Lock 12 of the Farmington Canal, in Cheshire, Connecticut, 1992

We were recently contacted by the coordinator of the Engineering Map of America, an initiative of PBS American Experience and WGBH in Boston, to partner with them on adding photographs in our collection of engineering marvels — scientific and technological innovations in Connecticut and the region.  The Engineering Map of America, at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/interactive-map/penn-engineering/, invites viewers to “explore America’s greatest engineering feats” through this interactive map.  It’s a great initiative and we’re happy and honored to contribute our photographs to this resource.

PBS is coordinating this map with the showing of The Rise and Fall of Penn Station, a documentary about the legendary railroad station in New York City, on most PBS stations on Tuesday, February 18.  The documentary will show at 9:00p.m. locally.

The map is powered by history pin and shows a Google map overlaid with the photographs.  Some of the pins we’ve already placed on the site are:

• The Cos Cob Power Plant in Greenwich, Connecticut, the first power plant built solely to provide electricity to a railroad, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad which was an innovator in railroad electrification of its tracks in 1907.
• Lyman Viaduct in Colchester, Connecticut, a 1100 feet high railroad trestle built in 1873 for the Boston & New York Air Line Railroad
• A streetscene in New Haven, Connecticut, highlighting the overhead telephone wires, to illustrate the accomplishment of the The District Telephone Company of New Haven (later the Southern New England Telephone Company) as the first public telephone exchange in the world (not just in Connecticut.  Not just in the United States.  IN THE WORLD) in January 1878.
• Hell Gate Bridge which spans the East River between Astoria, Queens, and Manhattan’s Wards Island in New York City, built in 1916 to connect the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad.
• The Shepaug Valley Railroad Tunnel in Washington, Connecticut
• and Lock 12 of the Farmington Canal, in Cheshire, Connecticut.

More engineering feats to come!  Stay tuned!