Fretfully Searching Five Stations? (2)

The Tube Map Which Isn't

It's called the "Tube" map because it used to be services operated by London Transport Underground trains - and nothing else.

Over the years definitions have become blurred, so now the "Tube" map includes everything on rails that is  "controlled by" Transport for London. So it includes the trams at Croydon ...

... the Elizabeth Line line ...

... and all of the "Overground".

Both Elizabeth Line line and the Overground are actually British Rail lines (National Rail) but managed by Transport for London,  So you can buy a "normal" national rail ticket to e.g. Bond Street.

All the Overground lines are shown in ORANGE which is just plain daft.

Then there are the anomalies. Recently Thameslink has been added to the "Tube" map ...

... but it is NOT managed by TfL.

Heathrow Express (hyper rip-off charging innocent visitors a ludicrously high fare) does not appear at all ...

... but the nattily named IFS Cloud (line?) does - and it, too charges rip-off fares just to cross the Thames in a swaying bubble. 

Nice.

But, from November, that standard "Tube Map Plus Other Stuff' has been upgraded to show the "full" (well, not quite) service on the Elizabeth Line line.

Other changes have been made at the same time. (click on the graphics for an enlargement)

We have already seen a tidying up at Paddington with the purple trains running through (well, half of them, anyway).

Likewise at Liverpool Street.

Here things are really complicated. Because the Elizabeth Line station is so huge, it stretches from Liverpool Street to Moorgate, so these two have become one "station"; a bit like the good old Bank and Monument with the "escalator connection". Remember?

Another change for the present map shows ...

... the rejig now the Liz trains from Shenfield no longer run into Liverpool Street but junct with the service from Abbey Wood and use the "proper" Crossrail tunnels.

There is a fourth change which comes as a bit of a surprise because it is not provoked by the new service.

On the October 202(2) map there is notable Nunhead at the bottom right. But from November 2022 it has moved dramatically to upper far left!

What's going on? And where is Nunhead anyway?

There it is, lower left and well to the west of the Overground lines at New Cross Gate and New Cross. The October map showed it due south of Deptford - which it never was. So a good correction.

But, back to Paddington.

In due course, fbb will look in detail at two more recent private redesigns of the so-called "Tube" map.

This, from Mike Hall's Behance web site, is his take on Paddington.

His whole map is still too crowded in the central area, but he is trying to compress the network into an A4 page.  His Paddington does not address the comparative remoteness of the former Bishops Road (Metropolitan) station but it shows everything very tidily. 

What is excellent is that he indicates the closeness of Bayswater and Queensway stations which are almost next door to one another ...

..., and that a short stroll is the easiest and quickest way to interchange with the Central Line at Lancaster Gate when arriving at Paddington.

Neither are shown very well on the official map.

You really wouldn't want the hassle of going via Notting Hill Gate and changing in either case!

The other map appears on-line as "a geographically accurate Tube map" ... 

... which it isn't.

A better heading would be "more geographically accurate, but still not to scale" but that might sound a bit negative.

It is not quite so good for Bayswater Queensway and Paddington Lancaster Gate but still miles better (literally!) than TfLs attempts.

And that thin salmon PINK line is ...

... tada ...

... Heathrow Express; the first ever "Tube" map to show it.  

It is shown "conventionally" as running direct, even though it and the Elizabeth Line line use the same bits of rail.

Good on you. Mark!

Yes, that is a much better way of putting it.

There are other "experimental" maps of the "Tube" which tackle Paddington. Just in passing, here are two. 

First up is Max Roberts take, using concentric circles wherever possible.

It is certainly different; but is one of the best attempts at Paddington.

It actually shows the Bakerloo Line doing what it does in reality.

Another version, which has the non-circling Circle line tipped up so the sausage is sloping (and thus more correctly matches reality) has an even better stab at the Paddington complexity.

Neither appears to be published as a PDF, so legible enlargements are not possible. Sorry.

Whist looking, it may be worth reminding ourselves what "The Tube" actually does on the ground - OK, under the ground!

On balance it is good that we have a diagram of any sort! 

Thanks Harry Beck, you were a true visionary.

Snippet

Buying on line is so straightforward. Below is a response from EBay confirming an order and giving delivery dates.

Thanks a bunch, EBay!

 Next Cartographic blog : Friday 5th January 

Fretfully Searching Five Stations? (1)

Potential Problems At Paddington?

