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Welcome to the Delmarva Secondary Job Descriptions page!!
Below are job descriptions of every train working in the following towns.

Last Updated 6/15/06

Before venturing into the little town of Harrington, you should have an idea of what the yard looks like and how it operates.  To get to Harrington Yard, you will need to be on Rte 13.  When coming into town, you will need to make a turn west at the intersection that has the Hardee's.  As you can see, I use landmark directions, and will continue to.  Continue west down this road for about a 1/4 mile.  At this point, you will reach the tracks.  The station will be on your right, and the old tower will be on your left.  There is ample parking near the station without interfering with where the crews park their cars, or being on railroad property. If the station is not busy with people, and not many cars are parked within the vicinity, this is a sign of total lack of activity.  Also look for crew vans ready to ferry crews around.  These can be evidence of action somewhere else on the peninsula, or worst case, that a crew just got off a train and has taxied back to the office.

As you stand by the station, the main yard will be south of you, just past the tower.  Looking north, the siding and main will run together for roughly a mile and a half.  The northernmost part of the siding is referred to as the North End of Harrington Siding, and begins at the second crossing north of the station.  It is here that you may find a local or mainline train waiting to get into the yard.  In front of the tower are the crossovers that must be used by any train running down the Indian River Secondary. Next to the crossovers are the two tracks for shop cars.  These may be accessed from switches on both sides. The wye breaks off a few hundred feet past the crossovers.  At the beginning of the wye is a lead to the engine servicing tracks known as "The Pit," and "East Passing Siding." When looking at the pit, you will see the wye curve out of sight.  Where the north end of the wye connects with the south leg of the wye it becomes the Indian River Running Track. This is very easily accessed via a public crossing, East Street, almost directly on the connection. The south leg of the wye is also comes across East Street, and this will often be used by the yard crews for turning power or cars, or even taking local H42 out on the Indian River.  At the south end of the yard, there is only one other track besides the main.  There is a crossing that connects directly to Route 13 at this location.  Most of the switching takes place between this road and Fairgrounds Road at a location known as the "New Crossover."  This allows cars to be switched in the middle of the yard with three tracks. At the New Crossover, the farthest track east is known as the Northward Siding. This track runs all the way to the south end of the yard, and in fact the whole length of the yard, but only as far north as the Running Track switches is it known as the Northward Siding. Here, it becomes Harrington Siding up until the switch at the north end. The middle track at the New Crossover is the main, while the westernmost track is the Southward Siding. This diverges off the main directly where the Northward becomes Harrington Siding. Confused yet? You can see switching at the New Crossover from a road that parallels the yard out of town to the south.

Most communications are done on Road Channel 1, 160.800mhz, with crews often talking to the yardmaster. When more than one crew is in the yard, it is common for a crew to use Road Channel 2, 161.070mhz. Please do not venture onto Norfolk Southern property while in the area, and remember that virtually no one can grant you permission to be there just by saying it is OK. There are plenty of places to view the yard on public property, and NS takes trespassing very seriously. The Conrail-era days of driving into the middle of the wye or other areas of the yard to take pictures are gone. Heed warning.

One other note is that Yard Limit rules are in effect between DCS ALLEY, MP 61.0, and JACK, MP 67.0, as well as to RING, MP 1.5, on the Indian River Running Track. This means that all trains travel no faster than 15mph while they have the head end within the Yard Limits. This also helps the railfan, as crews must talk to the yardmaster before venturing into the limits, and often do upon exiting as well.
 
 

Harrington locals H39 and H43 are basically yard and relief jobs. These crews have possibly the most important jobs on the shore, as they must break the 12G down into blocks that go to the various towns on the shore. Aside from this, they must make up the 13G's train, as the outbound cars from Harrington must be sorted for Enola, Conway, Allentown, and even Dover. The crew will usually start out switching the cars off of the H61. These will usually be put on the North end of Harrington Siding if they are going to the 13G. When the 12G arrives, the fun begins. All of the cars off of this train are taken to the New Crossover so that the yard crews can drill them.  After the cars are sorted, they will be put on the Northward or Southward Sidings in blocks for the H61 and H42. There is an air plant on the south end of the Northward Siding at the extreme south end of the yard, so the cars will usually be pulled down here, at which time they'll be inspected by the car inspector.

