Tube map

Tube map 2016
Harry Beck and the design department of TfL
Transport for London (TfL) Link to the picture (please note copyrights )

The underground logo

The Tube map is a schematic line map of the lines, stations and services of the London Underground (officially the Underground , also called Tube ). The first schematic map was designed by Harry Beck in 1931 . Since then it has been continuously expanded, including the Docklands Light Railway , London Overground , TfL Rail , Tramlink and the Emirates Air Line cable car .

In 2006, the route network map was voted into the top ten British design “icons” of the 20th century, along with the Concorde , the Mini , the Supermarine Spitfire fighter , the red telephone box and the London Routemaster double-decker bus.

history

Earlier line network plans

London's subways were originally operated by several independent transport companies, so there were no plans for the full network, only plans for each company. These maps were not laid out schematically, but the line was drawn geographically.

In 1907 the newspaper The Evening News published a "Tube Map", which represented all lines equally. It was also the first card to use a different color for each line.

London Underground Network, 1908

In the following year, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), in collaboration with the four other underground rail companies, published a joint map in which “Underground” was used for the first time as a uniform name for the underground system. This map shows eight lines - four of the UERL and one of the four other companies:

• UERL lines:
  • Bakerloo Railway - Brown
  • Hampstead Railway - Indigo
  • Piccadilly Railway - yellow
  • District Railway - Green
• Lines of other companies:
  • Central London Railway - Blue
  • City and South London Railway - Black
  • Great Northern and City Railway - Orange
  • Metropolitan Railway - Red

The non-schematic representation on a map led to restrictions on these first maps: The outer branches of the District Line and the Metropolitan Line had to be omitted so that the inner city, in which the subway network is particularly tight, could be shown sufficiently clearly. The problem that the entire network was not displayed existed for almost half a century. Even if the western outer branches of the District and Piccadilly Lines first appeared in Harry Beck's plan in 1933 , it was not until 1938 that the Metropolitan Line section northwest of Rickmansworth Station was also included; the eastern end of the District Line did not appear on the map until the mid-1950s.

The route network map was further developed in the following years and published in various formats, until 1920 in a map by MacDonald Gill, the city map being removed as the background. This allowed greater flexibility in the representation of the lines and stations, the course of the lines was now more stylized, but remained largely connected to the geographical principle. In 1932 the last geographic route network map was published before Beck's schematic map was introduced.

Beck's line network map

Harry Beck , an unemployed draftsman, drew up the first schematic plan of London's subway system in 1931. Beck understood that the geographic location of the stations was irrelevant to most travelers as most of the subway runs in tunnels . For them, transfer options are more important, the approximate location is sufficient. This approach chosen by Beck corresponds to the electrical circuit diagrams . While such schematics were not the template for Beck's cards, his colleagues pointed out the similarities; he then created a joke card in which he replaced the stations with circuit symbols.

Beck drafted a simplified plan on a double-checked double page of an exercise book, in which he represented the railway lines by means of vertical, horizontal or 45 ° diagonals running colored lines. The simplified representation of the Thames served as a rough guide . The stations were distributed equally spaced on the line sections between the line intersections and the end stations in the same color. In order to emphasize transfer connections, Beck differentiated between normal stations - in the first draft in 1931 they were initially represented by a filled circular disk - and transfer stations (also to those of the other railways) - these were initially represented by a hollow circle, but were soon marked with a diamond. Since the circular disks of the simple stations appeared to be quite heavy, these were now represented by bold horizontal lines that were placed on the side of the line on which the lettering was.

The public manager of London Underground was initially skeptical of Beck's plan, the design was considered too revolutionary and incomprehensible to the public. Nevertheless, in January 1933, a printed edition of 750,000 copies was tested as a folding plan. The plan was a great success, with 100,000 copies being reprinted just a month later in February. The first 2,500 poster-size prints followed in March. The representation quickly became popular and offered the emerging administration for the operation of almost all public transport (underground, tram, bus and trolleybus ) in the London area London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), London Transport for short , a very good tool and starting point for well-designed information media in public transport.

