Located in Battery Park in Historic New Castle, Delaware, a short drive from the Delaware Memorial Bridge (I-295). Follow Rt. 9 south to the "Historic New Castle" sign. Turn left onto Delaware Avenue, the main drag of the little town. The closer you get to the Delaware River the further back in time you go.
The small white structure is the original (1832) ticket office/booth of the New Castle & Frenchtown Railroad -- one of the earliest in the U.S. (operated 1832-1959). A short section of track shows how the earliest RRs in England and the US were constructed: a piece of flat iron screwed to the top of a 6x6 piece of lumber, fixed into stone "sleepers" by means of an L-shaped piece of iron -- one side pegged into the stone, the other into the wood.
When traveling between Philadelphia and Baltimore, the 16-mile ride on this steam-powered RR carried passengers from the Delaware River to the Chesapeake Bay, saving them about 300 miles by ship -- down the Delaware, out into the Atlantic, around Cape Henry (Hampton Roads/Norfolk, VA), up the Cheasapeake Bay to Baltimore or Washington.
Historic New Castle is a little-known architectural gem. It was founded in 1651 by the Dutch in opposition to the Swedes who had founded Ft. Christina in 1638 -- the first permanent Old World settlement in the Delaware Valley, which eventually grew into the city of Wilmington, the state of Delaware, Philadelphia, SE Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.
New Castle is full of authentic architecture from the 1700s and 1800s. Nothing is a recreation. Every building is lived in by real people. All the stores, inns, restaurants and shops are real businesses.
Battery Park has a very nice, paved nature walk that extends south for almost 3 miles along the river and through a nature preserve.
Places to visit include the Historic New Castle Court House, Delaware's capitol from 1704-1777 (present building 1732); Immanuel Episcopal Church (built in 1703 and gravesite of Declaration of Independence and Constitution signer George Read I); the Presbyterian Church (1707); George Read II House & Gardens (1801); Amstel House (1730s); Old Dutch House (oldest house in town; late 1600s or early 1700s); The Arsenal (1839 -- now a restaurant), Octagonal Library designed by Frank Furness (late 1800s). Walk The Strand, enjoy the old riverfront mansions, look for the "Packet Alley" historic marker and keep an eye out for those railroad "sleepers." (They found other uses after the RR was dismantled.)
RR and steam lovers also enjoy visiting other RR sites in the area: Wilmington & Western (two operating steam engines; excursions along the Red Clay Creek); Wilmington's Frank Furness-designed Amtrak Station (built in 1907); Auburn Heights State Park (14 operating Stanley Steamers, plus an operating, passenger-hauling steam railroad (1.5-inch scale).
