Cape Porpoise was one location where freight was transferred from barges and schooners onto cars pulled by an electric locomotive.
Atlantic Shore Line Railway locomotive #100, for example, pulled cars loaded with coal from Cape Porpoise.
To enable ships to reach the docks, the outer harbor of Cape Porpoise was dredged in 1899 using $125,000 in funds appropriated by Congress.
Eventually the harbor silted in once again.
