Mapping It Out - THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT KILLED - Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts

The next book in my nostalgic mystery series, THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT KILLED is set Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, in December 1951.  Though the characters and events are fictitious, the locations mentioned in the story did exist in this manufacturing village.  But no more.  This novel seeks to recreate a time before the Urban Renewal movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s drastically changed our urban centers; in the case of Chicopee Falls, wiped out most of it.  Some of the streets are gone now, and some whose directions are diverted and altered, but the more profound difference between then and now are the buildings on those streets that went under the wrecking ball.

Other aspects of the story are easier to distinguish on a map.  Above we have a 1946 topographical map by the U.S. Geographical Survey that shows a deep green area on the bluffs across the river from Chicopee Falls and other areas that were deeply wooded long before they were changed to suburban neighborhoods in the 1950s and 1960s.  A great place to dig a hole and hide stolen money.  If you really wanted to.

The "landing field" at the bottom of the map is the old Springfield Airport, the home of biplanes and the innovative GeeBees long before it became a shopping center.  For some, a field of dreams.

The railroad following parallel along the river figures prominently in the story.  That's not there anymore, either.

There's lots of trains in the book.





Here's a closer look at the setting in the web of streets of Chicopee Falls from a 1912 atlas that also figures into the story.  

Turning back time is a fascinating prospect, and one I've enjoyed very much in the writing of this mystery.  I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

I'm hoping to have The Little Engine That Killed published in November in eBook and in print, and I'll keep you up-to-date as we get closer. 

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom,  Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels. Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.