The yard crews also work the industries in Harrington. There is often work to be done at either Central Grain (seasonal) or C.T. Films (this has a new name, but crews call it C.T.), and even the new Willard Agri-Service a few miles south of Farmington or Nanticoke Homes in Greenwood. Additionally, the yard crews may be used to take hot cars to Milford for Southern States, Grow-Mark and Milford Cold Storage, as well as Houston Cold Storage in Houston on the Indian River Secondary. For many of these extra moves, the train will be set up to run push pull with engines on each end.

The H43 crew has Wednesday and Thursday off (with an extra crew filling in those days), while the H39 has Friday and Saturday off.  The H43 usually works daily at 06:59, while the H39 is on call Sunday-Friday.
  

The H90 is the extra symbol used for any extra job on the shore. Call times and schedule vary from crew to crew. The normal assignment will be to take a coal train to Indian River, or perhaps a grain train to/from Allen's Milling in Delmar. These extras are usually run on weekends, and Saturdays specifically.

The H4E was put on in 2005 to be the H42's relief crew. This was meant to ensure that H42 always made it over the road, and probably more importantly, that coal and hopper trains going to/from Indian RIver had a crew to take them. Though the bulk of their work is intended to be done on the Indian River Secondary, this crew can show up anywhere for anything. They can be the H94 relief crew in Dover, or even the yard relief in Harrington, as well as seen passing through Harrington while taking coal trains from Clayton to Indian River (or pulling empty hoppers to Clayton). Be advised that their assignment varies and that you could see them doing anything anywhere. They work Monday-Friday, with a call window of 10:00-18:00.

As evidenced by it's old Conrail symbol WPHA-R1, the H10 is a relief job.  This is, however, a regularly assigned job, and is not run off of the extra list.  This crew is actually a substitute, giving the other regular crews a day off.  Its schedule is as follows:

Sunday - Works the H61's job, on duty at 14:00 in Delmar

Monday - Off

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Works the H43's job, on duty in Harrington at 06:59

Thursday - Works the H43's job, on duty in Harrington at 06:59

Friday - Works the H42's job, on duty in Harrington at 09:00

Saturday - Works the H57's job, on duty in Seaford at 06:00
 
 

Both of these trains are the mainline trains to and from Harrington.  The 12G is the supply train for the shore, while the 13G is the train that hauls everything out.  The 12G, former PIES, is run out of Pittsburgh, Pa., on a daily basis. The 13G runs on a daily basis out of Harrington, with the crew normally on duty between 17:00 and 19:00. This depends on when the 12G arrives, as since the same crew is used, they go out after 8 (and sometimes 10) hours rest. Extras are few and far between for either train, but an extra 12G would be an M2G, while an extra 13G would be an M3G. The normal 13G's are usually out of town between 18:30 and 21:00.

Track speed is just about 40mph all the way up the branch from Harrington with a 30mph curve in Dover, and a limit of 30 all the way north from Porter to Davis.  The 12G runs a bit differently than its counterpart, often making its first stop in Dover while en route to Harrington. After setting out cars there, the train will continue on to Felton to make a WIMX stone car set off just south of downtown Felton. This will usually not be done by the road crew, as they most often outlaw at Dover Yard, relieved there by a Harrington Yard crew.

Northbound 13G will pick up stone empties (or back haul sand loads) at Felton, and usually blast on through Dover and make a pick up at Del Pro Yard at Porter. They seem to make heavy pick-ups in Del Pro and usually look like first class mainline trains on the Port Road at night. For whatever reason, the northbound Dover pickup has gone by the wayside in the last couple years, and most 13G's now cruise right on by the ever-lenghthening line of cars on Wyoming Siding until making the eventual then-100-car pick-up.

