Delaware Railroad Operations

**Construction at the Howard Street Tunnel has been completed**

The original (pre-Howard street tunnel closure) CSX Philly sub information remains below.  I am unsure if this information is still be accurate, however this should be the general pattern of traffic returning to the line. (e.x. I032 is already confirmed to have resumed normal service to North Bergen, NJ)

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:

• 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]

• I036: [I032 on Fridays]

• I157: Baltimore, MD -> Bedford Park, IL

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

• 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]

• M418: Rocky Mount, NC -> Selkirk, NY

• M419: Selkirk, NY -> Rocky Mount, NC

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 only railroad that operates 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) [Monday - Saturday, on duty at 11:00 AM]

• HA-2: Harrington -> Seaford [On duty at 9:00 PM] 

• HA-3: Harrington -> Dagsboro [On duty at 8:00 PM weekdays + Sunday]

• 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, DCR-03: operates unit NS trains that have been interchanged with the DCR

• DCR-5: Runs any extra trains, such as WIMX unit trains, and occasionally works the IRS

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, often terminates in Harrington]

• 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 operates all EMD power, with a fleet of GP38-2s, SD40-3s, and MP15Ns.  Two sw1500 engines operate the former MDDE lines.

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.

The MDDE railroad was acquired by Carload Express sometime around late 2024 / early 2025.  The trains run on the same routes with the same crews as the MDDE, although with different powersets now.  I still don't quite understand the acquisition, but it seems the MDDE is simply owned by Carload Express, and is unrelated to the DCR except for their interchange points.  The MDDE RS-3s have been sold to Delaware Lackawanna, the old Conrail 801 was recently shipped to the Snow Hill line, and I am unsure of the state of the other MDDE engines.

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.

As of 2025, the future of the W&W is uncertain.  Nobody really knows what's going on with the railroad, but they have ceased operations until further notice.  Hopefully good news regarding this comes soon.

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