Many of us know and love Paddington station, Brunel's London masterpiece ...

... and it is hard to grasp its intricacies and magnificence without going there and spending some time wandering about. Here is a street map.

The two "RED" roads are Bishops Bridge (top left) and Praed Street (bottom right). On Praed Street, and opposite the hotel that fronts part of the station block, is a Metropolitan Railway station that was once called, not Paddington, but Praed Street.

Praed Street now carries trains on the non circling Circle Line (YELLOW) and the District Line (GREEN) both of which terminate at Edgware Road.

At the outer end of the main line platforms, and on Bishops Bridge, was another Metropolitain Railway station called, not Paddington, but Bishops Road. This was on the line to Hammersmith.

Its grandeur was eventually replaced by something much more humble ...

... and, today, you will search in vain for a station entrance on the bridge.

Because there isn't one. There is a lift and some steps down to the gentrified Canal Basin where the platforms now have a posh entrance.

These platforms now carry Hammersmith and City trains (PINK) and a bit more of the non-circling Circle line (still YELLOW).

Next arrival at the Great Western terminus was the Bakerloo Line (BROWN). There used to be a very uninspiring entrance to the Bakerloo from just outside the main station seen here looking towards the hotel building on the left,

This entrance is now closed and the area is to form part of a "Paddington Square" development ...

... with a much improved subsurface concourse for the Bakerloo platforms.

The passages from the main station are also in need of improvement!

A subway connects the former Praed Street station with the Bakerloo lines.

Which leaves the Elizabeth Line line (PURPLE) station. Its upper parts sit enticingly on the road on the south western face of the main station ...

... called Eastbourne Terrace.

The subway link to the Bakerloo line was something of an afterthought ...

... (Elizabeth Line line right, Bakerloo line left) because neither party wanted to foot the £40 million bill! But it did appear eventually.

So what, you may ask!

We are leading up to a blog about the most recent changes to the "Underground" map and, whilst doing so, taking a look at some other other efforts to "do" the traditional map better.

Now we all know and love Harry Beck's London Underground diagram ...

... and we all know that all five of the stations discussed above, although in one sense very separate, are all now called simply Paddington.

So, how did Mr Beck and his successors cope with conveying the complexity of the four Paddington stations (no Elizabeth Line line in the 1930s!) to the typical  troglodyte tube traveller.

The answer is that they tried but rarely succeeded.

Thankfully the ever ebullient Geoff Marshall has made a video about the fretful search of the five stations at Paddington. It is longer than the usual videos fbb posts, but it is well worth a careful perusal.

Enjoy!

Geoff Marshall's video was made a few years back and we can now add map version 15 and 16 to his list

Map 15 - Elizabeth Line line disconnected

Elizabeth Line line trains were running from Reading to Paddington main line platforms and from Paddington Underground eastwards, but they were not joined up.

Map 16 - joined up thinking

All over the celebrated Underground map there are problems to be solved as to how the cartographers can best communicate a complex network to a public that simply wants to find the right train for their destination.

It ain't easy, buster!

Tomorrow, and before we look at two more (yes more!) interesting unofficial attempts at "improvement", we will take a closer look at some of the November 22 official map changes in more detail.

Exciting isn't it?

But this is weird!

And this is weirderer!

Paddington Green????

(Sorry it's fuzzy - don't fret, it's not your eyesight!)

Irrelevant Snippet

Idly surfing the Channels yesterday evening, fbb came across an episode of Abandoned Engineering on "Yesterday". Presenter Rob Bell was describing the collapse and closure of the Mam Tor Road, the former A625.

It was closed in 1979 after years of failed attempts to stabilise its foundations, built upon shale! Mam Tor was always known as the "Shivering Mountain" due to its unstable land.

Presenter Rob was at pains to point out that Mam Tor was on the road between Castleton and Sheffield.

Erm, not quite, Rob!

So it would be tricky for First's 272 to get through from Sheffield to Castleton, then?

Mam Tor is to the west of Castleton and was on the A625 to Chapel en le Frith.

Yet again, do not believe everything you hear and see on the telly!

Once upon a time, buses ran from Sheffield to Manchester via Castleton and Mam Tor ...

The continued to do so (Summer only) in the days of fbb's youth!

 Next Cartographic blog : Thursday 5th January