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 […]
Submitted by Owain, who says: Love your blog. I’d really like to get your thoughts and, of course, a rating on a transit map I have created using Adobe Photoshop. It is for a fictional brand I have created called ‘neo’ (North East Overground) which ties together real express bus routes which radiate from Newcastle opon Tyne. The bus routes I have tied together under the ‘neo’ banner are a hotchpotch of different operators, ticketing […]
This newspaper ad from 1982 predates all those trendy “coffee shops/restaurants/bars/etc. nearest every subway/metro/train station in [insert city]” graphics that are pretty much everywhere these days by some 35 years. Riffing off the the Tyne & Wear Metro Map of the day, the map shows all the Newcastle Inns’ pubs near stations with their star logo, while also featuring some truly dreadful advertising copy puns. Source: SkyscraperCity forums
Here’s a pair of interesting future planning maps for the Tyne & Wear Metro, a raid transit/light rail system in the northeast of England. The first, from September 2001, shows a plan to extend the network with street-running feeder trams, as shown by the light blue route lines. Note that the map indicates the extension to Sunderland as open, even though this wasn’t actually completed until 2002. According to the plan, this was a future […]
A beautiful early map for this system, clearly showing how much of it was planned from the start. Apart from a few name changes (the proposed “Old Fold” station became Gateshead Stadium, for example), this is recognisably the same map that existed as far into the future as the year 2000, when the proposed extension to Sunderland made its appearance. The outlined route lines to show proposed/future extensions work wonderfully well, making an excellent contrast […]
Utterly plausible bus rapid transit (BRT) system map for the Tyneside region of England, designed as if it was a division of the Tyne & Wear Metro. While I can’t comment on whether Nexus/Metro would ever actually operate its own BRT network, I certainly can’t fault the aesthetics of the map itself. It’s absolutely spot-on, mimicking the look of the official Metro rail map (Nov 2011, 3.5 stars) perfectly. The 30/60-degree angles and the use […]
With the removal of intercity train routes from the new Sydney Trains map, the question is – where did they go? The answer: onto a new map of their very own! Aesthetically, it’s very similar to the Sydney map, part of what I understand is a major effort to unify all transit services that Transport for NSW provides. The layout of the lines is very clear and easy to understand, and having separate maps makes […]
Showing the then-proposed extension to Sunderland, which opened in 2002. Interestingly, the 60-degree angled section running through Newcastle is flipped the other way compared to the current map (Nov. 2011, 3.5 stars). I’d say the change was mainly made to accommodate the Calvert typeface used on the modern day map: it’s far more attractive than the Futura Condensed on display here, but a lot wider. Without the flip, the labels for South Gosforth and Four […]
The Tyne and Wear Metro system map peeks out from between two carriages at the St. James station in this great old photo from 1982. Source: jp4712/Flickr (link no longer active)
If anything, I actually like this elongated layout better than the actual official system map (reviewed here) – the removal of the geography and the addition of zone information makes the design both cleaner and more useful. Great use of an awkward space. Source: LiamC1995/Flickr
