Black and white photographic prints of varying railroad stations once located throughout the Delmarva Penninsula in Maryland and Delaware. Images include the Laurel Depot, Union Station in Salisbury, the Delmar Station, and the Bridgeville, Delaware Station.

Railroads have their beginnings on Delmarva in the 1820s. By 1856 a line from Philadelphia had reached Milford, Delaware; and then Selbyville by 1874. Within three years it ran halfway through Worcester County Maryland to the small village of Newark. Atlas makers for the train company decided there simply were too many towns named Newark on the map so they gave the new train station the nearby Indian place name of "Queponco" which means "land of burnt pines".
 
Meanwhile over on the Chesapeake side a Princess Anne attorney named John W. Crisfield brought the Eastern Shore Railroad to a place called Somers Cove. Like many of the communities along the tracks the economy boomed with coal and other goods being brought in and farm produce, poultry, and oysters going out; to be sold up and down the East Coast. Somers Cove did so well it became known as "the seafood capital of the world". The folks there were so happy they changed the name of their town to Crisfield to honor the man who brought them so much prosperity.
 
Soon the railroad ran the length of the peninsula all the way to Cape Charles where a barge would carry the cars across the Chesapeake to Norfolk. By 1884 freight was not the only thing the trains carried. Passenger trains ran three times a day from Salisbury to Ocean City. Further north a ferry brought people across the Chesapeake to Clairborne. The Baltimore Chesapeake & Atlantic made the connections there for travelers going east through Delaware, toward Salisbury, and points south. The BC&A was often late and was known not so affectionately as the "Black Cinders & Ashes Railroad".
 
Many of today's largest towns on Delmarva enjoyed the benefits of the railway boom. But even as early as the 1870's the railroads began to flounder and fail, changing owners frequently. After World War I increasing taxes and regulations put more pressure on the companies. The hurricane of August 1933 destroyed the railway bridge to Ocean City nailing the coffin shut on Delmarva's passenger trains.
 
Since that time there have been some short lived tourist excursion train services. But now, only freight trains travel through our region. Most of the old train stations that still exist have been converted to other purposes. Some that have been restored and made into museums can be found in Selbyville, Federalsburg, Stevensville, and Queponco. A number of local historical museums also have devoted exhibits to our railway heritage. In Parksley train enthusiasts can see actual retired train engines. Some unused rail lines are being converted to trails for hiking and biking including one from Lewes to Rehoboth Beach, one in Easton, and one between Berlin and Snow Hill in the planning stage. 

Citation: http://delmarva-almanac.com/index.php/site/news_article/delmarvas_railway_heritage/