, the dog ate my homework, so I forgot (I'm not kidding) to write-up something for both June & July 2020. I guess I'll correct that for August 2020.

Stay tuned!

Port of Cambridge

A post on the "Cambridge Maryland Memories - come share yours" Facebook group in late May 2020, got me thinking of the siding that ran from the station across Maryland Avenue & out to the mouth of Cambridge Creek.

Not only did the siding serve the Cambridge Shipbuilders and the Cambridge Manufacturing Company, the Port of Cambridge was built off of this line & DORCO (Dorchester Fertilizer & Lime Company - they changed their name to "DORCO" sometime between 1951-1952) also were on this single siding off of the Cambridge Secondary.

Specifically, DORCO's facility burned in 1963, and was purchased and rebuilt by the Baugh Company who continued fertilizer production from 1964 to 1965. Kerr-McGee purchased the plant in 1965, and continued fertilizer production until the plant closed in 1977. In 1978, the Arundel Corporation purchased the plant and used it for the storage of aggregate for concrete operations.

Today, you wouldn't recognize the location of all of this industry, but some of the buildings from the Shipbuilders and the Manufacturing companies still stand as part of the boatyard off of Hayward Street.

Cambridge Shipbuilders and Cambridge Manufacturing Company in the late 1940 by H. Robins Hollyday, Talbot County Historical Society.

Cambridge Shipyard and DORCO in Cambridge, MD in 1963 by William D. Brightwell.

Cambridge Yacht Club, Cambridge Creek where it meets the Choptank River, Cambridge, MD in the 1960s by Walter C. Thurston, Jr.

Port of Cambridge, Cambridge, MD in the (early) 1960s by an unknown photographer.

M&D in Cambridge

I'm posting a few photos by Al Moran of trips he made to Cambridge, MD back in the early 2000's of the Maryland & Delaware Railroad's operations. Of course, the M&D doesn't go all of the way into Cambridge today, but it's nice to look back when trains actually operated into town.

M&D 1202 (RS3M) preparing to turn on the wye at Cambridge, Md on October 23, 2000, by Al Moran.

M&D 1202 has been turned and is now ready to head east to work the industries in Cambridge, Md on October 23, 2000, 

by Al Moran.

M&D 2628 (CF7) working Corrpak in Cambridge on October 16, 2006, by Al Moran.

M&D 2628 shuffling some cars around at the runaround in Cambridge on October 16, 2006, by Al Moran.

It was decided back in 2016, that the M&D would embargo the line & stop running from just a little bit past Hurlock, MD into Cambridge. The last tank cars from Corrpak had to be taken off their freight car trucks & trucked to Federalsburg, MD & then put back on their trucks to be interchanged to the Delmarva Central Railroad in Seaford, DE back in 2018.

April 2020 Here Comes the Sun!

I've got to quote George Harrison (of The Beatles fame), so "Here Comes the Sun" for April 2020!

The Beatles "Abbey Road" (1969)

The stuff I had to deal with in March 2020, is behind me now so it's back to railroad research & model railroading. I'll post something here soon (I still have to decide on a topic).

Stay tuned!

March 2020 Blahs

I don't know what Blogger is doing, so excuse me for posting this post in this format (I can't fix it for some reason or another). For March 2020, I'm really not going to post anything this month. I've got some personal stuff to deal with (it's not bad or life-ending, just stuff), so I'm holding off until April 2020, for the next historically-based post. Sorry about this.

Man, this format is driving me batty!!!

Passenger Train in 1935

Here's a photo of a PRR passenger train heading either to or from Cambridge, MD in 1935, that's from the collection of Erick Windsor. According to Erick, it's between Linkwood, MD & Aireys, MD. It's hard to tell which direction the train is traveling, but being it's running with its tender on the opposite end of the cars, it appears that the locomotive hadn't gone around the wye at Phillips Packing Company. Maybe the crew ran around the train downtown by the station, & pulled it towards Phillips Packing to unload passengers? Again, this is a guess.

Also note that there is a lot of cars on this train. From the operational information I can gather, typical passenger trains on this line at this time averaged two coach cars & a baggage/railway post office car, but this is a fairly large train. Was it a special for the Phillips Packing company? Was it for someone else (like DuPont back in Seaford, DE)? Was their a special event in Cambridge to warrant running a train of this length? Was the special event in Seaford? Unfortunately, as of this date, I can't determine the back story on this photograph.

PRR passenger train at Cambridge, MD in 1935, Erick Windsor collection.

Seaford, DE During the Railroad Strike of 1967

Seaford, DE in 1967, facing northeast around No Name Road crossing, Jim Bowden collection.

I'm being lazy for the month of January 2020, so here's a photo by Jim Bowden of Seaford, DE (roughly around the No Name Road crossing, looking northeast) of the yard during a national strike in 1967, by an unknown photographer. Take a look at the road names on those cars!