All posts filed under: Historical Maps

Historical Map: Original MBTA “Spider” Map

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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

System Maps, Mt. Washington Station, Baltimore Light Rail

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An (original 1992?) outdoor signage/map/wayfinding array at Baltimore’s Mt. Washington light rail station. While the main map on the central panel shows all the current stations and branches (dating it to after 1998), it looks as though there could be some patches or stickers on top of an older map to achieve this. To be honest, I don’t know why this map has to have any curves in its route line at all: I feel […]

Historical Map: Transit Extensions Over Existing Commuter Lines, Boston, 1972

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An audacious plan for expansion of rapid transit in Boston by electrifying the existing commuter rail lines. Bears quite a few similarities to this fantastic diagram from 1945, which also advocated rapid transit along railroad rights-of-way. peopleneedaplacetogo: Map from a 1972 proposal for the Boston subway lines to take over the commuter rail lines far out into suburbia, with the Green Line reaching Newburyport, the Green Line reaching Haverhill, the Red Line Fitchburg and Ayer, […]

Historical Map: Go Transit Timetable Map, June 26, 1974

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Pretty bare bones and basic, as timetable maps often are, reflecting the extent of service, not the actual details. Only three rail lines compared to today’s six. For some reason, Thornlea is set in a much more condensed version of the typeface than every other label, even though it looks like it would fit easily. The agency still uses the groovy 70s “GO” part of the logo, but has wisely dropped the similarly-styled “TRANSIT”.   […]

On Digitally Restoring Vintage Maps

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Historical Maps, Prints Available, Tutorials

Restoring the vintage transit maps that I'm now selling in my store is a laborious, time-intensive task, but I think that it's definitely worth it in the end. The major task is getting rid of blemishes: age spots, ink smears, tears, creases, dirt, dust, and even hair or other fibres that are between the print and the scanning surface. Here's how I go about things!

Historical Map: Surface Car Lines of Manhattan Island, August 13, 1915

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Via the now inactive nyplmaps Tumblr: Map showing surface car lines of Manhattan Island, August 13, 1915. This 61 x 185 cm color map with an approximate scale of 1:12,500 shows the streetcar lines operated by NY Railways, the Third Avenue System and the Second Avenue Railroad Co. that once roamed the Isle of Manhattan.  I’ll reblog just about anything transit-related from the New York Public Library’s map collection, but this is even more special than […]

Historical Maps: Rail Transit in North America, 1984 by Dennis McClendon

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I thought I was all done with “to scale” maps of North American rail systems, but then Dennis McClendon (see previous posts from him) sent in this beautiful series of maps that he produced for Planning magazine back in 1984. Dennis himself says: Given this week’s Tumblr theme, I thought you might be interested in these maps that I did in 1984, when I worked for Planning magazine. The “new wave” of modern light rail […]

Submission – Historical Map: Berlin U-Bahn Map, 1961

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Submitted by procrastinator-penguin, who says: Love your blog and it would be an honour to be featured! I found this map of Berlin by accident, and have no idea of the date, but I note The Wall is still marked on it. Personally, I think it’s quite beautiful in a way, if a little messy – I really don’t understand the red line well. I like the bold line colours, though. Transit Maps says: Thanks […]