Most switching to make up 13G at Harrington will be done by the yard crews, however road crews will usually have to tie the power on, kick out shop cars, and do an EOT test before departing. On rare occasions, yard crews will do this prior to 13G coming on duty, and the train will be sitting at ALLEY waiting for them to just get on and go.
 
 

NRG has a power plant at Indian River, making these coal trains necessary for the shore. These trains are welcomed guests, and usually roll right through Harrington and on down the Indian River Running Track to the Indian River Secondary. The trains are always powered with two or three six axles, the standard for coal trains.  Indian River is set up by A, B, and C tracks. If there is a track to run around on, the coal train crew will pull the train directly into the plant, running the power around on the empty track. If all tracks are filled, they must use the south leg of the wye to back the train off. They have always traveled the secondary in complete darkness, due to the 22:30 window on the Northeast Corridor, but may be seen in daylight if the H42 or H4E (or an extra crew) takes one down to Indian River.

Coal train loaded and empty symbols are as follows:

NS coal hoppers from Bailey Mine, PA - 566 loads, 567 for empties
Williamson, WV coal - 88K/897
Powder River Basin, WY, coal - 88E/89E
CSX coal hoppers - 690/691

Grain trains

With the agricultural background of the area, grain trains are common. Special movements not contained within the normal consist of 12G will most often be for Allen's MIlling in Delmar, usually rating around 75 cars or so. However, special grain trains may be run to Mountaire in King's Creek, or even the MDDE via the Frankford interchange. These solid unit grain trains will have symbols in the 400-lettered-series, such as 46A, 46K, etc, or low 500-lettered-series such as 50K, 58Z, etc.
 

67T/67V

"Alley"   This is the northern Yard Limit, located at Paradise Alley Lane off of Route 13.

"Jack"   This is the southern Yard Limit, located on a curve about a mile south of town, parallel to
                Route 13. It can be seen by looking south from Hammond Road.

"Ring"   This is the beginning of the Indian River Secondary, MP 1.5 on the Indian River Running Track.

"Milepost 2"   Just past RING, along the road east of town where H42 will sometimes be staged.

"The pit"   This is the one-track engine servicing facility is the farthest track to the east in the middle
                    of the wye.

"East Passing Siding"     This is the second track that engines will be kept on, and is located directly
                                                west of the pit.

"Harrington Siding"     This piece of the siding is from the extreme north end to the crossover
                                           switches for the running track.

"Northward Siding"     After Harrington Siding gets to the running track, it becomes the Northward
                                          Siding for the remainder of its length through the south end of the yard.

"Southward Siding"     This track diverges on the west side of the mainline and runs from the
                                           running track crossovers to the New Crossover.

"North End"  This is the northernmost area of Harrington Siding, where 95% of the time you can
                          find the 13G's cars, possibly with power already on them.

"The Fairgrounds"   This is simply Fairground Road, where trains will usually be instructed to cut off
                                       off their train.

"The New Crossover"   Located between Fairgrounds Road and the south end, this is a critical
                                             switching location.

"The River"   This is the term that Delmarva railroaders use for the Indian River Secondary.

"The Westbound"   The 13G will often be referred to as this.

"Reeves"   The first crossing north of the Yard Limit ALLEY, often the holding point for an
                      outlawed inbound mainliner such as 12G.
 
  

The Dover-based local H94 works out of Jello Yard and switches the various industries in Dover, as well as ones in Cheswold, Clayton, Townsend and Middletown. In addition to that, the crew interchanges with the Maryland and Delaware Railroad in Townsend, DE. The crew, who works Monday-Friday at 08:30, will start off working the yard in Dover, this beginning after the road train 12G clears south of the block WYDEL in Camden-Wyoming.

Work patterns can be changed by customer demand, such as when Kraft, Scott Paper, or Reicholds needs their cars that day. These industries are mostly inaccessible anyway, unless you receive permission from the industry themselves to be within the confines of their facilities. Kraft receives assorted covered hoppers and sugar tanks, while Scott Paper will receive the 3 and 4-bay coal hoppers.

