All posts tagged: France

Historical Map: Société des Transports en Commun de la Région Parisienne – Réseau Tramways Banlieue, 1921

September 13, 2013
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Transport in Paris these days is so inextricably linked to the image of the ubiquitous Metro, that it’s very easy to forget that it once had an extensive network of trams spreading far out into the suburbs. Fancy catching a tram from the Louvre to all the way to Versailles along the banks of the Seine? You could back in 1921, when this gorgeous map was produced. At this time, all the many competing tram and […]

Photo: Slope

June 18, 2013
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The Lyon Metro map (March 2012, 4 stars) on the platform at Croix-Paquet station – reputedly the steepest Metro station in the world, with a 17 percent grade! Although nominally part of Lyon’s Metro system, the “C” Line is really a refurbished rack-and-pinion funicular, with the earliest trains running as far back as 1891. Source: BrusselsBen/Flickr

Historical Map: Indicateur d’Itinéraires, Paris, c. 2003

June 11, 2013
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An old-school interactive Metro map in Paris. Simply press one of the 360 or so buttons underneath the map, and a path lights up from your current location to your chosen destination. Who needs a fancy touch screen kiosk? I particularly like the way that the furtherest reaches of the RER lines are compressed into diagrammatic form to allow the centre of Paris to be shown as large as possible. This particular example is still […]

All Aboard the Orient Express!

March 25, 2013
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Unofficial Maps
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Here’s an absolutely charming little map found on the inside of a French model train set box lid. I don’t have a definitive date for this, but it does have a lovely retro feel to it. The map itself isn’t much help, as it’s pretty much a work of fiction: a weird combination of different parts of the Orient Express’s historical routes (see this diagram on Wikipedia) and a branch to Warsaw via Prague that […]

Unofficial Interactive Map: Annual Passenger Entries into the Paris Metro (2011)

January 8, 2013
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A nicely executed interactive map of total annual passenger entries into the Paris Metro system. “Entries” are simply defined as a ticket validation at the relevant station. Even in my static screenshot, the enormous quantities of people that enter the Metro at the main railway stations of Paris – the Gare du Nord, Saint-Lazare, Gare de Lyon and Montparnasse-Bienvenue – can be clearly seen. There’s a staggering 48 million entries each year at the Gare […]

Photo – Historical Map: Paris Métro Ligne 12 Strip Map

November 13, 2012
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Here’s a beautiful old strip map of the Paris Métro’s Ligne 12, which runs from Mairie d’Issy to Porte de la Chapelle. This map is located in one of the few remaining old Sprague-Thomson cars, once the workhorse of the Métro. The fact that Rennes station is crossed out dates the map from between World War II, when it was closed, and September 1968, when it was (finally) reopened. Judging by the general aesthetics and […]

Photo: Paris Métro Map Mosaic Wall

October 12, 2012
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This has the subway mural in Brooklyn beat, I feel. This awesome tiled map of the 13th arrondisement covers the whole wall of this building (which I’m guessing is located where the red lines on the map intersect), complete with street names, parks, and Metro stations. It looks like the route lines are neon lighting, just for that extra cool factor. The whole thing has a great 8-bit art feeling to it which I love. […]