Delaware Railroad Operations

**Howard Street Tunnel Construction Impacts**

• The majority of trains have been rerouted over the NS Harrisburg line or via Cumberland, Buffalo, and Selkirk

Remaining Trains:

• I104 and I157 will not be rerouted, as they don't pass through Howard Street

• 2 coal trains for Baltimore have been rerouted to now run on the Philly sub into the north side of Baltimore

• 2 locals will still operate on the line

• Y102 (Wilsemere Yard) still operates

• Everything else has been rerouted off of the Philly sub

Known reroute and symbol changes (mostly based on information from the Railroads of Delaware group)

• M409 / M410 have been abolished (?)

• M372 now runs via the NS Harrisburg Line

• M300 and M301 now begin/terminate at Greenwich Yard in Philly.

• C733 and E748 will run via the Philly sub (CONSOL yard reroutes, run via NS Lurgan / Harrisburg lines)

• I032 now terminates at Curtis Bay Yard in Baltimore (I031 originates there now too)

• I am unsure of the new routing of other trains, they will be added to this list once I can confirm what route they take.  Refer to the 'Remaining Trains' section for traffic that still runs on the subdivision.

The original CSX Philly sub information remains below.  I am unsure if this information will still be accurate after construction is complete.

The CSX Philadelphia subdivision runs through New Castle county in northern Delaware.  CSX operates Wilsmere yard a couple miles west of Wilmington and services a few industries along the line.  Most of the CSX traffic consists of through freights, although some of them do stop to work the yard.  Regular [Daily] trains include:

**Pre- Howard Street Tunnel construction symbols***

• I031: North Bergen, NJ -> Duval Yard - Jacksonville, FL [Generally goes through in the morning]

• I032: Duval Yard - Jacksonville, FL -> North Bergen, NJ [Generally goes through in the morning]

• I158: North Baltimore, OH -> Baltimore, MD

• I167: Baltimore, MD -> Philadelphia, PA

• I104: Bedford Park, IL -> Penn Mary Yard - Baltimore, MD [Double stack intermodal traffic, daily]

• M300: Rocky Mount, NC -> Oak Island, NJ (CSAO)

• M301: Oak Island, NJ (CSAO) -> Rocky Mount, NC 

• M371: Greenwich Yard - Philadelphia, PA -> Cumberland, MD

• M372: Cumberland, MD -> Greenwich Yard - Philadelphia, PA

• M409: Selkirk, NY -> Waycross, GA

• M410: Waycross, GA -> Selkirk, NY [Generally goes through in the morning]

Various as-needed unit trains and yard jobs, and extras run as well.

Sidenote: morning seems to be the busiest time for trains on this line (if you can find a spot to railfan at).

Norfolk Southern's Delaware operations are based out of Edgemoor yard, just east of Wilmington.  They operate a couple of lines in northern Delaware, including the northern portion of the Delmarva secondary, the Shellport secondary, the New Castle secondary, and the Reybold Branch to the Delaware City refinery.  Norfolk Southern trains get to Edgemoor via the Northeast Corridor and the Port Road Branch in Perryville, MD.  NS serves local industries as well as an interchange with the Delmarva Central Railroad.  General freight gets to Edgemoor on 36A and leaves on 37A, running on the NEC and Port Road branch, mostly at night.

• 36A Conway, PA -> Edgemoor

• 37A Edgemoor -> Enola, PA 

Local train symbols include:

• K35 Newark -> Reybold turn 

• K37 Edgemoor -> Newark turn 

• K41 Edgemoor -> Port of Wilmington turn 

• K53 Edgemoor -> Edgemoor (works new castle secondary) 

• K54 Newark -> Reybold turn 

• K55 Edgemoor -> Port of Wilmington turn 

• K60 Edgemoor -> Edgemoor (works Port of Wilmington to New Castle)

• K64 Newark -> Clayton (Delmarva Central Railroad interchange) turn 

• K65 Newark -> Newark 

• K70 Edgemoor -> Stony Creek, PA turn

Many unit trains run down to the Delmarva as well.  the 400 and 500 series trains are grain loads and empties bound for the Delmarva Central Railroad and 600 series trains are normally unit ethanol trains for the Delaware City refinery. (Except 62W and 63W, they are bound for the Delmarva Central)

The Delmarva Central Railroad is the primary operator in Sussex and Kent county.  Their operations are based out of Harrington, Dover, and Seaford. The DCR runs on the Delmarva secondary and Indian River secondary.  They operate a couple of daily freights, including:

• HA-1: Harrington -> Clayton (NS interchange) [Tuesday - Saturday, usually leaves Harrington after 11:00]

• HA-2: Harrington -> Seaford [On duty at midnight]

• HA-3: Harrington -> Dagsboro [On duty at 10:00 PM weekdays]

• HA-5: HA-3 relief crew 

• DO-1: Dover Local, works Dover, Cheswold, Townsend, Middletown, and the MDDE interchange [On duty at 6:00PM]

• SE-1: Seaford local, works Delmar and Salisbury [On duty at 5:00 AM]

• SE-2: Seaford local, relieves SE-1 around 2-3 PM, usually south of Salisbury, MD [On duty at 1:00 PM]

• DCR-01, DCR-02: operates unit NS trains that have been interchanged with the DCR

Speaking of unit trains, NS will leave unit trains for the DCR at Tasker siding in New Castle county.  The DCR will take these trains (with the NS power) to their customer on the peninsula.  Some of the more common trains include:

• 62W: Birdsboro, PA -> Dagsboro, DE [Operates every few days, usually in the morning.  Stone loads southbound.  Takes the Indian River secondary]

  • 62W log sheet here, courtesy of Daniel Speer

• 63W: Dagsboro, DE -> Birdsboro, PA [Usually less than 36 hours after 62W, usually in the afternoon through evening.  Takes the Indian River secondary]

• 44M: Springfield, OH -> Delmarva, MD [Every few weeks, grain loads southbound]

• 45M; Delmarva, MD -> Springfield, OH [Usually a few days after 44M]

• 50M, 52M, 54M are all similar in operations to 44M, just going to different customers on the Delmarva.

The DCR also interchanges with the Maryland and Delaware (MDDE) railroad in Townsend and Seaford.

The DCR operates all EMD power, with a fleet of GP38-2s, SD40-3s, and MP15Ns

The MDDE operates on the eastern shore of Maryland and parts of western Delaware.  They interchange with the DCR in Townsend and Seaford.

The East Penn railroad interchanges with CSX at Wilsmere yard.

Amtrak operates the Northeast Corridor through northern Delaware.  Multiple trains come through per hour on this line, and they can reach speeds up to 120mph for a lot of the line.  There are a couple of train stations, being at Wilmington, Newark, Claymont, and Churchman's Crossing (which was closed last time I checked)

Amtrak also has their Wilmington and Bear shops.  Test trains will occasionally go from Bear to run on the NEC and back.

Septa doesn't have a huge presence in Delaware, but they do run a service on the NEC to Wilmington and Newark.

The Wilmington and Western is a tourist railroad operating out of northern Delaware, with excursions most weekends.  They have both steam and diesel power.

Their website: https://www.wwrr.com/