Del-Mar-Va Express
The Del-Mar-Va Express was a named passenger train of the Pennsylvania Railroad that at its peak went from New York City to the southernmost point of the Delmarva Peninsula, Cape Charles, Virginia. Initiated in 1926, the train's north–south passage through Delaware stood in contrast with the main passenger traffic through Delaware being a brief passage through cities in the upper reach of Delaware, mainly Wilmington. Most importantly, the train served as a more direct path from New York City and Philadelphia to Norfolk, Virginia, by way of a ferry from Cape Charles across the Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk, a path that bypassed Baltimore and Washington, D.C. This saved time in comparison to travel over PRR, Atlantic Coast Line and Norfolk & Western trains through Washington to Norfolk. The "Del-Mar-Va" trip, including ferry travel was 11 hours from New York; and the longer all-land route through Washington was 13 hours and 40 minutes.

The train succeeded an earlier short lived train, the "Old Point," in the 1890s from Philadelphia to Cape Charles. The "Del-Mar-Va-Express" diverged south from the Pennsylvania RR's Washington-Philadelphia route at Wilmington. From there went directly south along the main line of a Pennsylvania Railroad's subsidiary, the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad, through inland towns in Delaware, notably: Clayton, Dover, Harrington, Greenwood, Seaford and Delmar; in Maryland: Salisbury, Princess Anne and Pocomoke City; and finally reaching Cape Charles, where the N. Y. P. & N RR Ferry Company would take passengers to Norfolk. Beginning in the 1940s the PRR began to rely only on the Virginia Ferry Corporation for ferriage of passengers from Cape Charles to Norfolk. This new service showed a cross-channel time savings of 40 minutes. From 1942 to 1947 the train's northern terminus was extended from Philadelphia to New York.
Q1197895
Pennsylvania Railroad
ORG
Q60
New York City
LOC
Q1044515
Delmarva Peninsula
LOC
Q1376790
Cape Charles, Virginia
LOC
Q174224
Wilmington
LOC
Q1345
Philadelphia
LOC
Q49231
Norfolk, Virginia
LOC
Q216868
Chesapeake Bay
LOC
Q917079
Norfolk & Western
ORG
Q16982735
New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad
UNK
Q6649676
Virginia Ferry Corporation
ORG
Q85756251
Del-Mar-Va Express
UNK
1926-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1926
DATE
1890-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1890
DATE
1940-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1940
DATE
1942-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1942
DATE
1947-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1947
DATE
+11^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
11
NUMBER
+13^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
13
NUMBER
+40^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
40
NUMBER
+40^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
40
NUMBER
located in or next to body of water