A railway map of Britain if it were a metro system

[PTR 444]

I have spent some time creating a map of the UK's railway network in the style of the Tube Map. Unlike other maps however, this one attempts to depict the British railway system as a series of self-contained lines, suitable for running a hypothetical high intensity metro-like service. The lines shown do not depict actual train services, but rather how the network could interact with as few conflicts as possible.

Some key points:

• Each of the London radial lines is assigned an individual colour, which also includes some outlying branches that may not currently have a service to London.
• Non-London routes are given their own identity, for example The Solent & Wessex Line and North Downs Line, the latter of which is combined with the Redhill - Tonbridge and Ashford - Thanet lines.
• International services through the Channel Tunnel are combined with the South Eastern lines.
• In the North of England, the TransPennine routes are separated from the Airport - Castlefield - Bolton corridor.
• The Settle & Carlisle Line is combined with the GSWR and shown as a direct continuation of the Midland Line, hinting at its history as a through route.
• Only major lines and stations are shown, as well as long-distance regional services.
• The full route of East West rail is shown, but not HS2 as that would complicate the map too much at this stage.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

EDIT: Second edition of map now complete: see post 28.

UPDATE 29/9/24: Third edition is now complete: see post 42.

 

[Sapphire Blue]

No Penistone Line.

 

[PTR 444]

No Penistone Line.

I am only showing major lines and stations at this stage, but may produce another version showing all the lines at a later date.

 

[PGAT]

The main piece of criticism I will offer is that it implies Eastbourne can only be reached from London as it has no spurs to the east or west to Brighton or Ashford. Also the decision to include Littlehampton rather than Bognor Regis feels arbitrary especially considering the latter receives more passengers. Regardless I love this map!

 

[PTR 444]

The main piece of criticism I will offer is that it implies Eastbourne can only be reached from London as it has no spurs to the east or west to Brighton or Ashford.

Looking at it a second time, it might be better to put Seaford at the end of that branch, with Eastbourne shown as an intermediate stop on the Coastway line between Lewes and Hastings.

Also the decision to include Littlehampton rather than Bognor Regis feels arbitrary especially considering the latter receives more passengers. Regardless I love this map!

Bognor Regis could be included with an extension of the South Central “branch” via Horsham, but would mean replacing Chichester with Barnham on the map so it makes sense in terms of rail geography.

 

[43096]

I have spent some time creating a map of the UK's railway network in the style of the Tube Map. Unlike other maps however, this one attempts to depict the British railway system as a series of self-contained lines, suitable for running a hypothetical high intensity metro-like service. The lines shown do not depict actual train services, but rather how the network could interact with as few conflicts as possible.

Some key points:

• Each of the London radial lines is assigned an individual colour, which also includes some outlying branches that may not currently have a service to London.
• Non-London routes are given their own identity, for example The Solent & Wessex Line and North Downs Line, the latter of which is combined with the Redhill - Tonbridge and Ashford - Thanet lines.
• International services through the Channel Tunnel are combined with the South Eastern lines.
• In the North of England, the TransPennine routes are separated from the Airport - Castlefield - Bolton corridor.
• The Settle & Carlisle Line is combined with the GSWR and shown as a direct continuation of the Midland Line, hinting at its history as a through route.
• Only major lines and stations are shown, as well as long-distance regional services.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

I really like it! There's been a few of these attempted over the years to varying degrees of success. This is really good, though.

I think the only realy problem is the colouring of lines where you could use more than one colour e.g. Waterloo-Reading "ends" at Wokingham as the North Downs takes priority. It might be better used when GBR takes over as a replacement for the old "routes of Britain" BR used, which could highlight the particular service group area.

 

[etr221]

@OP: My first thought is that it is your project, undertaken for your reasons: in the end only you can know what is right.

Is it it intended to show, in some sense, what is, or what might be - and how do you mtch this with reality?

The great simplification/generalistion of the network on your map does not help: a lot is omitted.

Something I would have done is segregate Eurostar & HS1 from the rest of the South Eastern Line

That having been said, many 'lines' as indicated are to a great extent concatenations of not terribly related links, and ignore much of the reality of towns and cities. This is perhaps most obvious in your North Highland line, which lumps the Glasgow/Edinburgh/Perth/Fife/Aberdeen area (and I wonder if the locals would appreciate it being labelled Highland?), and the quite different lines radiating from Inverness.

My own approach might have been to divide the network into three layers:

1. 'Inter-City' main lines. Linking the main cities.
2. 'Regional' lines - in different regional neworks. Linking the major towns.
3. 'Local/Metro' lines - to suburbs and minor towns

And start at the top and work down ... which would rapidly show the extent to which the upper layers decline as they also provide the lower layer links.

