CTTRAXMAP
In response to a recent suggestion, we screwed up our courage and put the
trolley lines on the Google Earth map, for at least two reasons. First, these lines are sometimes confused
with railroad tracks in a particular area where the two ran close together, e.g. Cheshire, and second,
the urban and interurban electric lines were an important transportation network in their own right and sometimes even shared
track with the steam railroads. For now, we have done only major routes between towns. There has been no attempt to place
the line on the correct side of the street or highway, to include trolley stations aside from an occasional POI, or to follow
short private ROWs. In cases of doubt, we have routed tracks along major arteries between urban areas and the cities themselves
may be sketchy and have a line running along a wrong street here and there. That's where YOU come in. Give us feedback!!
Let us know where we are wrong and we will edit. Meanwhile, the fourth file in the CTTRAXMAP sidebar is CT ST RWYS. Follow
the orange paths and take yet another ride back into history!
This map, like this website, is a work in progress. It is an effort to create a geographical
framework for the station annotations and illustrative material on Track 16. The primary purpose
is to accurately locate all the railroad stations in the state, as well as rail
lines, current and abandoned, and additional points of interest [POIs].
Recently
we went a step further and created path sets by railroad company and by date, so you can now identify when main lines, branches, extensions and later realignments were
completed. We have also distinguished between track still in the ground [blue] and abandoned [red]. The
orange paths are trolley lines, added because tracks are tracks (and they are fun!), because we wanted
to make clear which they were when running in proximity to the railroads, and because the streetcar and
interurban system was itself an important transportation adjunct and rival
to the steam roads.
The only thing you need to do to use this handy map resource is to download Google Earth,
if you do not have it already on your computer. It is a safe,
popular, and acclaimed Web mapping tool that is FREE, takes up little space on your hard drive, and enables
you to open geographic files. We have stored our map data at Google Sites
to make it universally available on the Internet.
Follow
these simple steps:
1. Click here to download Google Earth.
2. UNCHECK the boxes offering to install
Google Chrome. You don't need it for Google Earth.
3. When the download is complete,
click this link: CTTRAXMAP.
4.
Click on the Download link on the Google Sites page and save it to your desktop.
5. Click on the CTTRAXMAP file now on your computer. It should
open automatically. Otherwise, right-click the file and choose Google Earth as the program to use.
6. Double-click on the Earth globe to pull it toward you
and rotate it to Connecticut. As it comes in closer, you will see paths, station icons, and pins marking points of interest. Follow
lines of interest on the map or double-click on items in the sidebar list to take you where you want to go. Keep the map open and switch back and forth to Track 16 and read our research on particular stations.
7. Upon exiting Google Earth, you
will be asked if you want to add this temporary data to your 'My Places' file.
You can say 'yes' to keep the map, but we actually recommend
saying 'no' to encourage you to go back to Google Sites to download the most recent version, since
we are constantily tweaking and revising. The other advantage to doing this is that avoids overlaying a
newer version on the old one, which causes duplicate data, paths, labels, etc. and gets very confusing. We are numbering
the revisions very simply by Arabic numerals. If you still have CTTRAXMAP4 and CTTRAXMAP5 is available, download the one with
the higher number.
8. If you did not keep the old map, just go
go back to Step 4 and get the new map. If you did keep the old map, OPEN GE FIRST, right-click on My Places, locate the CTTRAXMAP, right-click on it, click 'Delete'
and go back to Google Sites to get the newer version. If you run into trouble
at any time, delete everything in My Places and just download the newer version.
9. A WORD OF CAUTION. Keep any map data
sets you have created in SEPARATE files so when you delete our map, you don't discard your personal work.
ENJOY! This is easier than it sounds once you have done it! FEEDBACK is
invited and appreciated!!
SOME NOTES ON USING
THE MAP!
There are now four sub-files: 1. CT RR Stations; 2. CT RR POIs; 3. CT RR Lines; and, 4. CT ST RWYS.
Station
locations are shown by the house icons and zooming in CLOSE should show you the actual side of the track or crossing quadrant where the station stood. This attempt to clarify exact locations is ongoing.
If you know something is amiss or feel it needs to be clarified,
email us.
If ** follows
the name with the a station icon on the map and in the index list, it
means the structure is still standing at the original location. If
it has been moved, it is marked by a pin, an indicator that
is used for points of interest [POIs] other than stations.
There are more specific instructions on the map with the introductions to each of the four
sub-files.
