Conewago Creek Crossing

[ratlsnkshk]

An old ancestral record of my family claims that my great, great, great, great grandfather was killed by a PRR train in a cut where the line intersects Conewago Creek near Middletown, Pa., within sight of his home. I am trying to locate that spot, but current maps either omit listings for the creek, or the railroad. Can anyone provide a link to a map that illustrates this location? I think this occurred sometime around 1850, and any information that might lead to documentation of this incident would also interest me. Thanks for any info you may be able to provide!
Curtis Garver

[JimBoylan]

In 1850, the Pennsylvania RR had not yet bought the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mt. Joy & Lancaster RR, and the crossing of Conewago Creek at Conewago Jct. was just North of the present tracks and a bit lower, there was a tunnel just West of the creek. Computer maps show the bridge to be in the Elizabethtown, Pa. ZIP code, which could make it hard to find near Middletown. Bossler Rd. crosses the tracks East of the creek, between Zeager and Hess Rds.

[keystonepassenger]

http://binged.it/ZRiJKo

bridge footings are still visible for the line that connected the Reading RR in Lebanon, through Mt. Gretna to the PRR here in Conewago.
some years ago, the local Elizabethtown Newspaper ran an article written by the historical society about this accident.
Basically, the tower was expecting a train with soldiers to come in from Philly, transfer to the secondary line, and continue to the National Guard training grounds in Mt. Gretna. The train, instead, was a through train and hit the switch at 90(?) mph, derailed - and the entire consist ended up in the creek.