Inaccurate route diagram

[hermit]

Waiting for a northbound Northern Line train at Euston (Bank branch) I noticed that the route display on the opposite wall has the two branches of the line in the wrong geographical relation to each other. In reality, trains to Edgware turn left at Camden Town, not right as shown here.
Is this unique to Euston, and can anyone think of a reason for it?

 

[jupiter]

From under ground, if you look up that’d be correct

 

[ComUtoR]

Kinda depends how you are reading it. If you read it top to bottom it's a left turn. It's clearly branching left at Camden

 

[Mojo]

Kinda depends how you are reading it. If you read it top to bottom it's a left turn. It's clearly branching left at Camden

Yes I’d say it’s the right way round.

 

[htafc]

Perhaps it's to do with the fact that, on a full tube map (the 'correct' way round), Edgware is on the left and High Barnet on the right.

 

[stuu]

Edgware is on the left/west on the diagram and in reality. The Mill Hill branch is the same. Seems fine to me

 

[swt_passenger]

If I was starting with a clean slate, northbound line diagrams would all have the origin at the bottom, and the southbounds would have it at the top. I’m still undecided about east and west though…

 

[alf]

Edgware is on the left/west on the diagram and in reality. The Mill Hill branch is the same. Seems fine to me

If left is west & right is east then why are Edgware, High Barnet & Mill Hill SOUTH of Camden Town & Euston in the diagram ?

Something wrong surely....definitely not fine!

Interesting conundrum.

 

[PaulLothian]

There used to be something similarly bizarre at one of the Glasgow low level stations.

 

[pdeaves]

It's a diagram to show what order things are connected. It is not intended to be geographically accurate (for a start, stations would have to be different distances apart). Does it really matter if it is or is not 'correct' from that perspective?

 

[Taunton]

Well, I'm used to maps and diagrams, but have to look twice at this sort of representation.

For me, north is always at the top, whether a map or diagrammatic. One would have hoped that the NORTHERN Line, of all operations, might get this. I'm not one of those who, when travelling south, has to turn the map upside-down. And it certainly wouldn't be possible with this diagram.

I know the Underground does try. On lines where trains cannot be turned I always admired how the line diagrams on opposite sides of the car were mirror images of one another, so the end points pointed to the correct end. But branches were always shown on the correct relative side. I think in this wall diagram they would have been better with a version like the line diagrams, with horizontal landscape format, pointing the way the trains go.

 

[30907]

Well, I'm used to maps and diagrams, but have to look twice at this sort of representation.

For me, north is always at the top, whether a map or diagrammatic.

OTOH, it is conventional to read a list downwards, and AFAIK this is standard LUL/LT /LPTB practice. And indeed NR, eg at St Pancras TL.

TBH I don't think it matters in this context which branch is which - whereas on a route plan, or the tube map, it does!

 

[zwk500]

It's slightly mad - although the Mill Hill branch is also shown consistently 'mirrored'.

From a personal point of view, as long as the correct stations are on the same branch, exactly which way round it is doesn't matter, as I don't need to tell the train which way to go at Camden Town. But I do understand how the diagram can feel jarring to people.

 

[Mojo]

If left is west & right is east then why are Edgware, High Barnet & Mill Hill SOUTH of Camden Town & Euston in the diagram ?

Something wrong surely....definitely not fine!

Interesting conundrum.

It is standard practice, and quite sensible for readability, for diagrams only showing one direction to have the current station at the top and then all possible destinations from it underneath.

 

[Taunton]

It is standard practice, and quite sensible for readability, for diagrams only showing one direction to have the current station at the top and then all possible destinations from it underneath.

But it does mean that the diagram is the opposite way round to the standard Underground map which will be on the opposite wall, if you first look at one, then the other, it must be confusing for the relative orientation.

 

[Basil Jet]

I think in this wall diagram they would have been better with a version like the line diagrams, with horizontal landscape format, pointing the way the trains go.

I think only the Northern City line does this.

 

[Railsigns]

There used to be something similarly bizarre at one of the Glasgow low level stations.

