All posts tagged: Australia

Historical Map: Suburban Rail Map of Adelaide, South Australia, 1985

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Historical Maps

A solid mid-1980s map of Adelaide’s surprisingly extensive suburban rail network – though there’s less branch lines than seen on this 1978 map, and many of the ones shown here would disappear in the next few years, no longer seen as profitable. The fact that all rail services are numbered allows short-turn and branch services to be easily discerned – on the green line, the 82 goes from Adelaide Station to Belair, while the 83 […]

Historical Map: Metropolitan Transit Train System, Melbourne, 1981

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The Melbourne suburban train network just after the City Loop opened in 1981. This is probably my favourite map of this particular network: it’s clean and graphically simple — black dots are all that are used to indicate parking, not a graphical vehicle icon or even a “P” in a circle. The colours are nice and bright and group the lines into operational groups quite neatly… an approach I prefer far more than the zone-based […]

Submission – Historical Map: Victorian Passenger Rail Network, 1928 by Philip Mallis

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Submitted by Philip, who says: I’ve designed this schematic map of what Victoria’s passenger rail network looked like in 1928. It was absolutely huge, with 114 lines and 1,185 stations. The map is built around the seven main lines (thicker 15pt lines) with branch and other lines thinning out (10pt) to create a basic visual heirarchy. This emphasises services rather than infrastructure, as it also shows where passengers were required to interchange. Line groups are […]

Historical Map: Suburban Rail of Brisbane, Australia, c. 1980

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A simple but effective map, probably dating from late 1980 as the green Ferny Grove to Ipswich line is shown as being electrified from end to end. This work was completed in September of that year, so that’s the earliest the map could date to. It’s a little hard to see, but there’s a black “catenary line” running down the middle of the green route line with an occasional lightning bolt icon to denote the […]

Historical Map: Tourist Map of Adelaide, South Australia, 1917

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A lovely little map of central Adelaide from a 1917 pamphlet issued by the South Australian “Intelligence and Tourist Bureau”, clearly showing the lines of the then-extensive electric tram network. Full conversion from horse trams to electric had only been completed a few years prior in 1914. Oddly enough, the only remaining tram route in Adelaide – the line out to Glenelg – is shown here as a steam railway starting at the corner of […]

Submission – Official Map: Sydney Rail Network Map, 2019

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Official Maps, Unofficial Maps

Submitted by a good number of people, who have all spotted this new map in the latest batch of Sydney Trains timetables and want to know what I might think. I’ve talked about a draft version of this map quite a bit on Twitter already, but I may as well compile my thoughts “officially” on the blog as well. Transit Maps says: The most obvious change to this revision of the map is the addition […]

Submission – Future Map: Melbourne Rail and Tram Map, 2025 by Durfsurn

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Future Maps, Unofficial Maps

Submitted by Durfsurn, who says: Originally I was making a map similar to my previous style of Melbourne/ Australian transport maps, but as the increasing complexity of a multi-modal map made itself clear I decided to streamline the lines, trying to balance real life corridors with more sensible and understandable map design. First I was inspired from a recent trip to Japan (amazing PT systems with manic maps to go with!) and added Line Identifiers […]

Submission – Official Map: Buses around the Eastern Suburbs, Sydney, Australia

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Submitted by Felix, who says: Transport for NSW released a new bus route map for the Eastern Suburbs, which I noticed a hard copy of and they provided a PDF upon request. There are many bus routes in the area and, because of the hilly terrain, many have quirks in their routes. I’ve spoken to many a tourist or visitor at Bondi Junction interchange, or one of the beaches, confused about which bus to take. […]

Submission – Unofficial Future Map: Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop (Straightened) by Philip Mallis

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Submitted by Philip, who says: I put together a map showing a redesign of Melbourne’s rail network with the newly-announced Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). Given that this is the first radial railway proposed for Melbourne for many decades, I have built the rest of the map around a central straight line of the new Loop. More explanation and links to the map on Philip’s website. Transit Maps says: The recent announcement of this new underground railway […]

Historical Maps: Melbourne Tram Destination Posters by Vernon Jones, c. 1930s

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Historical Maps, Prints Available

A handsome pair of posters promoting easy travel by tram to destinations around Melbourne, designed by artist Vernon Jones (1908–2002), perhaps better known for his illustration work documenting WWII. The dating on these is a little uncertain, with some sources placing the first edition as early as 1925. They were used for a number of years: a later edition of the “Zoo” poster revised the time from Collins Street to a perhaps more realistic 14 minutes. […]