Despite the complexity of the plan, Beck was paid only ten guineas (£ 10-10s-0d, the equivalent of around € 440 today) for the folding card and five guineas (£ 5-5s-0d, € 220) for the poster edition. Beck continued the route network plan until 1960, after which his freelance employment ended abruptly. During this time he worked in new stations and lines and changed the design: transfer stations are now marked with a circle and no longer with a diamond. The color of individual lines has also been changed, from orange to red on the Central Line and from red to brown on the Bakerloo Line .

Various other non-London Underground lines were added over the years, the first in the 1940s being the Waterloo & City Railway , now the Waterloo & City Line , which was then owned by the Southern Railway (later British Rail ) . After the transfer of the Northern City Line to British Rail in the mid-1970s, it and the S-Bahn-like North London Line were shown on the network map, but the latter was soon removed. In 1987 the Thameslink route of British Rail and the newly built Docklands Light Railway were added, and in 1990 the North London Line again. In 1999 the ticket zones were added, initially with different colors, today with alternating white and gray tones. With the introduction of a new city-owned brand for some S-Bahn trains, London Overground , the National Rail routes of these lines will also (still) be shown, other routes that have not been transferred to this new brand, e.g. B. Thameslink have not been on the plan since 1998. In 2009, the River Thames and ticket zones were temporarily omitted, but this change was quickly reversed after many public complaints. In 2012 the Emirates Air Line was added , in 2015 the TfL Rail (in future Crossrail ) and in 2016 the tram .

In 2001 Beck's achievements were newly recognized. Since 2013, all network plans have carried the note “This design is an evolution of the original design conceived in 1931 by Harry Beck” (German: This design is a further development of the original design, which was created by Harry Beck in 1931 ).

Technical aspects

As a topogram , the map does not show the exact geographical location of the routes, but the relative positions of the stations , lines , transfer connections and tariff zones. The design principles were adopted for many subway line network plans, for example for the subways in Paris , Berlin and Tokyo , but also for other schematic representations.

The typeface for the line network map is New Johnston , which is characterized by the circular "O" and the squares on the top as points from "i", "j", "?" And "!". In contrast to many other cities, the London route map is mainly described in blue font. The font is part of the corporate design of Transport for London and is used on signs, flyers, cards, notices and much more.

Line colors

The line identification colors are also defined in the corporate design:

