New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad
The New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad (reporting mark NYP&N) was a railroad that owned and operated a line that ran down the spine of the Delmarva Peninsula from Delmar, Maryland to Cape Charles, Virginia and then by ferry to Norfolk, Virginia.
It built a branch from a point at Kings Creek, called Peninsular Junction, to Pocomoke City in 1871; but it struggled and it was foreclosed on in 1879.
[3] The NYP&N was the vision of William Lawrence Scott, an Erie, Pennsylvania, coal magnate, who wanted to build a shorter railroad route between the coal wharves of Hampton Roads by utilizing a ferry line across the Chesapeake Bay and a railroad line up the Delmarva Peninsula to the industrial north.
Scott enlisted engineering help from Pennsylvania Railroad Vice-President, Alexander J. Cassatt, who saw the merits of the plan and took a hiatus from PRR to work on the new line.
[10] The PRR began to scale back passenger service in 1949 when they close several stations on the line, including Kiptopeke, Townsend, Capeville, Bayview, Weirwood, Keller, Melfa, Hopeton, Bloxom and Mears.
The original passenger ferries, Cape Charles & Old Point Comfort, side-wheeler paddle steamers, could hold an entire train on their two tracks.
[17] In 1968 the railroad moved with all of the other PRR properties to the Penn Central, where the NYP&N ceased as an entity.
Penn Central abandoned the Cape Charles-Kiptopeke branch, which was down to two agricultural supply customers, in 1972.
The Surface Transportation Board approved the abandonment of the Hallwood-Cape Charles section on 31 October 2019 and in 2021 the state began removing the track.
[23] VDOT plans to start work on two segments of the trail, totaling 3.5 miles in length, in Spring 2025 and complete it in Summer 2026.
[26] Several stations remain The Cape Charles Museum and Welcome Center collection consists of thousands of photographs, documents and objects, many of which relate to the railroad.
[30] The pilot house from the barge Captain Edward Richardson, which used to ferry railcars across the Chesapeake, is located on the grounds next door.
[31] The Cape Charles Railroad yard was cleared for development and all of its contents sold, donated or scrapped.
[32] The owner of the Capeville Station intentionally burned it down in 2018 after they were issued a dangerous structure notice from Northampton County, but the locked safe was salvaged for the Cape Charles Museum.
