On June 30, 1913, seventy-nine passengers loaded the #16 train en route to Chester for a baseball game. Tragedy struck when the train derailed at the Hooper Creek trestle in Chester County. Sadly, three passenger cars plunged into the creek below, killing five people.
The wreck almost put the railroad out of business, but Leroy Springs was able to settle the $130,000 in claims with the courts. Unfortunately, the accident ended the era of passenger train travel on the Lancaster and Chester Railway.
Three years later, fate again appeared when a major flood washed away the Catawba River Bridge in 1916.
Many consider the accident to be the Great Train Wreck of 1913.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr
Image Credit: Lancaster and Chester Railway Museum.