Results tagged “railroad” from York Town Square

This photo from the Stewartstown Historical Society might show the result of a 1923 accident on the Stewartstown Railroad, the worst in its history dating back to 1885. With multiple railroads crossing York County, its rail history is filled with accidents (The Great Watermelon train wreck) and near accidents (The unsolved mystery of locomotive No. 1689). Background posts: What was it like aboard the Stewartstown Railroad?, Whatever happened to York County's Hungerford? and Is mystery railroad the old Shrewsbury narrow gauge?

One day in 1923, a car carrying several passengers and crew members becomes uncoupled from a train on the Stewartstown Railroad and drifts down a grade.

A freight train, going at a rapid speed, meets it head on and plows through the passenger coach "telescoping" about two-thirds of the length of the car... .

In 2005, East Hopewell's Muddy Creek Forks celebrated an original engine that ran on the Ma & Pa Railroad many years ago during its Railroad Heritage Day celebration Sept. 24. Locomotives like No. 82 pulled rabbit trains for hunters loaded for game. For details on the locomotive or the railroad line, see www.maandparailroad.com. Background post: Railroading: 'It's something that gets in your blood.'

Fellow history blogger June Lloyd is doing a wonderful job over at Universal York spinning yarns about York's past.

And these yarns have meaning.

In one post, titled Hermits and rabbits she tells about the twice-a-year visit to York by a hermit - Joel Strong - to restore his stash of tobacco.

This photo of the Hellam station, date unknown, shows the same 'Hellam' sign that appears in the photo of Stanley Ebersole, below. The building still exists in Hellam, though it has been moved from its original location. Background post: The Great Watermelon Train Wreck.

Pennsylvania Railroad Stations Past and Present is one of those sites that you can get lost in.

The York County section lives up to the billing. It has a list of still-standing stations and those that time or man have not been kind to. It's a wonderful resource.

These sites brought to mind a York Daily Record story about a group of train buffs - the Northern Central Chapter of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society - that meets quarterly in York County.

Here is the story on a meeting of that group - a meeting in which members brought about a dozen station signs: