Eastern Shore Railroad

Eastern Shore Railroad

Overview
Headquarters	Cape Charles, Virginia
Reporting mark	ESHR
Locale	Norfolk, Virginia to Pocomoke City, Maryland
Dates of operation	1981 (1981)–2006 (2006)
Predecessor	Virginia and Maryland Railroad
Successor	Bay Coast Railroad
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Eastern Shore Railroad, Inc. (reporting mark ESHR) was a Class III short-line railroad that began operations in October 1981 on the 96-mile (154 km) former Virginia and Maryland Railroad line on the Delmarva Peninsula. The line ran between Pocomoke City, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia, interchanging with the Norfolk Southern Railway at both ends.

Delmarva had been previously served by the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Company (NYP&N) led by William Lawrence Scott which ran south down the peninsula to a freight depot, terminal and harbor at the headland point at Cape Charles, Virginia, a town which it founded and laid out in 1883–84. A ferry barge system then operated crossing the lower Chesapeake Bay to the Norfolk piers. The NYP&N was later absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which dominated the eastern U.S. along with the New York Central Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the first half of the 20th century.

A rail ferry service was used to span the 26-mile (42 km) water route across the Chesapeake Bay between Cape Charles and Norfolk. The ferry service used two barges (car floats) of 25 and 15 car capacity, moved by contracted tug boats. This car float operation has been in continuous service since April 1885, and is one of only two remaining in the United States (the other being New York New Jersey Rail, LLC).

The Eastern Shore Railroad was taken over in February 2006 by Cassatt Management, LLC., and was operated and renamed as the Bay Coast Railroad. The Bay Coast Railroad operated the line until May 18, 2018. In June 2018, the Delmarva Central Railroad took over the portion between Pocomoke City and Hallwood, Virginia where the remaining customers were located. Service on the Norfolk side was taken over by the Buckingham Branch Railroad.

• 
  LLPX 2014, a leased EMD GP38, was used for switching the ferry terminal in Little Creek, Virginia.
• 
  ESHR 8096, a GP10, named the "Cape Charles" was parked at the headquarters in Cape Charles, VA.

See also

• Train ferry: United States for a list of current and former car floats and train ferries
• Bay Coast Railroad

Further reading

Dickon, Chris. Eastern Shore Railroad. United States: Arcadia, 2006.