It's surprising to see the condition of both the SW1 and NW2 through pictures. Were they burned as part of the vandalism done to the locomotives? The pictures suggest so.

It's especially sad to see the loss of the SW1. It had been based within Cairo for the better part of 40 years of its life, if the history I've found on it suggests correctly. It was based there with another under Penn Central and Conrail, possibly even with the New York Central.

I was digging through some stuff last night and ran across this. I guess it is even more of a collector's item now.

I started at the Eastern Shore in 2005. My first commercial railroad job. I was still active duty Navy, and just worked when I could.

I believe the CNJ unit that went to Canada was scrapped. There is another CNJ unit in Northampton, PA.

The vandals torched the steel engine house with both switchers inside. Both were total losses.



It would cost more than 10k. The motors need to come out, the leads are cut too close to crimp new leads on. One motor is already out and rebuilt due to bad advice that the other 3 could be crimped in place. Spending the money to hire a crane to get the other three motors out and rebuilt then putting it all back together is a lot of money for a 1200hp locomotive that has a straight B block and 24RL air.

There's an effort afoot in Cape Charles to possibly save the railroad in some form. See:

http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/h ... -heritage/

http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/g ... y-history/

Long article on a proposal to create an operating railroad museum with the dormant tracks of the Bay Coast Railroad:

https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/ ... 919762002/

Excerpts:

Murray spoke about the railroad's status at the November meeting of the ANTDC and Canonie — at the same meeting where representatives of a non-profit group presented a proposal to use the railroad for an on-the-tracks railroad heritage museum, including offering train rides for tourists — and potentially also to offer commuter service for residents.
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“There’s a lot of interest right now about what’s going on with the railroad,” Murray said, adding, “The thing that the public needs to understand is the railroad is owned by, basically, the transportation commission, which is a political subdivision of the state; but it is operated in a private corporation called Canonie Atlantic. 100 percent of the stock of Canonie Atlantic is owned by the ANTDC."
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Canonie is in the process of donating some items to the Cape Charles Museum, including a locomotive and some rail cars.
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Other cars will be disposed of in other ways, he said, adding, “We have people as far (away) as Tennessee asking us" for the old gondola cars.

A ship rammed the railroad lift bridge at Summit, DE back in 1973. It took many months to repair the bridge. In the meantime, the only way freight could be exchanged with the Delmarva peninsula was via the car float at Cape Charles. Now it appears that if a similar event should happen in the future, there is no "plan b" to interchange cars. There is still a lot of grain being brought in for the poultry industry and there used to be a coal-fired power plant, but it may no longer be operating. A news bulletin is copied below:

Orlando Sentinel Feb 3, 1973
CARGO SHIP YORKMAR WEDGED BENEATH DELAWARE RAILROAD BRIDGE ... Heavy fog mars vision on Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Ship, Bridge Collision Kills 1. Newsmen at the scene said the ship's superstructure was heavily damaged and that a portion of the lift bridge had collapsed. THE YORKMAR remained wedged in the debris at mid morning. The bridge, according to the corps spokesman, was down when the ship made impact. said. THE U. S. Army Corps of Engineers said the mishap occurred in heavy fog. The bridge, owned by the Penn Central railroad, is located between St. George's and Summit. A corps of engineers spokesman said the ship, the Yorkmar, was en route from New York to Baltimore and was empty.' The vessel's agent is Calmar Ship ST. GEORGES, Del. tfl A 544-foot general cargo freighter traveling in a heavy rainstorm on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal this morning, rammed into a bridge, killing one person, and injuring another aboard, a spokesman for the state police said. The early morning accident also caused extensive damage to the ship and bridge.

According to this

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/I ... er_station

Units 1 and 2 at the Indian River Power Station shut down in 2013 and Unit 3 in 2014, leaving only Unit 4.

Here's part of the November 2018 issue of the November 2018 Museum News, the newsletter of the Cape Charles Historical Society:

Cape Charles Railroad Artifacts Acquisition Project
In October of 1884, the first steam engine arrived at what was then the newly completed New York Pennsylvania & Norfolk Railroad terminus at Cape Charles. At the time, Cape Charles was little more than an area of windswept sand dunes and marsh next to a shallow mud creek.

As the railroad and town evolved, railroad shops, yards, buildings, a newly dug harbor, barge landings and a steam terminal soon followed. Houses and stores sprang up. The railroad flourished and provided work for generations of Eastern Shore residents. In its later years, it diminished as new roads filled with cars, busses, and trucks slowly began replacing railroads in the movement of people, produce, and manufactured good throughout the country. Last May, Bay Caost Railroad, which had leased and operated the railroad line, stopped running trains in Cape Charles. After over 130 years, railroad operations finally shut down.