line	Transport for London's official color name	presentation
		Hints
Bakerloo	Corporate Brown Pantone 470	brown 1934 – today							red 1933-1934	brown UERL
Central	Corporate Red Pantone 485	red 1934 – today							orange 1933-1934	blue UERL
Circle	Corporate Yellow Pantone 116	yellow 1987 – today		Yellow (black border) 1949-1987		Green (black border) 1948
		originally part of the Metropolitan and District Lines, was not shown until 1948
District	Corporate Green Pantone 356	green 1933 – today								green UERL
East London	Underground Orange Pantone 137	Orange (double stripe) 2010 – today	orange 1990-2010	Magenta (double stripe) 1970-approx. 1990	magenta 1949-1969	green 1937-1948		magenta 1934-1937	White (red border) 1933-1934
		Part of the Metropolitan Line until around 1990; Part of the London Overground since 2010
Hammersmith & City	Underground Pink Pantone 197	pink 1988 – today		magenta 1949-1988		green 1937-1948		magenta 1934-1937
		Part of the Metropolitan Line until 1988
Jubilee	Corporate Gray Pantone 430	Gray 1979 – today
		opened 1979, Baker Street to Stanmore originally part of the Bakerloo Line
Metropolitan	Corporate Magenta Pantone 235	magenta 1948 – today				green 1937-1948		magenta 1934-1937		red UERL
		combined with District Line from 1937 to 1948
Northern	Corporate Black Pantone Black	black 1933 – today								Gray (CCE & H) UERL	Black (C&SL) UERL
Northern City	-	White (black border) approx. 1990-1998	Orange (double stripe) 1985-approx. 1990	White (black border) 1975-1984	Black (double stripe) 1970-1975	black 1937-1969		White (black border) 1934-1937	White (magenta border) 1933-1934	Orange (black border) UERL
		no longer shown since 1998; transferred to British Rail (now National Rail ) in 1976
Piccadilly	Corporate Blue Pantone 072	blue 1933 – today								Yellow (black border) UERL
Victoria	Corporate Light Blue Pantone 299	Light Blue 1968 – today
		opened in 1968
Waterloo & City	Corporate Turquoise Pantone 338	turquoise 1994 – today		White (black border) 1949-1994		Red (black border) 1943-1948	White (black border) 1938-1941			thin gray (main line) UERL
		not shown before 1938; Part of British Rail until 1994
Docklands Light Railway	DLR Turquoise Pantone 326	Turquoise (double stripe) 1993 – today	Blue (double stripe) 1987-1993
		opened in 1987
TfL Rail	Corporate Blue Pantone 072	Blue (double stripe) 2015 – today
		part of National Rail before 2015
Tramlink (also London Trams )	Trams Green Pantone 368	Green (double stripe) 2016 – today
		not shown before 2016
West london	Overground Orange Pantone 158	Orange (double stripe) 2010 – today	White (black border) 2007-2010	not shown 1943-2007			White (black border) 1938-1941			thin gray (main line) UERL
		now part of London Overground
North London	Overground Orange Pantone 158	Orange (double stripe) 2007 – today	White (black border) approx. 1990-2007	not shown 1985-approx. 1990	White (black border) 1977-1984			thin gray (main line) UERL
		now part of London Overground
Watford DC	Overground Orange Pantone 158	Orange (double stripe) 2007 – today	not shown 1985-2007	White (black border) 1984	Brown (triple stripe) 1975-1983	Brown / black / brown (triple stripe) 1973-1974				thin gray (main line) UERL
		now part of London Overground; only shown Queen's Park – Watford 1973–1984 (Bakerloo Line extension during rush hour)
Gospel Oak - Barking	Overground Orange Pantone 158	Orange (double stripe) 2007 – today								thin gray (main line) UERL
		not shown before 2007
Thameslink	-	White (black border) approx. 1990-1998	Orange (double stripe) 1985-approx. 1990	White (black border) 1977-1984						thin gray (main line) UERL
		a National Rail route; not shown since 1998
Emirates Air Line	red	Red (triple stripe) 2012 – today
		opened in 2012

Over the years, dashed lines have marked routes with restricted service, routes under construction or routes that are temporarily unavailable.

Station markings

Since the beginning, transfer stations between railway lines, with interruptions also to railways, later British Rail , now National Rail , have been identified by a special station symbol:

• Circle (one per line or station)
• Circle (per station) - experimental plan from 1938
• Diamond (one per line) - early 1930s
• Square - Switched to British Railways, 1960–1964
• Circle with Dot - Switched to British Rail, 1964–1970

In current plans, stations that allow barrier-free access to the platform or train are marked with a blue circle with a wheelchair symbol inside.

At stations that are currently closed or where the timetable varies, are marked with a red or blue cross (the lower part of the vertical line is longer than the other sides).

Options to change to other means of transport are indicated by symbols next to the station name:

• The inverted British Rail logo, a red double arrow on a white background, has been showing the possibility of transferring to the railroad since 1970.
• At Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 , Heathrow Terminal 4 and Heathrow Terminal 5 on the Piccadilly Line and London City Airport on the Docklands Light Railway , an airplane symbol indicates the connection to Heathrow and London City Airports .
• A boat symbol at stations near a jetty indicates that you can transfer to London River Services .
• At London Victoria Railway Station , a bus symbol indicates Victoria Coach Station .

