A 25-year-old Glen Gardener man was instantly killed Tuesday morning when the auto which he was driving was struck by a Lackawanna Railroad passenger train at Rose's Crossing, Cranberry Lake. According to state police, William Wydner, of Route 69, Glen Gardener, turned left off Route 206 and drove onto the railroad tracks which parallel the highway, directly into the path of the northbound train.

State Trooper James Van Langen said that signal lights at the crossing were flashing and that the engineer on the train, Charles Bonin, of Brooklyn, had sounded the train horn for the crossing. Wydner was on his way to Cranberry Lake to assist his father-in-law, Herbert Haggerty, of Hackettstown, to build a home there.

The six-car passenger train hit the auto broadside on the driver's side and pushed the shattered vehicle about 40 feet along the tracks before tossing it aside. Wydner had been driving north on Route 206, and it is believed he tried to reach the grade crossing on the north shore road before the train. The railroad tracks are visible from the highway for some distance at that point.

Police said the train was going about 40 miles an hour at the time of the accident, and came to a halt 300 feet beyond the crossing. The train was delayed about an hour.