A Post for the Cartophiles

The Station Mockup was not the only thing that caught the eye during yesterday’s session with Crossrail. During the site briefing, the map below popped up. The map shows the locations of virtually all of the major tunnelling projects that are currently planned or proposed for London in the foreseeable future.

Although it doesn’t go into great detail and features one notable exception (the Northern Line extension to Battersea) it is a rather interesting map nonetheless. Whilst actual and potential transport projects (such as Crossrail and Crossrail 2) dominate, it clearly demonstrates that they are not the only holes to be dug beneath the Capital in the coming years – something that it is sometimes easy to forget.

Our second map is one that is most definitely focused on transport. The wonderfully detailed map of the London Transport network at carto.metro has now been updated to version 1.1.

The map, which is best browsed on the site but which can also be downloaded as a pdf here, attempts to show as much detail as possible about the network. As can be seen from the screenshot above, this includes track layouts, section opening and closing dates, sidings, closed stations, disused lines and platform positions. It is most definitely worth a look.

50 comments

  1. There is a secret TfL geographically accurate London Connections map that’s recently been outed thanks to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request – http://mappinglondon.co.uk/2015/geographictube/.

    Another description of the outing story is here http://www.citymetric.com/transport/tfl-produce-geographically-accurate-tube-and-rail-map-dont-tell-anyone-about-it-1402.

    The resulting popularity of this map and the feedback TfL received has convinced the organisation to release it to the public.

    Note to the commentariat, it shows a few railways and extensions that haven’t been built yet…

  2. Re LBM,

    Hardly secret – They and BR used to hand it out to the public in one form or another, NSE made a nice folding Zone 1 + version with plastic covers (folds down to credit card size – map is 18 card sized) for Gold card holders than I have from 1991 (inherited on parents retirement!). (The classic NSE map is on the reverse).
    Current version available in covent garden…

  3. In TfL’s statement
    “This map was produced for engineering works planning ”

    I sincerely hope no-one tries to use it for that purpose, given that, although the stations are in the right places, the lines certainly are not – for example the Jubilee and Bakerloo are side by side at Baker Street – they do not cross at right angles.

    Anyone relying on this map for engineering planning will end up like this
    http://mortons.mortonsmedia.net/media/u/298_885791129.jpg

    (At least the “secret” Northern City Line is shown on this map, even if it is in the wrong place)

  4. @ngh

    Calling it ‘secret map’ was a bit sensational on my part I admit…

    I recently saw the geographic tube & railway poster at the Covent Garden Transport Museum, but I recall it being dated 2006.

  5. Back in the mid nineties I bought a small fold up map from a vending machine (oddly, I can’t remember where), but it was very handy as it’s a dead ringer for the “secret map”!

    Used it loads until it fell to bits….

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