Junction and Breakwater Railroad

The Junction and Breakwater Railroad was a 38 mile long railroad that ran between Harrington, Delaware and Lewes with a spur to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware during the late 19th and early 20th Century. It passed though Milford, Ellendale and Georgetown. It was later purchased by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad and merged with the Breakwater and Frankford Railroad and the Worcester Railroad to become the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad. It was eventually purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad, ended its passenger rail operations and then became part of Penn Central.

When Penn Central went bankrupt it was broken up. The section from Lewes to Rehoboth was abandoned. The section from Georgetown to Lewes was purchased by Delaware and the section from Harrington to Georgetown went to Conrail and was later purchased by Norfolk Southern.

In 2017 the section from Harbeson to Lewes was abandoned.

Delmarva Central Railroad still operates freight trains on the section from Harrington to Harbeson, but the rest has been abandoned and most of it turned into trails.

History

Junction and Breakwater

The Junction & Breakwater Railroad (J&B) was formed in 1857 as a subsidiary of the Old Dominion Steamship Company to operate in conjunction with steamship service between the Delmarva Peninsula and New York. The line created a "junction" with the Delaware Railroad in Harrington, and by 1859 it had reached Milford, DE. Work was stalled by the Civil War but resumed in 1867 and the line was completed to Lewes and the Delaware Breakwater, via Georgetown, by 1869 with stations at each end as well as stations in Cool Spring, Harbeson (later called Broadkill) and Nassau. By 1878 it had built a 5 mile extension to Rehoboth. In Rehoboth it eventually built connections to Canneries along the canal, factories along Laurel Street, a passenger station on Rehoboth avenue and a wye that connected to Henlopen Junction.

In 1874, the Breakwater & Frankford Railroad (B&F) built a connection to the J&B at Georgetown that ran from Georgetown to the Maryland line at Selbyville which opened on May 22, 1874. By 1876, the Worcester Rail Road had extended the line to Franklin City, Virginia. Both of these lines were also owned by Old Dominion Steamship.

Delaware, Maryland and Virginia

In 1883 the J&B merged with the B&F and Worcester to form the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad (DMVR). In 1891 the DMVR defaulted on two mortgages and was taken over by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad at the request of the Delaware General Assembly. Over time, the DMVR and other PW&B owned properties came to be known as the Delmarva Division.

In 1897, the Queen Anne's Railroad connected to the J&B at Milford and on March 1, 1898 it was finished to Lewes where it connected to the J&B at a point just east of the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal. It then used the DMVR trackage to connect to Rehoboth where it built a hotel on Rehoboth Avenue next to the ocean.

Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington

In 1902, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) merged the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore with the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad to create the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad (PB&W) and PB&W branded trains began running on the line. By the late 1930's the trains were PRR trains.

In the mid-1940's the railroad bridge across the canal in Rehoboth was removed and service terminated east of the canal.

PRR terminated passenger service on the line in 1949.

Penn Central

In 1968, the PRR and its longtime rival New York Central Railroad merged to form the Penn Central Railroad and the former J&B became part of that entity. The Penn Central declared bankruptcy in 1970 but continued to operate trains until 1976, when the company's railroad assets were sold To Conrail.

In the 1970s, Penn Central abandoned the rail line between Lewes and Rehoboth Beach.

DelDOT

In 1981, Conrail announced plans to abandon the railroad line between Georgetown and Lewes. DelDOT then purchased the line, along with the Milton Industrial Track so that they could continue operations on them. Investors incorporated a new railroad in 1982, the Delaware Coast Line Railroad (DCLR) which was then hired by DelDOT to serve the two lines.

In the 1990s a dinner train operated on the track between Nassau and Lewes, branded as the "Queen Anne's Railroad." The dinner train's center of operations was at the former Lewes, Delaware station. Passenger cars were pulled by a USATC S100 Class 0-6-0 tank locomotive, produced for the US Army in World War II. The last passenger train service to Lewes was in 2007.

