Happy Thanksgiving 2021!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! The photo is a PRR advertisement from 1946 entitled, "Vacation begins when you step aboard the train!"

PRR's "Vacation begins when you step aboard the train!" from 1948.

PRR Track Charts

 Just wanted to show some PRR track charts of the Cambridge Secondary Track:

This is the section from Cambridge, MD to Linkwood, MD.

This is the section from East New Market, MD to Williamsburg, MD.

This is the section between Federalsburg, MD & Oak Grove, DE.

This is the section from Oak Grove, DE to Seaford, DE.

One interesting take-away from the maps is that the ruling grade for the entire line can be found in & out of Federalsburg (right around the Block Limit Sign "FED").

M-m-m Good Soup...best I ever tasted...it's Phillips Declicious!

Phillips Delicious Soup Advertisement with George Rector (1937).

This is a Phillips Delicious Soup advertisement from 1937 with George Rector. George (1878 - November 26, 1947) was a restaurateur, raconteur, and food authority, who wrote several cookbooks in the 1920s and 1930s. He had several articles in the Saturday Evening Post and also had a column that was published in 22 newspapers across the United States. He appeared on the radio on the Columbia Broadcasting System's (CBS's) “Dine with George Rector” and also played himself in at least one movie: “Every Day's a Holiday” (1937) with actress Mae West (wikipedia).

Cambridge Station Combo

I wanted to combine all of the shots I have on file of the Cambridge, MD station into one post (so it doesn't have to be searched throughout this blog).

This is a 1908 postcard of the Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Cambridge, MD station (facing west), Rudy Wilson collection.

U.S. Doughboys boarding a train at the Cambridge, MD depot (facing northeast) during WWI (Emerson Harrington Archives collection)

Cambridge, MD station (facing southwest) on June 10, 1965 by John P. Stroup from the Trackside on the PRR Delmarva Lines 1965-1967 (Morning Sun book).

Cambridge, MD station (facing northwest) in 2011 by the late Ed Sharpe.

PRR Cambridge, MD (facing southeast) on March 26, 2013 station by William T. Miller.

Cambridge, MD (facing southwest) in July 2014 by James E. Reaves.

DuPont Nylon Plant

Announced in December 1938, and opened on November 1, 1939 (production would begin December 12, 1939), the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company opened its Seaford, DE plant to produce Nylon. This was after Dr. Wallace Hume Carothers (1896-1937) first produced Nylon at the DuPont Experimental Station (in Wilmington, DE) in 1935.

The plant would focus production of nylon for parachutes and B-29 bomber tires during World War II, but after the war, the plant's production changed to DuPont's textile fiber program. DuPont's “Fiber X”, would be produced here in 1948 (later to be introduced as Dacron). In the mid-1980s, DuPont began downsizing at the plant and by 2003, sold its synthetic fiber division (now known as Invista), to Koch Industries, Inc. Invista still owns the plant, but rail service has been non-existent since 2003.

The first photo shows the building the DuPont plant in 1938-1939 by an unknown photographer (Jim Bowden collection).

The second undated shot is simply labelled the “DuPont Nylon Plant” by an unknown photographer (the Delaware Public Archives collection). Note the SHPX tank car in the foreground.

The last undated shot is through the stairs inside the DuPont plant, facing Woodland Road by an unknown photographer (Jim Bowden collection).

M&D #19 at Federalsburg, MD in 1983

Just another excellent shot by Richard W. Jahn of Maryland & Delaware Railroad (M&D) T6 number 19 in front of the M&D engine house in Federalsburg, MD in 1983. The Delaware Coast Line Railroad (DCLR) would end up buying her a few years later & I would run her until I left the DCLR in 1994. The DCLR still has her in Georgetown, DE, but she is up for sale.

Maryland & Delaware Railroad T6 #19 at Federalsburg, MD in 1983, by Richard W. Jahn

More on Phillips Packing Company

I'm going to continue more random musings about Phillips Packing Company in Cambridge, MD. 

June 1937 Strike at Phillips Packing Company, from "Cambridge Past & Present, A Pictorial History," by Donald L. Reid, Roger Guy Webster, & Hubert H. Wright IV, published by The Donning Company/Publishers in 1986 (ISBN 0-89865-491-2)

In the first photo, taken around the June 1937 strike at Phillips by an unknown photographer. I believe that is Washington Street crossing the railroad tracks in the photo. This can be found in the excellent book “Cambridge Past & Present, A Pictorial History,” by Donald L. Reid, Roger Guy Webster, & Hubert H. Wright IV, published by The Donning Company/Publishers in 1986 (ISBN 0-89865-491-2).

Phillips Packing Company Factory B office, Maryland Historic Trust D-710: Office, Factory B, Phillips Packing Company, Inc., Architectural Survey File, April 16, 1996

The next photo is the Phillips Packing Company Factory B office (with the smokestacks in the background) in 1996, by an unknown photographer from a Maryland Historic Trust document on the study of the former Phillips Packing ground (D-710: Office, Factory B, Phillips Packing Company, Inc., Architectural Survey File, April 16, 1996).