Moving north of the yard, lumber or lumber-related cars will be spotted at the team track (dock-looking facility) 'uptown' in Dover, visible from the busy Route 9 crossing. The engine for H94 will sometimes be kept here as well, though the location as of early 2006 seems to be the north end of Jelly One (the north end of the yard siding). The next industry for the local is technically located in Cheswold, De., this the busy Reichold's Chemicals (Rye-Colds). Adjacent to Reichold's is a propane transload facility, naturally busier in the colder months. Reichold's can be the cause of extra crews on weekends to get hot tanks into the plant. Neither Reichold's nor the propane facility are accessible except by viewing from the nearby road crossing. One could try and obtain Reichold's permission to enter the plant, but that's the only way to legally take pictures in this area unless you work for NS.

Unless the H94 is going north to Middletown (often on Tuesday and Thursday), this will usually be as far north as they go. If heading for Middletown, they'll often leave the yard with cars on both ends; that is, their Cheswold cars leading the shove, to be worked on the facing point switches, and their cars for points north trailing the engine. After getting rid of the Reicholds and propane cars leading the shove at Cheswold, they'll continue north with the engine now leading the cars for points north.

Assuming they're going north, the next stop will often be Pardue in downtown Cheswold, another propane facility, visible from the parallel main road next to the tracks. Just north of town is the destination for the little slurry tank cars seen in Dover: PPG. While you can view the switching action from the road next to PPG, I doubt accessing PPG would do much photographic good, as it is clearly in a pine tree tunnel as seen from the road. Continuing north to Clayton, a Southern States fertilizer transload can be found around the old wye area just south of the station and gated crossing in town.

Just six or so more miles up the road and it's time to work Townsend. Peavey Grain has a mill in Townsend that ships outbound
grain in usually small cuts, heavier in grain of course. However, to work Peavey, the crew must run around those cars, as this is a facing point switch going north. The MDDE Interchange is often used for this runaround process. This is of course up to the conductor on the job, but in the past it is common to use the interchange to jockey around the MDDE's inbound and outbound cars, Peavey's cars, and even cars bound for Middletown.

Leaving Townsend, it's on to Letica and Southern States, usually the latter first, which can be seen from the busy adjacent Route 301. Finally heading back south, switching at Letica can be viewed from a clear field  in the Middletown Industrial Park. There's a good chance that this field will fill with another plant in years to come, and access will be gone, but it was there as of spring 2005. After working Letica, it's back to Townsend to pick up cars temporarily left at the Interchange, then another pick-up at Clayton or Cheswold (wherever the rest of the train was left if not taken north) and on back to Jello Yard. That's a huge amount of work for one job, which is why the local is the last job on the shore to still rate a brakeman and a three-man crew.

To get to Jello Yard, take State Street west as you come through Dover on Rte 13.  Follow this road a brief distance until you see a Shell station on your left. Make a left turn on this road and you will see Jello ahead. There is plenty of room on the side of the road to watch the action without being on private property. I may have left out one industry in Middletown, and another in Cheswold, but this info will be posted as it comes available. Either way, this is a good overview of the general H94 operations.

The H92 is a very predictable train, almost never varying from plan. The train, running Monday-Friday at 09:00, can be seen switching the south end of Delmar Yard every morning before going south.  Here, they will grab their train, as made up by H93, and probably make a few classification moves within the train. On the way south, they may stop at MP 103 in Salisbury to slip over onto the West Side and work Farmer's and Planter's or Salisbury Brick. With West Side traffic up over the last couple years, this is a pretty standard stop nowadays, and the crew will either leave the empties on the head of the West Side track, or run around them and take them south to Pocomoke if they are going via the Bay Coast (ESHR). From here, the train will roll through town right on the required 10mph speed limit.  This has been imposed by the City of Salisbury due to the number of crossings in town, though I personally think it's pretty lame since all the crossings have flashers, and most have gates.