The Maryland & Delaware Railroad (MDDE) assumed operation of the two DCLR rail lines in 1994 when it was awarded a five-year contract by Delaware. MDDE did not seek renewal of the Delaware contract and operation of the two lines was returned to DCLR in 1999.

Freight service continued to run to Lewes, where it served the SPI Pharma plant near Cape Henlopen with two to three transports a month, until September 2016 when DelDot closed the swing bridge over the canal to rail traffic. It had been found to be structurally unsound as it had sunk 7-8 inches due to settlement in the canal and some pieces of timber had split. As a result of the bridge closure, SPI Pharma began shipping by truck and three tank cars remained stranded at SPI Pharma. In 2017, DelDOT determined that repairs to the swing bridge would be too costly and that they would abandon the line from Lewes to Cool Spring Road. Originally the tank cars were to be transported across the swing bridge, but due to the instability of the bridge they decided to transport the tank cars by truck across the canal and reassemble them onto the tracks on the other side for them to be hauled by rail to Georgetown. The three tank cars were trucked out of SPI Pharma in November 2017. A train pulled the tank cars out of Lewes on December 15, 2017, ending train service to Lewes. The line was decommissioned in 2018 and the tracks east of the Allen Harim Poultry Plant in Harbeson were removed that year.

In early 2018, DCLR lost its contract to operate what remained of the Georgetown-Lewes branch. The Delmarva Central Railroad took over the contract and extended its existing operations to include the DCLR's tracks effective January 1, 2019. DCLR exited the railroad business and sold off its equipment.

Norfolk Southern

In 1999, Norfolk Southern purchased the section of old J&B track from Harrington to Georgetown, as well as the old B&F track from Georgetown to Frankford during the breakup of Conrail, which it then called the Delmarva Secondary line.

In 2016, Norfolk Southern turned operation of the Delmarva Secondary line from Harrington to Frankford, along with the line from Porter, DE to Pocomoke City, MD, to the Delmarva Central Railroad.

Remnants

The restored Georgetown Train Station in Georgetwon, Delaware

The preserved canal swing bridge along the trail

1917 Red Caboose at Lewes

The tracks from Harrington to Harbeson are actively used for freight rail.

The historic Milford train station is still in use, but as office space.

The 1892 Georgetown Train Station closed when passenger service ended in 1949, but was restored in 2003 and now contains office space.

The abandoned right-of-way from Fischer Road on the east side of Harbeson to just west of Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes was converted into the Lewes-Georgetown Trail and there are plans to extend it west to the end of the track in Harbeson.

The Harbeson Railroad Station privy, built in 1870, was donated to the Lewes Historical Society and moved to their campus by 2022.

Milford Railroad Station listed on the NRHP on January 7, 1983.

In Lewes, the Lewes Junction Railroad & Bridge Association built a railroad history park, which includes a 1917 caboose, that had been used by the old Delaware Coast Line Railroad on its last run in 2017 and by the Queen Anne's dinner car in the 90's; a 210-foot portion of original track, and a replica of the old train station next to the Lewes Public Library.

The old Lewes-Rehoboth Canal bridge, and the date stone from the west abutment, are on permanent display along the Lewes-Georgetown Trail at American Legion Road in Lewes. The bridge was a hand-cranked swing bridge that was originally built in 1869 and modernized by PRR in 1916. The bridge was reconstructed in 1997. After DelDot decided it was unsafe in 2016, leading to the rail line east of the canal being shut down, it was removed on Feb. 15, 2022 and the canal was restored over the next year.

Some of the abandoned right-of-way from Lewes to Rehoboth Beach is used for the Junction and Breakwater Trail.

The Rehoboth Beach Train Station which was built in the late 1800s currently serves as Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center. It was in service until the 1920s. After that it served as offices, small shops and a restaurant until it was sold in 1950. It was donated to the city and the Rehoboth Railroad Station Preservation Society and moved to its present location at 501 Rehoboth Avenue in 1987.