Out with the Old, in with the New

In 30-year lease, troubled Eastern Shore Railroad gets new leader and new name

By Ceri Larson Danes

As seen in Eastern Shore News – 01-18-2006

CAPE CHARLES — Dickie Foster flipped through his book about Eastern Shore rail history, citing facts with the enthusiasm of a kid who knows he can win the spelling bee.

Pointing out historic pictures of bustling towns that popped up along the line – Parksley, Nassawadox, Exmore and his hometown, Cape Charles, to name a few – he is palpably charged about his latest endeavor. "I love seeing the way things looked," he said as he thumbed past black-and-white photos of late-19th and early 20th-century stations that created a lifeline for the Shore of old. He wants to bring that prosperity back to the railroad and its towns – and starting today, he will have 30 years to make his vision a reality. But if his track record of making things happen is any indication, the transformation will occur much more quickly.

The owners of the Eastern Shore Railroad announced on Friday that a deal had been struck with Foster. After years of operating in the red, the Accomack-Northampton Transportation District Commission and Canonie Atlantic Co. said in a statement that Cassatt Management, LLC, will assume operation of the freight rail service between Pocomoke City, Md., and Norfolk. Details of the lease were not disclosed. Cassatt is a management company created by Foster to oversee the railroad during the 30-year lease and operation agreement.

A history buff who wants to restore some of the grandeur and authenticity of earlier eras, Foster chose the name for Alexander Cassatt, a post-Civil War railroad man whose sister, Mary Cassatt, was the well-known impressionist painter. Cassatt partnered with William L. Scott to create what would become the Eastern Shore Railroad. Foster’s Bay Creek Resort here sits on property that was the original Scott Farm.

Canonie was created by the ANTDC when it bailed out the railroad 25 years ago. What was created by Cassatt and Scott at the turn of the century was in peril in the late 1970’s with Penn Central facing bankruptcy and Conrail abandoning that part of the line in its takeover. Local counties in Maryland and Virginia first came to the rescue, but within a few years ownership switched to the ANTDC.

The ANTDC owns Canonie, which owns the real estate and equipment of the line and the Eastern Shore Railroad. But the ESHR soon will be phased out as the transition to Cassatt management is completed along with former rail business. The new railroad will have a new look and a new name: Bay Coast Railroad. In their agreement, Canonie required that Foster change name.

Though Foster is still reviewing options, it is likely the cars will sport new paint in a shade that has become easily recognizable as Bay Creek blue. The resort’s logo incorporating a wave for the bay and seagrass for the creeks against a sunset-orange background may also emblazon the updated cars, and some new ones, too.

The ANTDC has been searching for an operator for nearly two years. In 2004, Foster extended a proposal that was under consideration, until the board scheduled a public hearing on the arrangement. Foster disagreed that his business contract should be the subject of a public hearing and later withdrew his offer when he learned the railroad’s owner intended to seek public comment on it. “I sincerely wish them luck. I hope they survive,” he said then.

Fast-forward to today and it seems there is a good chance the rail will survive on the Shore, and possibly thrive. “We’re not talking about $10.00 here,” said Larry Trala, chairman of the board of the ANTDC, Canonie and the ESHR. “He’s going to spend millions upgrading it. That bell doesn’t ring for some people.”

“I have been looking forward to this for some time,” he said.” It’s something that is going to be good for the railroad and good for the Eastern Shore.” After languishing for years, a considerable infusion of cash will go a long way to improve operations. But money alone will not make the freight line safe, profitable and more attractive.

Richard Lewis of Associated Farms in Accomac, a businessman who serves on the railroad and Canonie boards, credited Roy Blanchard of Philadelphia, a short-line marketing and management expert, with successfully guiding the board through the process.

“I’m actually excited and can’t wait to see what (Foster) is going to be doing,” Lewis said of the new agreement. “His goal is to provide a railroad that the Eastern Shore will be proud of, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is going to be able to do that.” Though numbers is something that Foster always keeps close to the vest, when he talks about his ideas and plans for the revitalized line it is clear there is considerable investment involved.

What's the plan?

Foster said he is still working on plans for an excursion line, which could involve the acquisition of antique engines and cars, additional track improvements and expansion and the construction of new, but authentic-looking, train stations. And though he is not confirming details yet cast in stone, he has preliminary site plans drawn up for 11 acres under contract at the southwest corner of U.S. Route 13 and Stone Road. Those plans include a series of structures lining the corner – in the vernacular of historic Shore train stations and buffered from the busy corner by landscaping including a pond, fountains and other features.

The complex, if built, will be adjacent to the planned Shore Bank branch across the highway from the McDonald’s restaurant location. In its current form – admittedly early in the game – Foster envisions an excursion train station along with boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, antique trains and a clock tower that mimics the Cassatt observation tower up the line in Pocomoke City, Md. Current plans call for a total of 50,000 square feet of space on the commercial property and more than 500 parking spaces, neatly hidden from view behind the buildings.

“I sat across the street in Cheriton and looked and thought about it and what happened was …. I could see a railroad station there,” Foster said. And that is usually how his ideas strike him. If he studies something long enough, he’ll see what it could be in his mind’s eye.

“The problem in Cape Charles,” he said,” is where do you park all the people.” By parking them out on the highway and bringing them into the historic district by rail, people can walk or hire or rent a horse and buggy, golf cart, water taxi or bikes to get around town.

But Foster’s number one goal as far as the railroad is concerned is to help the freight business, he said. He has always considered an excursion line a way to improve the bottom line. And back for a return engagement is Nassawadox insurance agent J.T. Holland. The former Northampton County supervisor worked for ESHR for more than 20 years, and though he’s not giving up his day job, Holland said,”I’ll take the same role I took in the past.”

His work will focus on government relations and marketing “to help Dickie put it back to where we have a profitable freight business.” “We’re not going to do anything that will hurt the freight line,” Foster said, citing “profitability and tracks that are safe,” as priorities, along with qualifying for state funding.

Last June, the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation dropped its funding ratio to the line by 10 percent because of the amount of debt outstanding to the state – the change in the ration, Trala said then, would help pay back the state. Now it is Foster who will incur the less-favorable ratio for rail preservation dollars until he has paid off the debts of previous management. Foster said applications for those funds will be filed next month.

In the past, qualifying for the state money was problematic if the railroad could not come up with the match, a situation resolved by new management. “I’m going to invest in the railroad with private money – not taxpayer money – and because I don’t own it, it will be an investment for the ANTDC and the Shore,” he said. Any improvements Foster makes to the railroad and its real estate will run with the railroad and not become Foster property. In addition to the excursion line and track and equipment improvements, Foster is planning to build new railroad offices and storage maintenance facilities.

Now that he controls the railroad’s waterfront, he’ll be able to directly improve the appearance of the yard and harbor, something that has always been critically important to him. Eventually – and in Foster time, that is sooner rather than later – he’d like to see a pedestrian-friendly harbor that is walkable around the entire perimeter and linked into other attractions, both in his resort and the old historic district.

“This is about planning,” he said,” not about who owns what,” recognizing that the town has retained planning consultant Vladimir Gavrilvoc of Paradigm Design in Reston to help them develop a plan for the waterfront. Gavrilovoc has a long history working with Shore towns and in both counties, facilitating stakeholder and planning groups, distilling that input into common-denominator goals and place-making plans.

The idea of an excursion train shuttling visitors in and out of Cape Charles on a railroad operated by the man who created Bay Creek Resort begs the question, “Where will the stops be along the line?”

Those details are yet to be determined.