All posts filed under: Historical Maps

Project: Electric Streetcars and Interurbans of Yakima, Washington, 1920

October 25, 2021
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The third in my series of maps depicting electric streetcar networks of the Pacific Northwest, one that both builds on my previous maps of Spokane and Portland and adds something new to the mix: geography. The full project description follows, but you can view the map below or click here to view it in a full-screen window. At first sight, the Yakima streetcar and interurban network may not look quite as impressive as the other […]

Project: A Map of Electric Streetcars in Portland, Oregon, 1915

August 22, 2021
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Here’s a map that’s been a long time coming, and one that I think has been worth the wait. I’ve wanted to make a transit map of historical streetcar routes in my adopted home town of Portland, Oregon for at least five years now, but it’s always seemed like a very daunting task. The success of my historical Spokane streetcar map from earlier this year finally gave me the tools I needed to get this […]

Submission – Historical Map: Newcastle Transport Route Map, September 1949

July 21, 2021
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Submitted by Paul, who says: A map from the Beamish Museum showing the Newcastle upon Tyne tram, trolleybus and bus network in 1949. The trams and trolleys are long gone, but the bus network is still recognisable. I used to take the number 1 through that janky Heaton route in the 2000s. The choice of sections for the map lookup references seems very of its time too. Transit Maps says: A rather splendid map, with […]

Historical Map: Prague Metro Booklet, c. May 1974

July 2, 2021
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A charming page introducing the Prague Metro, probably from around May 1974 when the first section of the Metro – Line C from Sokolovská (now Florenc) to Kačerov – opened. A diagram of the planned system takes up the majority of the page, accompanied by illustrations and text explaining how ticketing, barriers and ingress/egress from the stations would work. Altogether rather lovely. Source: transphoto.org

Submission – Historical Map: M6 Bus Route Sign, New York, c. 1975

May 13, 2021
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Submitted by Shaul Picker, who says: I have a Flickr and save these images from eBay listings and elsewhere. This is a sign from the former New York City Department of Traffic showing the M6 bus route, which was eliminated in 2010. Transit Maps says: What a great little map! While the M6 may have been eliminated in 2010, this map is much older, as evidenced by both the very 1970s typography, the use of […]

Project: Diagram of Amtrak Rail Services, May 1971

April 27, 2021
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May 1, 2021 marks Amtrak’s 50th anniversary! On that day in 1971, most regional and long-distance trains in the United States either disappeared or became part of the new national rail carrier’s network (there were some exceptions to this rule, which we’ll get to later). While there are plenty of maps out there that show the general extent of Amtrak’s nascent system — including one that I made myself as part of an historical series […]

Historical Map: BART “Going Places” Advertising Supplement Poster, 1982

March 26, 2021
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Here’s a fantastic poster designed as the centre spread of an advertising supplement to various Bay Area newspapers to celebrate the first ten years of BART (1972–1982). The immediately recognisable system diagram is overlaid on top of some charming line illustrations of landmarks and attractions, with the routes of BART Express buses also indicated. It’s all very simple – the illustration looks like it’s been done with some coloured fine felt-tip pens – but it’s […]

Project: A Map of Electric Rail Service in Spokane, Washington in 1912

March 17, 2021
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Old streetcar maps often do a very poor job of actually showing how the routes ran – often just drawing an otherwise unmarked red line down the middle of roads on a standard cartographic map without any explanation of stops, loops or route names (see left for an example). Finding accurate information about the actual routing of individual lines can be a long and thankless process, so when long-time Transit Maps correspondent Karl Otterstrom tweeted […]

Historical Map: Green Line Coach Routes, London, 1949

February 26, 2021
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Perhaps because of post-war austerity measures, this map was printed with just two inks – green and black – but still manages to do a lot of really good work. The radial nature of the Green Line network definitely makes things easier for the designer, as only a few of the routes really interact with others as they spread inexorably outwards from the map’s centre. The large route numbers at each terminus are great, as […]

Historical Map: SEPTA Regional Rail Map, 1989

November 16, 2020
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Submitted by Shaul Picker, who says: I found this map of the regional rail system in Philly from this 1989 SEPTA map to be interesting. I don’t know of any other map to use octagons. This map is notable for having “temporary” shuttle buses to Newtown and West Chester (service never returned), and for noting that service to Ivy Ridge on the R6 was “temporarily discontinued.” Service also never returned here. Note proposed stations at […]