British Railways Diagrammatic Railway Map

[Andy873]

I've come across a photo of the main entrance to Accrington station in my book by Stuart Taylor.

Now apart from the usual posters advertising days out etc, there is a rail map hung on one of the walls. This map looks to be in a similar style to the famous London underground map most of us know. The photo is black and white and taken around 1961 and the map isn't too large in the photo itself but looks to be centred on Manchester.

Was it BR who introduced this style of map on the rail network or did one of the big four try it out first?
When did this style of map first appear at railway stations?
Given Londoners were used to this style of map from the Underground, would it have been rolled out around London and maybe then the Seat East of England first?
Would I be right in thinking this map is centred on Manchester given Accrington's relative close proximity to Manchester?

Sorry I can't share the photo due to copyright.

Thanks.

 

[bspahh]

Does it look like any of these maps?

Greater Manchester local train & metrolink network maps

 

[randyrippley]

Wasn't there a wall map like that inside Manchester Victoria showing the L&Y network? Made from glazed tiles?

 

[Andy873]

Does it look like any of these maps?
Greater Manchester local train & metrolink network maps

Unsure at the moment, whatever rail map this is it's pre Beeching so there would have been more routes on it.

What I can say is that running from the centre of the map to the top left hand corner the are five parallel routes shown, one large loop from the centre spanning the bottom right section.

Wasn't there a wall map like that inside Manchester Victoria showing the L&Y network? Made from glazed tiles?

Yes, but not in this diagrammatic (London underground) style.

 

[zwk500]

Wasn't there a wall map like that inside Manchester Victoria showing the L&Y network? Made from glazed tiles?

There's also a Tile map at York station, IIRC - believe that might be the NER but open to correction.

 

[Rescars]

There's also a Tile map at York station, IIRC - believe that might be the NER but open to correction.

And LBSC tiled maps at Victoria, for both the suburban lines and the whole system. Presumably Edwardian, so certainly not diagrammatic.

 

[D6130]

Wasn't there a wall map like that inside Manchester Victoria showing the L&Y network? Made from glazed tiles?

There still is....and as Accrington was also an L & Y station, I suspect it was a copy of the one at Manchester Victoria.

 

[Gloster]

There used to be a tile NER map at Beverley. If I remember it included the ‘branch’ to North Frodingham.

When checking this, the Wikipedia entry for North Holderness Light Railway lists nine stations (plus the NRM) that have NER tile maps.

Regarding the original query: does it look a permanent tile or similar map, or is it a poster?

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The LMR timetable books of the period had a diagrammatic map of the system, with an enlargement for Liverpool and Manchester. Maybe this was produced as a poster? 'Timetable World' has a 1962 copy - can't do link as on phone.

 

[30907]

The LMR timetable books of the period had a diagrammatic map of the system, with an enlargement for Liverpool and Manchester. Maybe this was produced as a poster? 'Timetable World' has a 1962 copy - can't do link as on phone.

All the BR regions except the SR opted for diagrammatic maps.

 

[Springs Branch]

The LMR timetable books of the period had a diagrammatic map of the system, with an enlargement for Liverpool and Manchester. Maybe this was produced as a poster? 'Timetable World' has a 1962 copy - can't do link as on phone.

It's a bit surprising to learn that BR was producing slick, London-style diagramatic route maps as early as 1961 (date of the OP's photo - maybe the poster was printed during the late 1950s)

As far as I recall, up until the Beeching Reshaping / Design Panel era of the mid-60s, layouts of timetables were decidedly old-fashioned and maps were much more geographic than diagrammatic.

The attached scan is the 'Liverpool & Manchester District' enlargement from the map inserted in the 1964 - 1965 LMR Timetable book.
This extract doesn't extend as far north as the East Lancs Line or Accrington (the 'whole region' map is too unwieldy & delicate for me to scan), but you can see it was geographic rather than diagrammatic and gives no clues as to the pattern of regular train services.


The earliest diagrammatic, vaguely London Transport-style rail map of the north-west I remember coming across was in a SELNEC timetable book, so most likely from early 1970s (or 1969 at the earliest). Obviously that one didn't extend to Accrington.

