Historic Red Clay Valley, Inc.

Historic Red Clay Valley, Inc. is the nonprofit that has operated the Wilmington & Western Railroad as a tourist line since 1966, reviving a corporate name first used in 1869. The route began as the Delaware and Chester County Railroad, incorporated in February 1867, renamed the Wilmington and Western in March 1869, and opened to Landenberg on October 19, 1872. A foreclosure sale in April 1877 produced the Delaware Western Railroad, which was folded into the Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad, a Baltimore and Ohio subsidiary, in February 1883; the B&O later trimmed the branch back to Hockessin. Historic Red Clay Valley began running weekend steam tourist trains in 1966, the line was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and in August 1982 the organization purchased the branch from the Chessie System for $25,000. Flooding on Red Clay Creek from Hurricane Floyd in 1999 destroyed two trestles, and Tropical Storm Henri in 2003 swept away most of the rest; all were replaced with steel spans and the line officially reopened into Hockessin on June 30, 2007. The railroad marked its 50th anniversary as a tourist operation in 2016. In February 2025, the board of directors suspended operations indefinitely, citing needed equipment repairs.