But none the less, it provides an interestingly different perspective of the network

 

[YorksLad12]

I have spent some time creating a map of the UK's railway network in the style of the Tube Map. Unlike other maps however, this one attempts to depict the British railway system as a series of self-contained lines, suitable for running a hypothetical high intensity metro-like service. The lines shown do not depict actual train services, but rather how the network could interact with as few conflicts as possible.

Some key points:

• Each of the London radial lines is assigned an individual colour, which also includes some outlying branches that may not currently have a service to London.
• Non-London routes are given their own identity, for example The Solent & Wessex Line and North Downs Line, the latter of which is combined with the Redhill - Tonbridge and Ashford - Thanet lines.
• International services through the Channel Tunnel are combined with the South Eastern lines.
• In the North of England, the TransPennine routes are separated from the Airport - Castlefield - Bolton corridor.
• The Settle & Carlisle Line is combined with the GSWR and shown as a direct continuation of the Midland Line, hinting at its history as a through route.
• Only major lines and stations are shown, as well as long-distance regional services.
• The full route of East West rail is shown, but not HS2 as that would complicate the map too much at this stage.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Firstly - that's a well-drawn, clear map. Good work.

My only quibble would be that these days we keep reds and green separate, for colour-blindness reasons. The old MetroTrain diagram had red and green next to each other (inherited colours from the 1960s!) which sometimes raised comments.

 

[gazthomas]

Too much London-centricity, specifically in North and Mid-Wales

 

[alistairlees]

"Hellfield"! - love it! Dropping the middle "i" makes Hellifield sound quite unpleasant, when it isn't really. Also Builth Wells and Newton Abbot. Otherwise, good effort, look forward to version 2.

 

[wilbers]

Why is Tempsford shown as a stop on the North Eastern line (and for that matter why is it on the map at all)?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

In Central Scotland, don't believe that the (orange) line from Falkirk should be showing as ever meeting the (orange) line from Bathgate, before continuing into Glasgow.

Would also suggest that the principal route from Edinburgh to Dundee is not via Dunfermline. Nor is it necessary to first travel via Perth to get to Dundee.

Kilmarnock should be shown as being much nearer the point where the (brown) lines to Ayr + Glasgow diverge.

 

[PTR 444]

Why is Tempsford shown as a stop on the North Eastern line (and for that matter why is it on the map at all)?

It is a proposed interchange between the ECML and EWR. Omitting it would look silly in my opinion.

The alternative is to show EWR between Bedford and Cambridge as a dotted line to indicate that it isn’t open yet.

In Central Scotland, don't believe that the (orange) line from Falkirk should be showing as ever meeting the (orange) line from Bathgate, before continuing into Glasgow.

Would also suggest that the principal route from Edinburgh to Dundee is not via Dunfermline. Nor is it necessary to first travel via Perth to get to Dundee.

Kilmarnock should be shown as being much nearer the point where the (brown) lines to Ayr + Glasgow diverge.

These oddities appear as a result of simplifying the map. I could however attempt to resolve these in a future edition.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The alternative is to show EWR between Bedford and Cambridge as a dotted line to indicate that it isn’t open yet.

That would seem appropriate.

A handful of other observations.

To the South of London, there is no line running (in reality) directly from Gatwick to Tonbridge.

Why is Woking showing as an interchange station?

Is the inclusion of Heysham really warranted? Morecambe, maybe, but Heysham? Similarly, why is Brampton shown?

Why are Carlisle and Manchester Piccadilly shown as connected, but separate stations?

Whereas, each of Bradford, Warrington, Wakefield, Canterbury and Southend should, perhaps, be shown as two separate stations with a white link/connection between them.

 

[Bevan Price]

Interesting map.
Runcorn appears as if it is a connecting location, but Runcorn East is a few miles from Runcorn station. Might confuse "non-enthusiast" passengers.

 

[Shrop]

In general an excellent map . Looking at Shropshire, I would make a couple of slight changes to the drawing north and south of Shrewsbury, which presently depicts the junction with the Central Wales line (which is actually 20 miles away at Craven Arms) as being closer to Shrewsbury station than the junction with the Chester and Crewe lines, which actually splits immediately outside the station itself. I'd prefer to see the Shrewsbury to Crewe line splitting off at Shrewsbury, which could be done by showing the "Shrewsbury" legend to the left of the junction instead of to the right. (The "Telford" legend could then be moved slightly closer to Shrewsbury). The Central Wales line junction could be moved a little to the south, with "Craven Arms" marked at the junction, then Ludlow slightly further south, and dispense with "Leominster" since it has no great significance for the purpose of the map.
Those are just my thoughts re Shropshire, but I do like the general presentation

 

[The Planner]

Stoke Works Jn looks odd, it appears like the line to Worcester is the main line. Nuneaton is wrong too, the Cov line doesnt join the XC line at all, it would be better just ending up in the circle. Crewe needs the radiating lines to all join the circle in my opinion. Great Western is really weird with the line to Oxford diverging prior to the Newbury line! Carlisle doesn't make sense with the S&C shown as continuing to Dumfries. Not sure about Derby and Nottingham either, but I am a perfectionist.

