Junction and Breakwater Railroad
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 An early 1890s map of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad showing the Junction and Breakwater Railroad line | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Milford, Delaware |
| Locale | Delaware, U.S. |
| Dates of operation | 1859–1883 |
| Successor | Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 38 miles (61 km) |
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 Century. It passed through Milford, Ellendale and Georgetown. In 1883, it merged with the Breakwater and Frankford Railroad and the Worcester Railroad to become the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad which was eventually purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Part of the line remains in use and others have been abandoned, with parts converted into trail.
The Junction & Breakwater Railroad (J&B) was chartered in 1857 to operate in conjunction with steamship service between the Delmarva Peninsula and New York City.[1][2] In 1858, with aid from the state of Delaware, work began from a "junction" with the Delaware Railroad in Clark's Corner, DE to Milford, DE, and the last spike was driven by former Governor Peter F. Causey on August 25, 1859.[3] The section formally opened on September 7, 1859, with the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad leased to use it.[2][4][5] At the end of the year, Clark's Corner was renamed Harrington in honor of Samuel Maxwell Harrington, a former judge.[6]
Work was stalled by the Civil War but resumed in 1867 and the line was completed to Lewes and the Delaware Breakwater, via Georgetown, in 1869 with stations at each end as well as stations in Cool Spring, Harbeson (later called Broadkill) and Nassau.[7][8][9]
In early 1874, the Breakwater and Frankford Railroad (B&F) (sometimes Frankford and Breakwater) began work on a rail line that ran south from Georgetown, where it connected to the J&B, to Frankford, Delaware near the Maryland state line.[10] In July of that year, when work was underway on the B&F, the Old Dominion Steamship Company purchased the J&B and in early 1875 it bough the B&F and the Worcester Railroad.[11] The B&F began operation in November.[12]
In 1875, the B&F, with help from its new owners, extended their line south to Berlin, Maryland from Selbyville and the Worcester extended theirs south to Franklin City, VA. The former was completed in June 1875 and running by July and the later in May 1876.[13][14] This created a connection to the Wicomico and Pocomoke Railroad in Berlin and on to Snow Hill, Maryland, Franklin City and to Chincoteague by steamer.
The J&B opened a 5-mile extension to Rehoboth in 1878 to provide service to the Rehoboth Beach Camp Meeting Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church.[15][7][2] In Rehoboth it eventually built connections to canneries along the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal and factories along Laurel Street; a passenger station on Rehoboth Avenue, and a wye that connected to Henlopen Junction on the west side of the canal.
In 1881, the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad and it appeared they would purchase the J&B and its branches to consolidate all the railroads on the peninsula.[16] Instead work began in 1882 and completed in 1883 to consolidate the J&B, the B&F and the Worcester to form the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad (DMVR).[17]