 

[Revaulx]

It's a bit surprising to learn that BR was producing slick, London-style diagramatic route maps as early as 1961 (date of the OP's photo - maybe the poster was printed during the late 1950s)

As far as I recall, up until the Beeching Reshaping / Design Panel era of the mid-60s, layouts of timetables were decidedly old-fashioned and maps were much more geographic than diagrammatic.

The attached scan is the 'Liverpool & Manchester District' enlargement from the map inserted in the 1964 - 1965 LMR Timetable book.
This extract doesn't extend as far north as the East Lancs Line or Accrington (the 'whole region' map is too unwieldy & delicate for me to scan), but you can see it was geographic rather than diagrammatic and gives no clues as to the pattern of regular train services.
View attachment 140193

The earliest diagrammatic, vaguely London Transport-style rail map of the north-west I remember coming across was in a SELNEC timetable book, so most likely from early 1970s (or 1969 at the earliest). Obviously that one didn't extend to Accrington.
View attachment 140192

Apologies if a bit OT, but it’s interesting to see that that the Hilton House line isn’t shown on the 64-65 map. Had the expresses been diverted through Bolton by then?

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

One further thought is that maybe a diagramatic map poster was produced to illustrate the ' new and improved' DMU network then being introduced into the area. Accrington of course was then served by Manchester and Colne / Skipton through services.

 

[Andy873]

Found it!

Firstly, yes it's a printed poster.

Secondly it's the 1965 British Rail poster map of the Greater London Network.
If you google it, you'll easily find it I'm sure.

Now I was obviously wrong about the date, the poster features the new double arrow logo and British Railways has now been shortened to British Rail, so the photo is from at least 1965.

I thought maybe I could just make out the word "London" but wasn't sure, I couldn't spot the river Thames as the map image is so small and the river just looks like another route (if that makes sense).

Questions please:

Why would a station (Accrington, Lancashire) have a map of greater London's rail network?
Many people travelled to London for various reasons but... did most of the busier stations get this map?

With the new company name and the new logo showing on the poster, was this a PR move?

I was surprised when I found out what this poster was as confusingly there are two blackboard notices both with the heading British Railways, but I guess it takes time to roll out new branding across an organisation like BR.

 

[Springs Branch]

Apologies if a bit OT, but it’s interesting to see that that the Hilton House line isn’t shown on the 64-65 map. Had the expresses been diverted through Bolton by then?

The Hilton House line was still open in 1964; it was used by several weekday Blackpool 'Residential' expresses, plus some publically-advertised Summer SO Blackpool trains. The line closed in 1968.

Maybe it was omitted for clarity - although there are other lines without intermediate stations still included on the map which contribute to clutter and congestion e.g. the Westwood Park Wigan avoiding line (with minimal non-stop services by this time), and the direct Pool Hey line near Southport.

On the other hand, there are some useful services which are not shown on the map - Edge Hill to Bootle for Southport/Euston through carriages (several each way on weekdays), and the connection between Radcliffe Central and Bury Bolton St for the busy Bury Electric line.

 

[Gloster]

It was quite normal to put up posters to encourage people to travel parts of your network (‘Skegness is so bracing’) and one option was to put up an LT map in the hope that people will be stirred to visit names they see on it (‘Oh, I do so like the idea of going to Neasden.’)

Posters are reprinted fairly frequently and have a short life, so it would be normal to switch straight over to the new style as soon as it is announced. Notice boards are hard and need repainting and there is only so much that the painters can do. Other than a few high-profile ones (for example, on the front of main stations) notice-boards probably only got dealt with as they became due for normal repainting.

The posters would probably be sent out in a batch to each Area Manager or Station Master, who would distribute them as they thought fit.

 

[alistairlees]

There is a list of the NER maps here on the second page of this thread

Tiled maps of the NER - Page 2 - The LNER Encyclopedia

 

[eldomtom2]

It's a bit surprising to learn that BR was producing slick, London-style diagramatic route maps as early as 1961 (date of the OP's photo - maybe the poster was printed during the late 1950s)

As far as I recall, up until the Beeching Reshaping / Design Panel era of the mid-60s, layouts of timetables were decidedly old-fashioned and maps were much more geographic than diagrammatic.