 

[Irascible]

As a service map that seems pretty decent! I think I'd probably try and find a way of inserting the Barnstaple line in it somehow ( given the Cambrian Coast appears to be in there ), other than that, nice.

 

[DiscoSteve]

Not every train from Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield goes through Stockport (when the Hague Bar landslip is fixed) - you're missing thet alternate route which goes out East from Man Picc and splits three ways at Guide Bridge / Hyde North to Staly Vegas, Glossop/Hadfield and Romiley / Marple

 

[PTR 444]

That would seem appropriate.

A handful of other observations.

To the South of London, there is no line running (in reality) directly from Gatwick to Tonbridge.

That is true. I omitted Redhill for Gatwick due to limited space on the map and prioritising a bigger destination. If I moved the line up a bit, that could give room to put a Gatwick stop in below.

Why is Woking showing as an interchange station?

I was initially experimenting with using interchange circles for all stations where lines diverge (as technically you can interchange there), but on second thoughts they look a lot neater with a standard station symbol.

Is the inclusion of Heysham really warranted? Morecambe, maybe, but Heysham? Similarly, why is Brampton shown?

I included Heysham since it is at the end of the line. Morecambe could be added with some slight tweaking of the map.

Why are Carlisle and Manchester Piccadilly shown as connected, but separate stations?

I hadn't foreseen that some people might interpret two interconnected station circles as two separate stations in one town/city. Thinking about it, this is actually quite a neat concept which could work for some of the stations listed below:

Whereas, each of Bradford, Warrington, Wakefield, Canterbury and Southend should, perhaps, be shown as two separate stations with a white link/connection between them.

Stoke Works Jn looks odd, it appears like the line to Worcester is the main line.

That is most likely because Birmingham - Worcester is depicted as a straight line, while the main line to Bristol appears to "branch off".

Nuneaton is wrong too, the Cov line doesnt join the XC line at all, it would be better just ending up in the circle.

Although it would need a separate identity since it would no longer be connected to my "Midland & Anglia Line". Could it become a branch of the Chiltern or take on its own identity, Warwickshire Connect Line, perhaps?

Crewe needs the radiating lines to all join the circle in my opinion.

Crewe - Stockport could become an extension of the Marches Line while the line to Holyhead could be incorporated into the Pottery & Fen Line. I depicted those as part of the North Western Line since they are better focused on providing direct services to Birmingham and London.

Great Western is really weird with the line to Oxford diverging prior to the Newbury line!

Also the Berks & Hants doesn't diverge from the Reading - Basingstoke line! If it did, there'd be much less room to include Salisbury and Yeovil on the South Western Line to Exeter.

Carlisle doesn't make sense with the S&C shown as continuing to Dumfries. Not sure about Derby and Nottingham either, but I am a perfectionist.

At the end of the day, this map isn't meant to depict actual train services, rather a fun exercise for simplification and neatness. I'm actually tempted to make the S&C and GSWR an extension of the Midland Line like it was pre-nationalisation.

 

[Llanigraham]

I am only showing major lines and stations at this stage, but may produce another version showing all the lines at a later date.

So why are the busier lines in Cornwall not shown, when the Newquay one is?

 

[PTR 444]

So why are the busier lines in Cornwall not shown, when the Newquay one is?

I included it as it has occasional intercity services, whereas the others do not.

 

[DelW]

As one who has done similar exercises myself (though only for regions, not nationally), I think that's a nice piece of work, and graphically much better than some of the versions produced by (or for) Network Rail.

There will always be awkward decisions on which lines to include and which to omit, and always tension between geographic accuracy and graphic purity. I found I had to move away from a strict 90° / 45° "grid" in complex areas (on my TfL one, the Euston /KXSP area was a nightmare).

