Give me a map good
enough and a timetable
on which to place it, and
I shall navigate the world
fat bus bloke
You do often hanker for the happy time when the National Bus companies would sell you a timetable book which often contained "other operators services", express coaches and appropriate train timetables.
Again, most NBC companies included a fold‐out map of the area covered.
Then, accompanying an email, there was a panel showing this wonderful creation. 
It was designed by fbb and executed by No 3 son in his 1997 summer holidays from school; it was distributed with the Great Britain Bus Timetable and was then the only National Express map available.
It was good. Modesty is one of fbb's rare assets!
But the NatEx map was part of the promotion for a truly magnificent work which duly arrived too big for the fbb letter box. The author and publisher had sent the old boy a copy for review.
Deep joy! The joy was even deeper because the book costs £40, not expensive for a high quality all- colour volume of approx 390 pages; but maybe too much for the old man's budget as well as a challenge to the ARMD!
But is the book good value?
This is what it says on the tin on the back cover. Click in the picture to enlarge it.
The 'end papers' present an NBC 'standard' map at the front ...
... and a street map based map from Edinburgh.
fbb is beginning to like this book a lot.
There is an intro by Peter Hendy, once of London Buses, now a boss of Great British Railways and now Lord Peter Hendy of Richmond Hill.
The book is a chronological romp through bus maps and their design, with the earliest entry being from 1919.
It is from London General, printed in three colours (back then that probably meant three passes through print rollers.) It is surprisingly modern.
But the question has to be asked ...
... and the answer is given. Trains, Underground and even trams appear on maps, especially those of urban areas ...
... but the closest we ever get to buses is a bus station symbol from Ordnance Survey one inch or, in the new money, 1:50,000. On larger scales you might get "Bis Sta" in text.
These bus stations are much rarer beasts these days.
It is fair to say that most early bus maps were produced by the operating company or, as below, by a municipality. Below is an extracts from London County Council ...
... but for trams only!
Out in the country, maps were, indeed, a company product. There was little sign of any effort from the shire counties.
Often these company efforts were cheaply designed and printed as with Southdown above. Print technology was either basic and crude or very expensive!
As usual with a huge volume like this, there are a good few unusual items. Here, for example, is a Glasgow map produced in 1940 by a retail shop. 
Sawers sold fresh fish, poultry and game. 
The business must have been really keen to get bus passengers to their shops.
While in Glasgow, we should appreciate their tram map,
Then Sheffield Transport are quoted as promoting their buses into Derbyshire.
With the arrival of the Traffic Commissioners and the dreaded regulation of bus services things began to look familiar. So we have a Green Line map ...
... and look, it gives fares from Central London. And, lettered routes!
The map is weak with the above reproduction (and possibly the original as well) does not show route numbers clearly. But it does indicate that, even for a municipal operator, country routes were a "good earner".
Another 'oddity', not previously met by fbb, is a full network map of London's red bus routes, published in 1947.
Bit it is not geographical as such. Look ...
... it is all straight lines, not a curve in sight. The illustration is a bit spotty, so fbb cannot get a really crisp photo. But the intriguing nature of the design is obvious. The three termini just north of the Thames are Creekmouth, Dagenham Dock and Ford Works, familiar destinations until relatively recently.
The modern version was abandoned by London Buses and is now in the very capable hands of Mike Harris. Here is Mike's version from 1970.
It's a bit different!
There is, of course, far more detailed information than the superficial perusal (tautology warning - you cannot have a superficial perusal!!) that this blog can provide.
Tomorrow we move into the post WW2 age and soon get to dates and publications with which fbb is very familiar.
The blog will take us, eventually, back to the future.
Great Scor, Marty. This should be 1926, but we've gone back to the future, it's 2026 and bus maps are still produced by bus companies for their own services and none other. Good Grief!
Extract from "Back to the Future IV - Which 26 is it?" by permission of Amblin Entertainment and Universal Studios.
But fbb is luvvin' the book!
Next Book Review blog : Weds 18th Feb