If it is in winter, and only the winter, the train might make a stop at Suburban Propane in Fruitland. If you are on Route 13, and I don't know what other road you might be on, you can't miss this place. Normally the train will roll past Suburban without stopping so don't count on this stop, as traffic to this company has been minimal recently (as in one or two cars per year). On most days the train will continue on to King's Creek, where there are two very regularly switched industries. The first one is Sharp Gas, right off the highway at MP 117.8. This siding receives tanks all year round, with three per switch being the case on most winter days. Typically, you will see at least one in and one out, but there can be as many as four tanks taken to Sharp at a time, with three spotted and one left on the head of the siding. It is nice watching the crew place these cars, as it must be done just right for them all to fit. Sharp can only unload a few per day so its not uncommon to see tanks in Delmar waiting to be taken south on the H92. After this stop, the train will continue roughly 4 tenths of a mile to the King's Creek Industrial Track. Located on this track is a decent-size Mountaire plant. This is the most active customer of the 92 job, and probably single-handedly keeps operations south of Salisbury under a Class One railroad flag. They will receive a few cars of soy meal a day as well as dedicated grain trains, around 50 cars, every couple weeks during the grain rush. Unit train traffic has been hit and miss over the last few years, but it seems to be returning more and more, though still not back to the one a week that it used to be.

After finishing work in King's Creek, the train will head on down to Pocomoke. When arriving in the little town, the crew hs two options, depending on if the Bay Coast Railroad is waiting or not. If the shortline is there, they will pull the whole NS train south of town. Since the cars that go back north are on the end of the train, the crew can simply cut them off just outside of town. At this point, the shortline will have all of their cars, and can head back to Cape Charles. The H92 will now have to couple the cars that go back north to the cars that the shortline brought up. If the shortline isn't there, the crew will put their train in the siding, which can hold around 50 cars at a time. If they have more than 50 cars (such as an empty King's creek unit train that needs to be run around), they will have to double runaround the train, which will see both cuts of cars split by the engine at one point.  This isn't the norm, however, so lets stick to the most frequent plan. Typically, once the crew adds their train to the cars from the shortline in the siding, they will run around the whole mess, and sort out what goes north, leaving the cars bound for Bay Coast in the siding. Once all work is completed, the crew will perform a brake test and highball out of town.

The local may venture over to Farmer's and Planters or Salisbury Brick while coming north. This typically happens when they have a car for the West Side that is interchanged from the Bay Coast, pretty common since that traffic is coming via that mode at this time. This also depends whether they work it going south, and need to work it again, but two shifts a day can happen. Yarding instructions for the H92 are often coordinated with the H93, so it can vary daily. Either way, all the northbound cars will end up together in Delmar Yard on the siding, #1, or #2, and the power will be left on the main in front of the crew office in downtown Delmar at the state line.

The best way to follow this train is to use Route 13 all the way, except at Delmar. To get to the yard, turn west off of Route 13 at Foskey Lane, a mile or so south of the only stoplight in Delmar. This will bring you right to north end of the yard, and if you go all the way around and connect with Connelly Mill Road, the south end. Track speed is 25, with it being limited to 15mph within Yard Limits (CROWN to HEARN, or south Salisbury to north of Allen's in Delmar) and 10mph through Salisbury proper. In Pocomoke, interchange is easily accessed by virtually any road west off of Route 13 into the city. Route 13 parallels mostly the whole route south, and all industries can be accessed directly off of this road.
 
 

The H93 is not predictable like the H92, but should still be a fairly easy train to keep up with. Mornings are hard on this switcher, as it starts Monday-Friday at 06:59 and is often taxied to relieve an outlawed H61 in Seaford or Bridgeville. If 61's train makes it back to Delmar, or when H93 gets the train there, they have to go to the south end of the yard and shift out the cars for their train and 92. This pretty much does in the rest of their morning, as they'll be sorting cars for 92, Perdue, Allen's, the West Side, and spotting loads at, or pulling empties from, the Tilcon stone facility.

