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 […]
Here’s a rather charming illustrated map showing the Bay Area’s BART commuter rail system as it looked in early 1989, plus a glimpse into the future as it was envisioned at the time. I particularly like the little details in this map – drawn by Art Richardson of BART’s “Documentation Division” back in 1983, it would seem – all the bridges are drawn accurately, and the skylines of San Francisco and Oakland are also well […]
I've long admired this fascinating map of the railway network in and around East Berlin, produced at the tail end of the Cold War in 1989. As is usual, I decided to redraw it in Adobe Illustrator to see what makes it tick.
“The ‘T’: One of Boston’s Last Great Bargains” proclaims this neat little pop-arty pocket map cover. Five of the six colours used in the design make sense (representing the four lines of the “T” plus purple for commuter rail), but what’s the yellow for? Making up the numbers in the days before the Silver Line, it seems. EDIT: My readers are awesome! Thanks to those who have pointed out that yellow was (and still kind of […]
A photo from 1989 of a newly-painted mural celebrating 60 years of the Thüringerwaldbahn, an interurban tram service running 22km between Gotha and Tabarz. As the original poster on Flickr notes, the scale of the map is “fanciful”, but it’s really meant more as a (rather lovely) decorative overview than an actual map. I’d be interested to know if the mural is still there, some 24-odd years later. Source: sludgegulper/Flickr
The Gara de Nord to Dristor 2 section of the M1 line opened in 1989, and this signage certainly looks like it’s from that era. The design is pretty rough and ready, looking almost like the sign makers made it up as they went along, but it does have a certain brutalist charm about it. Of particular interest are the two patches at each end of the map that keep this old map somewhat up […]
Reader Jon Sivell sent me this awesome photo of an out-of-date “A” map, still in situ at Far Rockaway/Mott Ave station, the last stop at the very bottom right of this map. It dates from prior to 2003, as it shows a shuttle bus from Howard Beach/JFK Airport, not the AirTrain. Anyone have anything else that can pin the date down a little better? Edit: With the help of some eagle-eyed readers, we’ve narrowed this […]
