Author: Cameron Booth

Historical Map: Sydney Suburban Rail Network, 1969

June 5, 2012
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Here’s an interesting map from my hometown of Sydney, Australia from around 1969. Unusually, it doesn’t display different services as separate coloured route lines: everything is shown as one uniform orange line. It also displays the distance from Sydney Central station (in miles), and the elevation (in feet) of each station. Non-electrified lines are shown as dashed lines. These odd features lead me to believe that this is a map for internal NSW Railways use, […]

Historical Map: Boston Commuter Rail Map, Mid-1980s

June 4, 2012
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Great old map of Boston’s extensive commuter rail network. I really like the way the subway lines are included to give scale to the whole network, and I especially like the square that the main interchange stations on the subway lines make — an understated design choice that gives a nice central focal point to the map. I suspect that the odd colours of the Orange and Red Lines are due to aging ink discolouration […]

UPDATE: Portland MAX In-Car Map

June 1, 2012
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Just as I post about the in-car maps on Portland, Oregon’s MAX trains, I notice that TriMet has just released a new version (pardon the bad cell phone photo; I was getting off the train as I snapped it!). The new map has two important changes from the previous one: JELD-WEN Field is correctly named (instead of the old PGE Park – showing exactly why commercial names on transit maps are a Bad Idea), and […]

Photo: British Rail Eastern In-Car Map

May 31, 2012
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A lovely example of British Rail’s house style of the 1960s and 70s, now residing at the East Anglian Railway Museum. This map is from between 1965 (the introduction of the “double-arrow” British Rail identity), and 1978 (when the “Eastern” component of the logo changed from sitting in an outlined box to a solid box like the British Rail text). Can anyone date it more definitively? Source: Deptford Draylons/Flickr

Official Map: Metrô Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2012

May 30, 2012
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Here’s a map that’s going to be seen a lot by tourists over the next few years as Rio de Janeiro hosts both the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games. Will it stand up to such international scrutiny and join other transit maps as a definitive icon of its city? Probably not. Have we been there? No. What we like: Suitably bright and exotic Brazilian colour scheme. Relatively clean and simple design. What we […]

Photo: In-Car Light Rail Map, Portland, Oregon

May 27, 2012
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I have to say that I’m not a huge fan of these in-car maps from my town of Portland. While they serve a purpose and fit in a very awkward vertical space, they’re neither elegant or match the design of the full light rail map. I particularly dislike the station symbol, which makes every stop — regardless of importance — look like an interchange station. Source: localmn/Flickr

Fantasy Map: Columbus, Ohio Light Rail by Michael Tyznik

May 26, 2012
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It’s been a good week for fantasy maps here on Transit Maps. Hot on the heels of the superb Freshwater Rail map comes this beauty from Michael Tyznik of his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. There’s an undoubted Massimo Vignelli 1970s New York Subway map vibe to this – Michael told me that this project actually began as an update of that map, but then morphed into another city altogether – but it still manages to […]