The Westbound diagram at Argyle Street station, photographed in July 2015:

 

[zero]

Regarding the maps on tube platforms as in the OP, they really should be horizontal in the same direction as the trains run - as in the Argyle St diagram (but that should have Argyle St itself a bit more prominent).

The maps in tube trains themselves should also be in the same direction as the running direction, i.e. the maps on opposite sides of the train should be in reverse to each other. Though this may not work on the Circle/H&C where I believe sometimes trains switch directions to even out wear on the wheels?

I feel that in the Argyle St diagram Milngavie and Maryhill etc should be below the main horizontal line, but could be persuaded either way.

 

[Dstock7080]

The maps in tube trains themselves should also be in the same direction as the running direction, i.e. the maps on opposite sides of the train should be in reverse to each other. Though this may not work on the Circle/H&C where I believe sometimes trains switch directions to even out wear on the wheels?

Unfortunately no longer possible on Central Circle District H&C Metropolitan Northern Piccadilly as trains are regularly turned.

 

[317 forever]

Regarding the maps on tube platforms as in the OP, they really should be horizontal in the same direction as the trains run - as in the Argyle St diagram (but that should have Argyle St itself a bit more prominent).

The maps in tube trains themselves should also be in the same direction as the running direction, i.e. the maps on opposite sides of the train should be in reverse to each other. Though this may not work on the Circle/H&C where I believe sometimes trains switch directions to even out wear on the wheels?

I feel that in the Argyle St diagram Milngavie and Maryhill etc should be below the main horizontal line, but could be persuaded either way.

I agree. It is odd having such diagrams upside down in the first place.

 

[Hadders]

Unfortunately no longer possible on Central Circle District H&C Metropolitan Northern Piccadilly as trains are regularly turned.

It doies frustrate me that they can't even get mirrored diagrams on the Victoria Line.

 

[Dstock7080]

It doies frustrate me that they can't even get mirrored diagrams on the Victoria Line.

in the mid-90s there was a policy of handed maps on Bakerloo District (D Stock) Jubilee Victoria W&City but the extra costs involved in printing two maps finished it

 

[stuu]

The Westbound diagram at Argyle Street station, photographed in July 2015:

View attachment 122181

That's just wrong! I can't see why they would have done that at all

 

[AlbertBeale]

in the mid-90s there was a policy of handed maps on Bakerloo District (D Stock) Jubilee Victoria W&City but the extra costs involved in printing two maps finished it

I don't think I'd noticed that the lines with trains that never get turned in service had stopped having diagrams which always matched the direction of travel, on both sides... I guess because I'd rarely have any reason to use the line diagrams!

Perhaps, in some ways, having these lines standardised to match the convention used for all the others (ie broadly north-south lines have N-S running L-R, and lines which are overall west-east have W-E running L-R) is less confusing for visitors. Having some non-standard (even if otherwise logical) layouts might puzzle some people.

 

[miklcct]

OTOH, it is conventional to read a list downwards, and AFAIK this is standard LUL/LT /LPTB practice. And indeed NR, eg at St Pancras TL.

TBH I don't think it matters in this context which branch is which - whereas on a route plan, or the tube map, it does!

The Hong Kong MTR practice is the reverse - the list is read upwards, with the destination on top.

It doies frustrate me that they can't even get mirrored diagrams on the Victoria Line.

Mirrored in-train diagrams are also standard in Hong Kong. All heavy rail trains there can't be turned with each end pointing to a fixed direction, hardwired into the signalling system.

 

[Recessio]

The Victoria line in-car diagrams are wrong imo. The line runs from Brixton in the South West to Walthamstow in the North East, but the map inside runs from right to left - East to West, the other way around.

 

[Mojo]

The Victoria line in-car diagrams are wrong imo. The line runs from Brixton in the South West to Walthamstow in the North East, but the map inside runs from right to left - East to West, the other way around.

The Victoria line is Southbound and Northbound not Eastbound and Westbound. Accordingly the north end of the line is on the left, in line with the present convention to have the north end on the left.