 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Federalsburg, Maryland |
| Reporting mark | MDDE |
| Locale | Delaware and Eastern Maryland, United States |
| Dates of operation | 1977– |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 120 miles |
| Other | |
| Website | www.mdde.com |
The Maryland and Delaware Railroad Company (reporting mark MDDE) is a Class III short-line railroad, formed in 1977 to operate several branch lines of the former Penn Central Railroad in both Maryland and Delaware, United States. These branches were omitted from the system plan for Conrail in 1976 and would have been discontinued without state subsidies. As an alternative to the higher cost of subsidizing Conrail as the operator of the branch lines, the Maryland and Delaware governments selected the Maryland and Delaware Railroad Company (MDDE) to serve as the designated operator.[1][2]
The railroad did not own any of the track it uses until 2000 when it acquired a line between Frankford, Delaware and Snow Hill, Maryland,[3] from the Snow Hill Shippers Association. Today, the railroad operates on 92 miles of track and runs out of a restored station in Federalsburg, Maryland. The new engine house in Massey, MD, was opened in the fall of 2019.[1][4]
A prior company, also called the Maryland and Delaware Railroad, was chartered in 1854 with the purpose of building a rail line to Oxford that eventually became the Oxford Branch of the PRR.[5] It later became the Delaware and Chesapeake Railway in 1877 and was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1881. It then became part of Penn Central in 1968 and under the ownership of the Maryland Transit Administration at the same time the new version of the Maryland and Delaware was incorporated in 1977.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Historywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (June 10, 2010). "Facts & Stats: Freight Rail". State of Maryland. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ Williams, Vernon A. (February 16, 2000). "Maryland and Delaware Railroad Company-Acquisition Exemption-Snow Hill Shippers Association, Inc". federalregister.gov. Department of Transportation Surface Transportation Board. p. 9306. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Our Historywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Maryland & Delaware Railroad Corridor, (Delaware and Chesapeake Railroad) Architectural Survey File" (PDF). Retrieved 12 November 2024.