Official variants of the plan

Instead of integrating more and more information into the map, Transport for London is now issuing different plan versions:

• Standard tube map : colored standard version
• Black-and-white Tube map : Standard black and white version
• Night Tube map : Night network
• London's Rail & Tube services : also includes all National Rail routes in the TfL area
• Step-free tube map : information about barriers
• Walking distance map and Walking steps map : shows the duration or steps between underground stations in central London
• Toilet facilities map : Toilet facilities in the subway area
• Bikes on trains map : When and where bikes can be taken

The plans are issued in different sizes, the most common being the Quad-Royal format (40 × 50 inches).

See also

• Traffic in London

literature

• Andrew Dow: Telling the Passenger where to get off . Capital Transport, London 2005, ISBN 1-85414-291-7
• Ken Garland: Mr Beck's Underground Map . Capital Transport, London 1994, ISBN 1-85414-168-6
• David Leboff, Tim Demuth: No Need to Ask! Capital Transport, London 1999, ISBN 1-85414-215-1
• Mark Ovenden: Metro Maps Of The World . Capital Transport, London 2005, ISBN 1-85414-288-7
• Mark Ovenden: Transit Maps of the World . Penguin Books , New York 2007, ISBN 0-14-311265-1
• Maxwell Roberts: Underground Maps After Beck . Capital Transport, London 2003, ISBN 1-85414-286-0
• Douglas Rose: The London Underground: A Diagramatic History . Capital Transport, London 2005, ISBN 1-85414-219-4

Web links

Commons : Tube maps  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Tube map of the TfL
• U-Bahn network plan 1933 , one of the first versions of the Beck network plan
• Mark Noad's underground diagram
• Track plan

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} The History Of The Tube Map . Londonist, accessed April 15, 2017
2. ↑ Concorde voted the UK's top icon . BBC, accessed April 15, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b} Coloring Inside the Lines . Bryars & Bryars, accessed April 15, 2017
4. ^ Antony Badsey-Ellis: London's Lost Tube Schemes . Capital Transport, 2005, ISBN 1-85414-293-3 , pp. 282-283.
5. ↑ Subway network plan 1920 . A History of the London Tube Maps, accessed April 17, 2017 at web.archive.org
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Research Guide No 24: Harry Beck , TfL, accessed on April 17, 2017
7. ^ Train, Omnibus and Tram Staff Magazine, March 1933 - Ken Garland: Mr Beck's Underground Map . Capital Transport, 1994, ISBN 1-85414-168-6 , p. 25.
8. ↑ Ken Garland: Mr Beck's Underground Map . P. 16/17
9. ^ 1945 Underground Map, The London Tube Map Archive, accessed April 19, 2017
10. ^ 1977 Tube Map, The London Tube Map Archive, accessed April 19, 2017
11. ^ 1987 Tube Map, The London Tube Map Archive, accessed April 19, 2017
12. ^ 1990 Tube Map, The London Tube Map Archive, accessed April 19, 2017
13. ^ 1999 Tube Map, The London Tube Map Archive, accessed April 19, 2017
14. ↑ Thames reunited with Tube map. BBC , September 16, 2009, accessed April 19, 2017 . 
15. ↑ Tube map May 2015 , TfL, accessed on April 17, 2017
16. ↑ 15 subway-style maps that explain everything but subways . Vox.com, accessed April 15, 2017
17. ↑ Design standards . TfL, accessed April 17, 2017
18. ↑ Color standards, issue 4 . TfL, accessed April 15, 2017
19. ^ London Transport Underground Maps ; sub-pages are for specific years
20. ↑ ^{a b} Standard Tube Map . Tfl, accessed April 17, 2017
21. ↑ [1]
22. ↑ [2]
23. ↑ [3]
24. ↑ [4]
25. ↑ [5]
26. ↑ [6]
27. ↑ [7]
28. ↑ [8]
29. ↑ [9]
30. ↑ Search Results: Quad royal - Poster and poster artwork collection, London Transport Museum . In: ltmcollection.org .