RUSSO: Coal trains have been running up and down the Delmarva Peninsula for decades, helping keep the heat and the lights on. I'm Bryan Russo. But that all changed when Delaware's Indian River Power Plant shut down last year. So when the last coal train pulled out of Dagsboro, one man made it his mission to document the event. Delmarva Public Media's Kevin Diaz has the story.
CAMPBELL: This is history being made. This is an end of an era.
DIAZ: Andrew Campbell might be described as a train buff, but for him, it's not just a hobby, it's a calling. So when he learned last summer that NRG Energy planned to empty its coal bunkers at the shuttered Indian River power plant outside Dagsboro, he sprung into action.
CAMPBELL: So I made my mission to go out and document and film this because this is the last coal train on the peninsula.
DIAZ: He spent months scouting the train's timetable and routes out of the peninsula, with the help of other train spotters, armed with radios and internet chat groups. He also has friends in Delmarva Central, the region's freight operator. So when the day came just before the new year, Campbell was ready with his cameras.
CAMPBELL: So when the last train came out of the power plant, there was a sign, I think the conductor I know made that said "Last Coal Train."
DIAZ: Campbell literally tracked the train's progress at rail crossings going north out of the peninsula and then heading on west where the coal will likely be burned in other coal-fired plants. Then he turned it all into a three-part film on his YouTube channel, Delmarva Rail Productions.
CAMPBELL: The railway here in Delmarva is a very important network and I want to showcase the history, the operations, and how important it is.
DIAZ: The Delmarva Peninsula was once crisscrossed by trains; both passenger and freight. The passenger days are over and many towns that once had train service have seen their rails left to rust or turned into bike or pedestrian paths. Long before there was a Chesapeake Bay Bridge, trains and ferries connected Delmarva to the outside world.
JOHNSON: The railroad started in the late 1800's. It was the main transportation back then. It opened up the world to these people on the Eastern Shore.
DIAZ: That's Ellen Johnson of the Eastern Shore Railroad Museum in Parksley, Virginia. She was talking to another rail enthusiast on the Highrollers’ Roads and Trails social media site.
JOHNSON: They were able to get across the banks better doctors...they were able to get their produce over faster and easier. It was very valuableto the Eastern Shore.
DIAZ: If railroads were central to America's expansion, the eastern shore was no exception. Here's author Lorett Treese talking to the Spy about her book Railroads of the Eastern Shore.
TREESE: You can kind of see that reflected on the Eastern Shore because the Eastern Shore was kind of bypassed by railroads for a long time. But folks who lived down here dearly wanted railroads.
DIAZ: The railroads are still here. They're not as many as there were years ago. For Andrew Campbell, recording the historic moment of a Coltrane's last trip is part of a desire to keep that history alive. He says it's an obsession, perhaps partly explained by his high functioning autism. But in the end, he just likes trains.
CAMPBELL: I like how they sound. I like the history behind them and I like the different paint schemes they have, especially the older railroads!
DIAZ: At the end of an era. This is Kevin Diaz in Seaford for Delmarva Republic Media.