If they have two units, which is rare now, they will pull down push-pull style to Perdue, letting the south engine lead down and the north end lead on the way back. Typically, they'll just shove on down to Salisbury, or pull the train down and run around it in town or at Perdue. This depends on the conductor. At Perdue, the crew will usually work the tank track, positioning empties to be loaded, and putting loads ready for pick-up on the way out.  They will also go back and get empties off of "The Hill" and "The Straight," making set offs as well. If there are a lot of cars to go out and a good many to be picked up, the crew will make two trips to Perdue, first running lite to get the empties out, leaving the loads on the main at the switch to the Industrial Track or in Delmar Yard if they so choose. They will then come back and take the loads out to Perdue, storing the empties on the main or back at Delmar while performing this maneuver.

When working the west side (Mardela Industrial Track) in Salisbury, the train will take the loads with them and do switching at a small two-track area near the very end of the line adjacent to Mill Street. Industries on this track are Farmers and Planters, Delmarva Chemical, and Salisbury Brick. Delmarva Chemical and Salisbury Brick will receive boxcars, while Farmers and Planters receives loaded hoppers of fertilizer. The chemical boxcars will be placed adjacent to Delmarva Chemical, technically fouling the 'main' on the industrial track. Hoppers for Farmers and Planters will be taken directly into the company, who's spur extends to the last rails of the line. Hoppers for the company may often be stored in a siding just north of the spur if there is more than one for the little company, or even on the main directly before the normal spotting location. Salisbury Brick will receive loaded boxcars of bricks, and these will be placed directly into the company, who's spur is actually the old mainline to Mardela and Hebron.  These lines are not to be confused with the "Willards Industrial Track," which is home to the Perdue mill.  The Willards is welded rail all the way out to Perdue, but due to it's industrial track title, it is limited to 15mph for the exactly 3-mile jolt out to the mill.

The only other move that may be done in Salisbury is down to Shoreland Freezers.  This company unloads their cars on the Salisbury Team Track, located directly at MP 105 (and behind Arby's and KFC), which consists of an old concrete loading platform.  They usually unload fish and even chicken feet from these cars, but recently have loaded frozen vegetables in them.  By no means should this be considered a regular move, and there is unfortunately no way to predict whether it will be done.  Recently, the cars have been picked up by the H92 crew, so don't expect a lite move south to get the empty cars. High and wide generators and transformers may also be moved to this team track area and unloaded.

After returning from Salisbury, the crew will normally grab their Allen's cars and head north. When this is done, the train will do a brake test and proceed north to MP 96, Allen's Milling. The Allen's first or Salisbury first decision is usually made by demand of either Allen's or Perdue, so don't expect either to happen 100% of the time. The work at Allen's is simple and usually requires no major shifting. If the mill is on top of things, there will be a line of cars that are ready to come out of the mill waiting at the north lead switch. If this is not the case, that is when there will be heavy switching done in the complex. The crew must first set these cars out onto the main. This will be their return train to Delmar Yard.  After this is done, they will go into the mill with the cars that they have, setting them on different tracks within the complex. The engine will come out by itself, and after doing a brake test on the Delmar-bound cars, will come back to the yard shoving.

Additional moves by the H93 will be made up to Laurel and Blades to work Southern States, Milford Fertilizer, and Perdue Agri-Recycle. This work will be given away by the crew getting a FORM D both ways between HEARN and NYLON. Getting a FORM D both ways between HEARN and LAUREL, common when working Allen's, will not give them access to any of these industries. H93's work for these industries is as follows: they spot the cars for Milford Fertilizer and Perdue, and they pull the empties from Southern States. The H57 out of Seaford handles pulling cars from the first two, and spotting the loads at Southern States. This ensures that no job ever has to shove between Seaford and Delmar. So, going north with cars for Milford Fertilizer and Perdue, the train will first stop at Milford Fertilizer, found on the big sweeping curve just north of Laurel proper, and just north of the river in Laurel. Access is again limited, so ask for permission of the company before venturing onto their grounds. The next stop, and furthest point north for H93, will be Perdue's Agri-Recycle plant in Blades. The train will spot empties for loading here, usually around small cuts (10 cars) at a time. It would be best to get permission here as well, and there may even be a guard shack before you can get into the plant, as I haven't been there in years. Finally, while coming lite back south to Delmar, the 93 may pull empty cars from Southern States Laurel, found south of downtown Laurel on the first curve in town. The block limit LAUREL is just south of this industry, so if they're just going here to pull empties they won't be far north of Allen's (six miles).

