Railfan Sites in Delaware
A self-guiding railfan tour
Railfan, railfan--where do you see trains in Delaware? Well, here are several places to see trains in the state, including over a dozen on the new tour of the CSX East Coast line.
Take a self-guiding tour of the CSX East Coast Line. In Delaware, this has been completed from the Pennsylvania border to just before the Maryland border at western Newark. To the north, the tour has been completed from Glenolden, PA. This will develop into a much larger CSX east coast tour. Stay tuned. The tour description and a list of other completed segments are here, and in the city/site listing below, tour sites are identified as [CSX-E].
Mapwork: If you're going to be looking for railfan locations, you'll need an industrial strength map resource. I definitely recommend you get a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, study it before your trip, and copy pertinent pages for your field work. You can find information here about Railfan Maps that are available.
Cities And Sites
- Arden -- Greentree Park[CSX-E]
- C&D Canal Bridge (near St. Georges)*
- Elsmere -- Elsmere Junction[CSX-E]
- Elsmere -- Wilsmere Yard East[CSX-E]
- Elsmere -- Wilsmere Yard West[CSX-E]
- Harmony[CSX-E]
- Harmony -- Brookhaven[CSX-E]
- Harrington
- Newark -- College Street[CSX-E]
- Newark -- Eastern Suburbs[CSX-E]
- Newark -- Elkton Road[CSX-E]
- Stanton[CSX-E]
- Wilmington -- 9th Street[CSX-E]
- Wilmington -- Acme Store[CSX-E]
- Wilmington -- Brandywine Arch[CSX-E]
- Wilmington -- Miller Road[CSX-E]
- Wilmington shops*
- Wilmington station*
- Woodside
* This is a hot link to a section of Tom Gears' excellent Delaware railfan pages.
Harrington (July 25, 1999)
This town, south of Dover, one mile west of US 13, is an ex-CR, exx-PC, exxx-PRR junction. Here, the secondary main from Wilmington splits to go southeast via Milford, and south to tidewater Virginia via Salisbury, Maryland. The yard is right in the middle of town, and is surprisingly active. There are 3-5 engines here pretty much all the time. In the past, these were easy to photograph, but NS is now the owner here, and a new fence seems to have materialized from the last time I was here. Still a good place to get some pix, but you definitely must ask permission first. Late afternoon shots are OK from the west, but most of the time shots are best from the east and southeast. Besides the combination freight and passenger station, the tower has been preserved.
FOOD This entire area boasts some of the best farm produce available anywhere. Load up on Silver Queen corn, tomatoes and melons before you head back to the big cities to the north and west.
Woodside (July 25, 1999)
Go south of Dover on US-13, then branch off onto US-13ALT. Finally, take DE-10ALT west to the hamlet of Woodside. If you're setting up a photo for a southbound from Dover or a northbound from Harrington , this is a good spot, with plenty of viewing capacity on both sides of the track. There are no railroad facilities here; this is just a good place to get a nice record shot.