Geographic maps may have predominated, but diagrammatic maps still were made.
Here's an in-carriage 1920s example from the LNER:

And for something closer to the British Rail rebranding while still preceding it, here's one of a series of posters made by Reginald Lander:

 

[Gloster]

Geographic maps may have predominated, but diagrammatic maps still were made.
Here's an in-carriage 1920s example from the LNER:
View attachment 140275
And for something closer to the British Rail rebranding while still preceding it, here's one of a series of posters made by Reginald Lander:
View attachment 140276

I think the LNER one was the work of George Dow and is regarded as a major influence on Harry Beck’s LT map. I think the crucial innovation of Dow’s map was that it ignored geography and scale distance and depicted everything in a linear fashion.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I think the LNER one was the work of George Dow and is regarded as a major influence on Harry Beck’s LT map. I think the crucial innovation of Dow’s map was that it ignored geography and scale distance and depicted everything in a linear fashion.

Definitely. Well covered in Mapping the Railways, published by The Times in 2011 and authored by David Spaven and Julian Holland. Dow's map was from 1929. The Beck Underground map was 1933.

Dow later produced diagrammatic maps for the LMS. He became Public Relations & Publicity Officer for British Railways' London Midland Region and his staff apparently produced 25 diagrammatic maps.

Questions please:

Why would a station (Accrington, Lancashire) have a map of greater London's rail network?
Many people travelled to London for various reasons but... did most of the busier stations get this map?

Yes, it would have done. The 'Greater London' map was widely distributed, being displayed at many stations in the Birmingham area (where I first saw it). There was also a 'leaflet' version, in 'one-third A4' I believe. I've still got one somewhere. It had quite a few lines that soon closed, such as Dunstable, which closed in April 1965. Definitely a niche product.

 

[Andy873]

Thanks everyone for the replies, very interesting.

The LNER map demonstrates these kinds of maps go back a good way preceding BR.

Some non-related observations regarding the photo and other items on the same page:
The photo as we now know is from at least 1965, it also contains town holiday posters for places like Torquay, Paignton which shows these holiday excursions were still running in '65.

On the same page there are day out special trips advertised from 1961, for Morecambe the fare was 7/6, by at least 1965 it had risen to 11/6, that's around half as much again in just 4 years or so.

It's a pity the photo wasn't dated in the caption, all other ones are, still it's a great read.

 

[32475]

Found it!

Firstly, yes it's a printed poster.

Secondly it's the 1965 British Rail poster map of the Greater London Network.
If you google it, you'll easily find it I'm sure.

Now I was obviously wrong about the date, the poster features the new double arrow logo and British Railways has now been shortened to British Rail, so the photo is from at least 1965.

I thought maybe I could just make out the word "London" but wasn't sure, I couldn't spot the river Thames as the map image is so small and the river just looks like another route (if that makes sense).

Questions please:

Why would a station (Accrington, Lancashire) have a map of greater London's rail network?
Many people travelled to London for various reasons but... did most of the busier stations get this map?

With the new company name and the new logo showing on the poster, was this a PR move?

I was surprised when I found out what this poster was as confusingly there are two blackboard notices both with the heading British Railways, but I guess it takes time to roll out new branding across an organisation like BR.

Here’s the BR 1965 Greater London network map. Very much in the style of the classic underground map including coloured key to different lines. A number of lines and stations are long since closed……

 

[Andy873]

Thanks, yes the second image is exactly the one I can see in the photo.

Maps I think in whatever style are very interesting especially when they are from so many years ago. Even more so when they show stations and lines that are simply no longer there,

With regard to the tiled maps at stations, they are of course very decorative but once fixed to a wall they are almost impossible to re-locate elsewhere without breaking them and destroying a piece of history which I'm sure no one wants to do.

I wonder how many more stations had tiled maps? (other than the ones already mentioned), presumably they were destroyed when many of the station buildings were demolished.

 

[ian1944]

I wonder how many more stations had tiled maps? (other than the ones already mentioned), presumably they were destroyed when many of the station buildings were demolished.

Alnwick station building, now Barter Books, has a tiled map of the North Eastern Railway on the wall of one of its refreshment rooms.