With all work finished, the train will return home to Delmar Yard, set out cars that go to the H92 (such as Perdue cars for Norfolk or points south going south via the Bay Shore), if any, and then back the rest off in the yard and tie-up. All of this work can make for a long day and a lot of cars handled. There are several roads to follow the train on, and all are easily accessed. One note is that both Perdue and Allen's are almost impossible to access, so you're going to have to get permission from both companies to be on their property. This schedule is pending which crew is working but has been the general standard for years now.
 
 

The H61 is a hardworking local that keeps the southern end of the Delmarva Secondary supplied with cars for it's three locals.  This train works Monday-Friday and comes to work at 20:00, so as to be out of the way of any opposing traffic on the south end of the line.  The only work to be done before the train leaves Delmar is to get the two engines together, usually the case in front of the office anyway, and grab cars out of the yard from the 92 and 93 jobs. Along with paperwork duties, the train is usually out of town between 22:00 and 23:00 EST. The first stop northbound would be at Seaford, where the 61 will pick up any cars left by local H57 in Seaford Siding. Most of these cars will be from DuPont and the MDDE, and this pick-up can be quite large. This is the only northbound stop, and this is usually done rather quickly.

When arriving in Harrington, the train will generally be backed off on the north end of Harrington Siding, or quite possibly the Southward Siding. The crew will then proceed back south to their train, which will be on the south end of the Northward Siding at the air plant. There may be shop cars to kick out of this train, and this will likely be the only switching done before the local heads back south to Delmar.

Working south from Harrington, the first stop would be Perdue in Bridgeville. In this little town lies a towering Perdue Farms feed mill, very noticeable off of Route 13, especially at the time that the 61 will be running.  Here, the train may drop nice size blocks of loaded grain cars, or pick up outbound loads. There are also tank cars spotted on the head of the siding at a company that uses the Perdue lead in tandem with Perdue. After stopping in Bridgeville, if such is done, the train rolls onward to Seaford. Once at the city, cars for local H57 are dropped in the siding. If the siding is packed full, not commonly the case, the train will take them all the way into Seaford Yard. As with any stop for the H61, it is quite simple if the cars are sorted, as they usually are. Otherwise, the crew could be here a while sorting out the mess. This is often the point where the train outlaws, but even so the H93 crew will take over shortly after 08:00.

A mere 12 miles further south, the crew arrives back in its terminus of Delmar. With the institution of Yard Limits rules between HEARN and CROWN, cars may be left on the mainline. Since most unit trains are blocked anyway, it is not uncommon for the H61 crew to leave grain trains right on the main at Allen's Milling. This makes it easier for the H93 crew, as all they must do in the morning is tie on and back the train in. Other grain trains, such as for King's Creek, may be left on the main at MP 99 for the H92. Another possibility is that they may have stone cars to set out at Tilcon. The remaining cars will be put on Delmar Siding, or the next available clear track in the yard.

