All the talk lately is of Tramlink’s inclusion on the London Rail Services Tube Map, but here’s a look at an early map from shortly after the system opened as the Croydon Tramlink in May 2000.

Interestingly, Johnston Sans is only used for the Tramlink logo and the prominent Travelcard Zone information: Gill Sans has been employed throughout the rest of the map. Of course, Tramlink wasn’t really part of the London Transport family at this time (full acquisition by TfL would happen in 2008), so this use of a different – but somewhat related – typeface is expected.

The map itself is a bit of a mess, mainly because of labels. Interchange stations are denoted by HUGE type, which leads to some cramped and inefficient placement of those labels to avoid cutting into route lines – West Croydon’s label is a long way from its symbol, while East Croydon’s label clashes badly with other labels nearby. Lengthy captions are required to describe the connecting rail services, all of which need to name the franchise in addition to the destinations. Station ticks are of differing lengths, being much longer on the southeastern-most part of the green Route 3, while the interchange “dumbbells” are indistinct and pretty unconvincing. All this combines to make a map with a very chaotic feeling to it, like elements have just been thrown on the page.

Our rating: Does the job, but no more. Cluttered and disorganised. Disappointingly average for a map that’s promoting a (then) brand-new state-of-the-art service. Two stars.

Source: By Air, Land and Sea/Flickr