 | Parts of this article (those related to Norfolk Southern (has spun off former Delaware Railroad track to Delmarva Central Railroad)) need to be updated. (September 2017) |
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 An NC&F ticket office sits in a park in New Castle, Delaware | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Delaware and eastern Maryland, U.S. |
| Dates of operation | 1831–1877 |
| Successor | Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike and Rail Road (NC&F) was opened in 1831, was the first railroad in Delaware and one of the first in the United States. Approximately half of the route was abandoned in 1859; the rest became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) route into the Delmarva Peninsula and is still used by Norfolk Southern Railway. The abandoned segment from Porter, Delaware, to Frenchtown, Maryland, the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad Right-of-Way, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.[1]