It should be noted that on Sundays this train is on duty at between 10:00(AM) and 12:00 in Harrington, making photography possible in the summer months. It will often run lite on Sunday's from Delmar (after the crew taxis down from Harrington), possibly picking up at Seaford. The southbound trip is as listed above. However, the train may also take cars, and not just run lite, from Delmar on Sunday, such as cars left in Delmar on Friday night because Harrington was full, or an empty Allen's grain train or empty stone train out of Tilcon. Additionally, if there is room to hold Friday night's southbound H61 in Harrington over the weekend, that will be done and the train will just run from Delmar to Harrington on Friday night, and the Sunday H61 crew will just taxi to Harrington, get on their train, and run one-way to Delmar. It is truly unpredictable how any of this will go, so it's best to just know all the possibilities. A good indication that they're running one-way from Harrington will be that there is no power in Delmar, and likewise, a good indication they're running from Delmar is that the power will be sitting downtown on Saturday and Sunday. It is, however, hard to predict when they'll take cars from Delmar or when they'll just run lite.

"HEARN"      Northern Yard Limit at MP 95.0 in Delmar.

"CROWN"    This Yard Limit, located at MP 105.3, is directly behind Mulligan's Sports Bar.
                        This is also where I can sometimes be found if a train is going through town, as it is my adopted
                        local spot.

"The West Side"    The term for the Mardela Industrial track and the associated industries on the
                                    branches.

"The Switching Track"    Name of the siding in Salisbury, as the Willards Industrial Track doesn't
                                               technically diverge for Perdue for about a quarter-mile into this track.

"Shoreland"    Radio name for Shoreland Freezers and the Team Track facilities at MP 105.

"Tank Track"    Name of Perdue track where the Soybean Oil cars are loaded.

"The Straight"    Name of Perdue track where feed cars are set out.

"The Hill"    Name of left-diverging track at Perdue. 

"I.A. "    Former name of the Tilcon stone facility adjacent to the yard.
 

Norfolk Southern local H57 is the only local based in Seaford, DE. The train is run daily except Sunday at 06:00 and does a relatively nice amount of switching. Although usually not going far, this local does a good deal of work in the little city of Seaford. The main switching in the town is Dupont (now Invista, a subsidiary of DuPont) and the the Maryland & Delaware Railroad interchange. By far the largest customer, Dupont receives a lot of tank cars filled with various chemicals, as well as hoppers to supplement the production of nylon. In addition to that, they receive a steady volume of coal to keep the plant alive. DuPont requires two shifts a day, one in the morning around 8 or 9, and one around 16:00. Between DuPont shifts is when the H57 will do the rest of their work.

At some point the cars from H61 will be brought down off the hill and switched in the yard to be dispersed as needed. This is often done at the crossing at the west end of the yard, setting the MDDE cars off together, then blocking the rest of the freight around town as needed. It is from here that all other switching is determined. Related to this, the 57 must wait for the 61 to clear south of LAUREL many mornings before they can come out on the main and get thier cars off the hill. If the H61 outlaws there at 08:00, they will have to wait for the H93 to come from Delmar, take the train south, and get by LAUREL.

About every other day, the 57 job works Johnson Polymer, located off of Seaford Siding at the industrial park on the north side of town. Other work in town will be done on the Willow Track, home to Milford Fertilizer, Southern States, Perdue south, and an Mitchell Ashalt. The current Willow is the east leg of the old wye track in the yard, so if you see them heading back there and towards the Nanticoke River, that's where they're heading. As with many industries, switching is simply dictated by when cars come in and need to go out. Another industry, located in front of the office, is Venture Milling, on a track associated with Perdue north. They generally receive feed cars, needing a shift at least once a day.

As mentioned while discussing H93 in Delmar, the 57 will also venture across the river and south of town on the main to Blades and Laurel on occasion. The only time they will take cars during this move is if they are going all the way down to Southern States in Laurel to set loads into the company. Any other time they will be running lite to Milford Fertilizer Laurel, or closer to Seaford, Perdue Agri-Recycle in Blades, or often both, to pull cars out of those industries. Since they already have a FORM D between LAUREL and NYLON to do their work, you'll notice nothing on the radio to announce this move except a trip across Seaford Movable Bridge.

Other H57 chores may be to go to Harrington to get hot DuPont cars. This isn't uncommon, but you just never know. So other than DuPont, this is truly an unpredictable job.
 
 

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