E. Shore Railroads Had Dramatic Start
The choo-choo trains on the Eastern Shore are nearing the completion of their first century. Once the Peninsula was criss-crossed by a network of independently operated railroads largely the product of local capital, and no epoch in all local history is more colorful that the early days of steam transportation.
The Shore's first railroad wasn't real at all, but legendary. It started in Maryland and got a juicy appropriation from the state on June 3, 1825. It was to run from Elkton to Crisfield, but tracks were never laid although some surveying was done and some bridge abutments placed. Public celebrations of all sorts were held, bells rang wildly, festive spreads were laid, guns roared and flags waved to celebrate the passage of the bill in the legislature, but financial depression of two years later caused the abandonment of the project and it remained for another movement to inaugurate the Shore's first actual railroad.
It was quarter of a century later that the first railroad became a reality on the Del-Mar-Va Peninsula. It bore the name, Eastern Shore Railroad Co. Delaware had a rail line that ended at the southern state line at what is now Delmar and certain progressive Marylanders organized the company to build a rail line from Delmar to what is now Crisfield. Crisfield was named after John W. Crisfield, Princess Anne, lawyer, financier and later Congressional associate of Abraham Lincoln. It took two years to build the railroad from Delmar to Salisbury and then the Civil War broke out. On July 4, 1860 an excursion was arranged to celebrate the opening of the road. For twenty-five cents one might make the trip from the shanty station in Salisbury to Williams Switch, three and one-half miles north of the town.
Not many Eastern Shoremen had ever ridden on the "iron horse" and many of them had never seen a steam locomotive. Therefore from far and wide they came for this excursion. It was one of the most dramatic chapters in all Shore history. Tears of trepidation mingled with shouts of farewell as the dinky little engine puffed away, gathered steam and with screaming whistles started off with its jammed cars.
The next morning, the first regular train service was established. Stage coaches from Snow Hill, Princess Anne and the settlements to the east brought in passengers. Travelers spent the night at the hostelry of John Byrd on the site where the county court house now stands to await the early morning departure.
Soon after the close of the war, the Eastern Shore Railroad was extended southward to Princess Anne and to Crisfield with a spur track to Pocomoke.
A desire to connect a direct line from northern manufacturing cities to the southern markets led to the ultimate extension to Cape Charles.
William L. Scott, of Erie, Pa., first conceived this scheme. He sought to interest the Pennsylvania Railroadin this proposal and explained his ideas to Alexander Jackson Cassatt, Pennsy director. The latter was impressed but couldn't obtain the consent of his company for the venture.
Reasonably certain of success, a company called the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad Co. was formed, in which A. J. Cassatt and R. K. Cassatt became the principal stockholders.
Construction work began in 1883 and in two years the new line was operating regular schedules. It absorbed the old Eastern Shore Railroad. When Cassatt became president of the Pennsylvania he continued to operate the road as a private enterprise and is said to have refused to let the Pennsylvania buy it. In 1906 and 1907 we find that it was a complete financial success, showing a clear surplus in excess of $600,000 annually, after paying 12 per cent. to the stockholders. In 1907 the gross earnings were $3,181,149. In 1908 the line was purchased by the Pennsylvania for $150 a share, the par value of which was $50.
Another road had been started in the meantime across the Peninsula. This line was the Wicomico and Pocomoke Railroad Co., projected in 1869 The largest original investor was Col. Lemuel Showell, of Berlin, who was its first president. It's first engine was a tiny wood-burning locomotive and it ran over a twenty-mile long track. The trips were arduous for the coach had a habit of jumping the narrow gauge tracks and sometimes the passengers would have to get out and help lift it back, while others picked flowers or fruits along the way. The coaches were of the open type and passengers were enveloped in thick clouds of smoke. Jake Henry, general manager once gave this message to the engineer of each of the company's two engines: "Charlie will run until he meets Mack, the nearest to a station will back back." That solved the problem of two daily trips between Berlin and Salisbury. The engineers in question were Charles Marshall and Samuel McMullen, both of Berlin. The original of this order is now a prize possession of the Pennsylvania.
Col. Showell also liked horses and one day he placed a bet that a black mare of his could beat the train from Berlin to Salisbury. The race came off, the horse reached Salisbury thirty minutes before the train. The Colonel died in Ocean City, March 1, 1902.
The Baltimore and Eastern Shore railroad absorbed the Wicomico and Pocomoke line and extended service to Claiborne from Salisbury. Gen. Joseph B. Seth, of Easton, was named president of this new venture and Gov. Elihu Jackson, of Salisbury, treasurer. The new line started July 9, 1886. The line was taken over by the Pennsylvania in 1928. It was five years before the line was actually functioning and then financial troubles set in. It went into receivership 1892 and was purchased by John E. Searles, of Boston, who bid $400,000 for the project that had cost $1,500,000. In 1898, the Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railroad Company was formed, closely associated with the Pennsylvania. The B. C. & A. was humorously called the "Black Cinders and Ashes." Later the Maryland, Delaware and Virginia line was formed, but in 1925 it was surrendered to the Pennsylvania.