Author: Cameron Booth

Historical Map: General Railway Development to 1985, Melbourne, Australia (1969)

March 5, 2015
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Submitted by John Mullany via email. Here’s an interesting rail planning map from 1969, presumably produced in association with the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan. It outlines all the improvements planned for Melbourne’s metropolitan rail system, including a whole bunch of new branches as shown in blue. According to the map, the works depicted were to be completed by 1985. Fast forward to 2015 – some 30 years past that deadline – and only the City […]

Future Map: Diagram of Construction-related Closures on the Paris RER A Line, 2015–2021

March 5, 2015
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Submitted by peopleneedaplacetogo. When you have a project that’s going to shut down the central section of one of your busiest commuter rail lines completely for four weeks of summer over the next four years, you’d better make sure that you communicate effectively with your stakeholders. The RATP seems to be doing just that with the massive RER A rail renewal project: this diagram is just one of six different project maps available on their […]

Historical Map: Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Metro, Russia, 1973

March 4, 2015
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A curvaceous, minimalist diagram. Notably mainly for the strangely muted colour scheme (yellow, brown and purple?) and the interesting interchange station symbols, which make things very clear by showing two arrows pointing in opposite directions. Visually, I like the way that the diagram makes use of overprinting where the route lines overlap. Update: I’ve since found out that this map is a small inset on a much larger geographical map of bus services in Leningrad, […]

Photo: Indicator Board, Eastwood Station, Sydney (2008)

March 2, 2015
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Ah, yes, the old manual indicator boards that used to be at pretty much every Sydney train station. I actually walked past these very boards for much of my high school, college and early working career, as Eastwood was my local station.  Of course, these venerable boards have now finally been replaced with newer electronic signs that update automatically without the need for the stationmaster to come and flick over all the station names manually, […]

Official Maps: Jefferson Bus Lines “Minnesota Routes” Series

March 2, 2015
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Here’s some nice illustrative map work, originally sent my way by Jeffrey Bridgeman, that showcases the routes of the Jefferson Lines bus company through the state of Minnesota. I’ve featured the main map that shows all of their services, and one of the six individual route maps – the evocatively named “Paul Bunyan” route. For the record, I think these are great: fun, welcoming, informational and nice to look at. Anything that makes long-haul bus […]

The History of the New York Subway as a GIF

February 27, 2015
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A fun little GIF from Appealing Industries that shows the construction of the modern New York Subway in sequence. I’d really like it to be just a little slower, and have a year clock somewhere. Bonus points would have been awarded for showing the construction and eventual demolition of the elevated lines as well. Still nicely done, and almost mesmeric after a while. Compare with this GIF of the Boston “T”. Source: Appealing Industries website […]

Historical Map: ACTUAL H.C. Beck Greater London Tube/Rail Map, 1938

February 26, 2015
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Thanks to Robert McConnell, who let me know that the map I featured in my last post is actually a modern digital map made by none other than Maxwell Roberts. Roberts states that he based his version of the map off one that Beck produced, unsolicited, in 1938 and that a copy of this version is in Ken Garland’s excellent book, “Mr. Beck’s Underground Map”. I own a copy of this book, so was a […]

Historical Map: Beck-style Greater London Tube/Rail Map (c. 1940s?)

February 25, 2015
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Here’s something via Chris Applegate on Flickr, where Chris says: Finally put up and framed the gorgeous vintage Tube map I won in a competition yonks ago. It is gorgeous, but it’s not just a Tube map, nor is it anything I’ve ever actually seen before.  It appears to be a Greater London Tube Map/main line railway diagram produced in a Beck-like style – a precursor to this 1988 “London Connections” map (May 2013, 3 stars) […]

Historical Map: Original MBTA “Spider” Map

February 19, 2015
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Taken from Cambridge Seven Associates’ 1965 Manual of Guidelines and Standards. A design classic in its purest form, only slightly marred by the poor registration in the manual itself (the dots should all be centred along each route line). Source: MIT Libraries