Only a few things remain as reminders of the once thriving railroad on the Shore. The Cape Charles Yard and the associated buildings west of the railroad overpass (the Hump), along with most of the remaining equipment and tracks, are to be scrapped or auctioned in the very near future, and the land cleaned up and eventually sold to be incorporated into the town. An operable line will remain to connect the industrial area to the south of the harbor with the main line. With all of this in mind, the Cape Charles Historical Society is working with the help of our county supervisors, railroad veterans, volunteers from the Peninsula Tractor Organization, the Cape Charles Main Street Initiative, and many more to save a portion of our railroad history. The owners, Canonie Atlantic Company, along with the Accomack Northampton Transportation Commission, have offered to donate several railroad cars, a diesel locomotive, signage, photos and ephemera, historic tools, equipment and more.

Our effort to identify items that we believe are or will be of historical significance in order to preserve them for future generations is ongoing. County Supervisor John Coker addressed the Board at our August meeting and the Board voted to pursue the project. Executive director Kimb Denny formed a subcommittee which addresses both the historical and practical aspects of the project. The group is working with the associated issues of town permitting, liability, and finding contractors. On-site artifact collection is near completion.

This is one of the biggest single acquisition projects we’ve ever undertaken, and though the items are being donated, moving them to our site won’t be free. As you line up your holiday gift-giving, please consider making an additional contribution to help fund this worthwhile preservation project! We rely on your enthusiasm and support to make it all happen.

The Captain Edward Richardson Pilot House
One piece of the railroad acquisition project is particularly exciting: the offer of the old railroad office building, which originally was the pilot house of the Captain Edward Richardson/Nandua, a railroad barge first put into service in 1949. The barge famously sank in the Cape Charles Harbor in 1981. Its pilot house was later placed in the railroad yard where it has served as the railroad office – first for the Eastern Shore Railroad, then the Bay Coast Railroad. It quickly dawned on us that through adaptive reuse, the Pilot House might find a new life with us, as both an artifact in its own right as well as a museum display piece.

Contact the CCHS at 757-331-1008, send email to capecharlesmuseum@gmail.com, or write to CCHS, PO Box 11, 814 Randolph Avenue, Cape Charles, VA 23310.

I was wondering if anyone knew what was going on currently with the line, related to the new STB activity that I just read, related to Docket Number AB_1266_0_X :

Here are two links:

https://www.stb.gov/filings/all.nsf/ba7 ... enDocument

https://www.stb.gov/filings/all.nsf/ba7 ... enDocument

It appears that a company called the "New York, Philadelphia, & Norfolk Railroad Resurrection, Limited" is trying to purchase the line to Cape Charles, in order to restore rail service, including excursion trains.

And no, I didn't see James Riffin's name anywhere in it! ;)

When I last looked, the website of the New York, Philadelphia, & Norfolk Railroad Resurrection had not been updated since its planned meeting of February 13, 2019. See:

https://www.nypnrr.org/

Articles found online earlier this year seemed to indicate more modest hopes, such as using the rail from the lifted Cape Charles yard tracks for a short trolley operation in town, but even that may prove to be beyond the organization's ability.

Meanwhile, the rest of the dormant railroad rests in the weeds. A businessman in Parksley would like for the Delmarva Central Railroad to extend service from Hallwood down to Parksley but the DCR says no, that the cost of repairing the tracks is too much, and it already spend plenty just on the small portion it agreed to take over. See:

https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/ ... 219532001/

https://www.easternshorepost.com/2019/0 ... s-debated/

The cost to get the rest of this line going again would be enormous, and I don't know where the New York, Philadelphia, & Norfolk Railroad Resurrection would find the money to do it, or the business along the route to keep it going.

The tracks are being removed on the Virginia section of the line.

Wesley

https://www.wboc.com/story/45464049/his ... ack-county

I was driving north on US 13 south of Cape Charles today (June 4) and saw a Bay Coast passenger car body (two tone blue scheme) being parked in a driveway on the east side of the highway. I was not able to stop for a photo.

Here are some details from The Eastern Shore Post.

“The Philadelphia Star, a heavyweight Pullman car that hosted Winston Chur-
chill and Franklin Roosevelt, rolls down
Route 13 near Cape Charles Wednes-
day evening. The car, one of the last re-
moved from the Cape Charles rail yard
as tracks are being torn out, moves to
its new resting place on a farm along-
side Plantation Creek. Owners Robert
and Merle Starer plan to refurbish the
car, which is still certified and equipped
to ride across the country on Amtrak
lines. Because of its rear observation
deck, the car always rides as the last passenger car.”



Wesley

More to the story:

https://cardinalnews.org/2022/03/01/roanoke-railroad-history-lives-on-down-by-the-bay/