Grecian 1998
Member
I found this website - http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/britishrailbriti.html - recently full of railway maps including multiple Intercity maps from the 1980s and 1990s. It's intriguing seeing how the definition of Intercity kept changing in a short space of time.
1982: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/Inter-City schematic map 1a.jpg
An entirely London-centric map - Bristol - Birmingham is omitted, along with Reading - Bournemouth and the whole of the NE XC axis. TBF I don't know if this was a specifically London-centric map rather than a more generic 'IC' map.
1985: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/InterCity Routes 1985.jpg
The year before sectorisation. A more recognisably Intercity map, although still quite London-centric. The Liverpool - Leeds and Manchester - Sheffield routes are not considered intercity or principal services. In comparison, both London - Dover routes along with Waterloo - Exeter are labelled IC or principal services. Bournemouth - Weymouth is omitted altogether, whilst Cornwall disappears off the edge of the map. No mention of Brighton XC services although I'm not sure there's any room to draw them and there were only ever a handful.
1986: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/InterCity map 1986.jpg
The year the IC was formed and the map reflects the sector, including those all important Brighton and Kent XC services, along with some XC services running via Bolton. 'The Intercity Story' written in 1994 indicates that the Gatwick Express and London - Norwich services were included to help the sector achieve profitability. Certainly it wouldn't have been remarkable if they had gone to NSE.
Waterloo-Bournemouth was apparently considered for IC status. I assume the Bournemouth-Weymouth section wasn't felt to be profitable enough. It would have been easier at the time than now to separate the express services from other services on the South-Western main line as prior to electrification these services could only be worked by 4REPs/4TCs/33s, whereas now the timetable is far more interlinked.
1989: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/InterCity map 1989.jpg
A slightly different type of map, as this doesn't show any connecting services. Cornwall and West Wales are shown in detail, Poole has returned and the West Highland line is featured. I assume the latter is due to the sleeper service. It appears some IC services ran into Glasgow Queen Street.
1993: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/BR InterCity 1993 map.jpg
What I consider to be the classic IC map showing all IC routes and just about any connecting lines of any significance.
In comparison this National Rail map from 2015 - https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/OfficialNationalRailmaplarge.pdf - doesn't try to define any Intercity route - it just shows principal routes and 'other main routes' (which seems to be just about every route away from a major city.
Interesting to note how broadly IC was defined before 1986 when profitability became key. I assume XC services were included as it would have been awkward to put them anywhere else. Shame as Provincial liveried HSTs could have been interesting.
1982: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/Inter-City schematic map 1a.jpg
An entirely London-centric map - Bristol - Birmingham is omitted, along with Reading - Bournemouth and the whole of the NE XC axis. TBF I don't know if this was a specifically London-centric map rather than a more generic 'IC' map.
1985: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/InterCity Routes 1985.jpg
The year before sectorisation. A more recognisably Intercity map, although still quite London-centric. The Liverpool - Leeds and Manchester - Sheffield routes are not considered intercity or principal services. In comparison, both London - Dover routes along with Waterloo - Exeter are labelled IC or principal services. Bournemouth - Weymouth is omitted altogether, whilst Cornwall disappears off the edge of the map. No mention of Brighton XC services although I'm not sure there's any room to draw them and there were only ever a handful.
1986: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/InterCity map 1986.jpg
The year the IC was formed and the map reflects the sector, including those all important Brighton and Kent XC services, along with some XC services running via Bolton. 'The Intercity Story' written in 1994 indicates that the Gatwick Express and London - Norwich services were included to help the sector achieve profitability. Certainly it wouldn't have been remarkable if they had gone to NSE.
Waterloo-Bournemouth was apparently considered for IC status. I assume the Bournemouth-Weymouth section wasn't felt to be profitable enough. It would have been easier at the time than now to separate the express services from other services on the South-Western main line as prior to electrification these services could only be worked by 4REPs/4TCs/33s, whereas now the timetable is far more interlinked.
1989: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/InterCity map 1989.jpg
A slightly different type of map, as this doesn't show any connecting services. Cornwall and West Wales are shown in detail, Poole has returned and the West Highland line is featured. I assume the latter is due to the sleeper service. It appears some IC services ran into Glasgow Queen Street.
1993: http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/BR InterCity 1993 map.jpg
What I consider to be the classic IC map showing all IC routes and just about any connecting lines of any significance.
In comparison this National Rail map from 2015 - https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/OfficialNationalRailmaplarge.pdf - doesn't try to define any Intercity route - it just shows principal routes and 'other main routes' (which seems to be just about every route away from a major city.
Interesting to note how broadly IC was defined before 1986 when profitability became key. I assume XC services were included as it would have been awkward to put them anywhere else. Shame as Provincial liveried HSTs could have been interesting.
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