All posts filed under: Historical Maps

Historical Map: 1985 “London Connections” Map Uncovered at Embankment Station

September 18, 2014
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Great photos of this fantastic old map, discovered in place (presumably during the Bakerloo/Northern Line station refurbishment works) and now protected in situ by some rather ugly chicken wire. Note that the loop at the western end of the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow Terminal 4 is still under construction, which had been completed by the time this version of the map (May 2013, 3 stars) came out in 1988. Source: jaggers/Flickr – links no longer […]

Historical Map: Montreal Metro Map, July 1979

September 12, 2014
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From the days before the current colour-coding of the lines and the now-iconic black background. Here, we have dark blue (or black: it’s hard to tell from this picture) instead of green for Line 1, and red instead of orange for Line 2. Line 4 retains its yellow color, and the three colours combined also form part of the Metro’s branding at the base of the map. The map itself is fairly blocky and primitive, […]

Photo: Tattoo based on H.C. Beck’s First Paris Métro Diagram

September 10, 2014
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The inspiration for this tattoo (which looks real) is really quite obvious when you know what you’re looking for. This is H.C. Beck’s first unsolicited attempt at a Paris Metro diagram from around 1939, and has been reproduced quite faithfully (although without the station names). Source: zachhaschanged/Instagram

Submission – Historical Map: Greater London British Rail Map, 1969

August 29, 2014
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Submitted by Peter Marshall, who says: I’m currently trying to design a clearer diagrammatic representation of the maddening tangle of railway lines and services in the South London area. Just doing my initial research into historical versions online, I turned up this interesting map.  It appears to have been published in 1969 by British Rail, for what purpose, I am not absolutely certain.  It seems far too sparse in detail to be a map intended […]

Submission – Historical Map: Chicago CTA Rapid Transit Map, 1983

August 26, 2014
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Submitted by our resident repository of Chicago transit map knowledge, Dennis McClendon, who says: This map of Chicago’s rapid transit network originated in the 1970s (this one is from June 1983), and this style was used until routes received color names in 1993. Happily, by that time digital printing in fiberglass-embedded signs made full-color maps easier to place in graffiti-prone environments. These maps were silk-screened onto [blue] color blanks, and every color of ink added […]

Submission – Historical Map: Proposed Underground Mass Transit, Jakarta, Indonesia, c. 1993

August 12, 2014
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Submitted by Josh Brandt, who says: I used to work at a university, and one day while poking through some dumpsters I found a big hardbound book full of architectural drawings and tables and things, a final report on developing a mass transit system for Jakarta.  I don’t know if that sort of thing interests you, but here are some pictures of pages from it. They planned for 2 lines, NS and EW, and mapped […]

Submission – Historical Map: Bus and Trolley-bus Routes in Vilnius, Lithuania, 1968

August 5, 2014
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Submitted by creatures-alive. A striking transit network map from Soviet Vilnius in the late 1960s. The stark, angular route lines are softened a bit by the wide lazy curves of the city’s rivers, but this is still pretty severe, minimalist, almost abstract design. Also of note is the map’s title and legend, set in five different languages – Lithuanian, Russian, Polish, German and English. Source: Vilniaus Katalogas website

Historical Map: Chapel Hill Transit Bus Map, 1974

August 1, 2014
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Celebrating their 40th year of service today – August 1, 2014. Here’s their original service map showing eight routes: four city buses (solid lines), two UNC Campus buses (long dashed lines) and two Park/Ride express services to the airport lot and the mall lot (short dashes). The use of the different dashes allow the different types of services to be shown effectively with a limited (and cheap to print!) two-colour palette. There’s also some very […]

Historical Map: Pocket Diary with London Tube Map, 1948

July 30, 2014
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A lovely little black and white version of the Tube map at the front of a 1948 year diary. Drawn by H.C. Beck (see his name at the bottom left), it shows the central area of London only and is based off the 1946 version of the full map. By 1949, interchanges were being drawn with a white connector line between adjacent circles, rather than the separate circles seen here. Source: hollandfamilyarchives/Flickr