A few observations of my opinions:

• I would leave out EWR Bedford to Cambridge. Never mind "isn't open yet", there's no agreed route or funding in place, and personally I doubt it will be built by 2040 if ever.
• Double circles should preferably be reserved for separate stations (as Glasgow) rather than single ones (as Carlisle), though I can see that causing issues in Manchester and probably elsewhere.
• The North Downs / Brighton / Tonbridge junction should definitely be shown as Redhill. Gatwick should be below it if there's room.
• I'm not convinced Farnborough deserves an interchange symbol. North and Main stations are nearly a mile apart and journey planners rarely if ever route that way. Yeovil is somewhat similar, although there are now occasional trains that link Pen Mill and Junction (I certainly wouldn't want to walk it).
• Birmingham could arguably have separate station(s) for the Chiltern route, though I'm not sure whether it's justified to show both Moor St and Snow Hill.
• North of Birmingham there is an interchange (Galton Bridge) where the Chiltern line crosses the North Western.
• The line north from Yeovil meets the Berks & Hants at Castle Cary, which is a long way west of Westbury (and there's no junction with the line from Salisbury).

I do understand that you're aiming to show service patterns not geography, and much of the above is opinions and judgements, where there will inevitably be different views. Overall I think it's a very nice piece of work, and I look forward to the next iteration - I imagine there'll be a few!

(An example of one of my efforts is in this old thread:

TfW Mapping Errors

I'd question why Liverpool, Manchester etc. are given translated names when the Welsh versions are not included anywhere on the stations themselves! There's a simple reason for that. The stations themselves are in England where legisaltion regarding language equality doesn't apply whereas the...

www.railforums.co.uk

with the rationale and first draft in post 35, and the final version in post 58. A few of the intervening posts might interest you too, e.g. 38 about showing junctions.)

 

[Sprigibax]

This is incredible, much better than this horrible thing I made a while ago.

 

[Irascible]

So, who's going to attempt a pre-Beeching one

 

[Bevan Price]

So, who's going to attempt a pre-Beeching one

Why bother when you have these, for example:

View map: , North east sheet - Official railway map of England & Wales. Prepared ... at the Railway Clearing Hou... - Maps of England and Wales

I think most are now long out of copyright, so you should be able to edit them (e.g. deleting lines of no interest to you, such as freight-only lines)
Versions exist for various years between 1877 and 1947.

More detailed maps for specific areas also exist, e.g. Lancashire & Cheshire:

View map: Railway Clearing House., North sheet - Official railway map of the Lancashire & Cheshire Districts / prepared and published a... - Counties of Scotland, 1580-1928

 

[Irascible]

Because they're actual geographical maps ( of which there are many ) & not network schematics?

It'd also demonstrate duplicate routes very obviously.

 

[PTR 444]

My second edition of the map is now complete and attached below. Some key changes from the first diagram include:

• Most railway lines in Great Britain are now shown, rather than just major routes. The notable exceptions are some inner-suburban routes and certain routes in South East England where space is tight.
• All settlements with multiple stations are now shown with double circles.
• Misspelt stations have been corrected.
• Some less important stations have been removed, such as Leominster, Brampton and Haltwhistle
• In the Southern region, Eastbourne has been moved onto The Solent & Wessex Line and replaced with Seaford. Chichester is now shown as Barnham, with that line extended to Bognor Regis. Gatwick has been moved south of the North Downs Line interchange and replaced with Redhill.
• The Great Western Line from Reading to Taunton/Devon/Cornwall is now shown as branching off the line to Basingstoke.
• EWR between Bedford and Cambridge is now shown as a dashed line to indicate that it is proposed. I have also included the Northumberland and Avonmouth lines in this scheme.
• The Midland Line and Settle & Carlisle Line are combined into one. While not meant to depict actual services in operation, I thought it would be a fun exercise to recreate the through London - Glasgow route via the Midland.
• Some new line identities are added, including the Warwickshire Connect Line (Leamington - Nuneaton), Cross City Line (Birmingham), Cardiff Valleys Line and Ffestiniog Line.
• The Pottery & Fen Line has been extended from Crewe to Holyhead, and is now known as the North Wales Line to reflect its bigger importance in that area. It also includes the Stockport - Chester line.
• The Crewe branch of the Marches Line has been extended to Stalybridge via Stockport and Guide Bridge, subsuming the Wilmslow loop of the North Western Line.
• The Mersey Line has been recoloured yellow and expanded to incorporate the Merseyrail network.
• In Scotland, the line via Shotts is now shown as a loop of the North Western Line.
• The line via Bathgate is now shown as an extension of the West Highland Line.
• The line via Falkirk retains its gold colour, which now depicts all lines running from Dundee through Perth and Stirling to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Tweedbank. These grouping of lines go by the name of Central Scotland Line.
• The North Highland Line has been renamed as the Forth & Highland Line, and redrawn to better match the geography of the railways in the area.

 

[Llanigraham]

Surprised you've ignored the 2 large towns between Shrewsbury and Machynlleth, considering the number of passengers that use them.
(I can forgive not including Caersws)

 

[Llanigraham]

ADD.
Shouldn't the dotted Avonmouth line be included with the Severn Beach line?
Or is it actually the line to Portbury and therefore the end wrongly named?