Mapping Direct Services From Stations

[MK Tom]

Hello all,

I've started a little project I've been thinking about for years, which is to create maps showing all the direct services operating from a given station.

So far, I've made two: Northampton and Amersham. I've made a dedicated page on my website for them here: http://mkttransport.co.uk/maps/direct-services-maps/

I'd welcome feedback on this idea and these two maps in particular.

These do take a lot of time and effort to make, but I'm very much open to requests for stations you'd like me to do. Nothing too crazy please - I'm going to try Milton Keynes soon but that's about as big and complex as I want to go for now! But please do suggest stations and I'll be glad to give realistic ones a go. I'm also going to try a few Irish stations as well. I'll post new maps I do in this thread when I've done them.

If people want to try making some of their own in a similar style that's cool too.

I hope people find these interesting - it's the sense of how well connected a given place is that interests me, and Northampton was a great stating point given how atrociously poor its connections are for a place of its size.

So please, feedback and suggestions welcome!

 

[Merseysider]

I think it's a good idea! I'm of the opinion that the maps for each station should remain separate, for clarity (rather than them all being put together once finished).

This project would certainly deserve a place at stations, given that typical [entire] network maps can be very complicated.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Looks very similar in style to the map of bus routes (not all that many) in the bus shelter at Ellesmere Port railway station.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

Any chance that you could do one for Wiltshire please?

It may be a bit complex but could you have a go at doing one for the entire lot of Yorkshire too using the former WYCA coloured lines scheme (a forest green may have to be used for what was SY1 Sheffield to Hull and Cleethorpes what with York & Selby being light green and Wharfedale being dark green).

 

[MK Tom]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I've added a map for Milton Keynes, which is a bit sqashed and rushed, but I needed to give it a go! http://mkttransport.co.uk/maps/direct-services-maps/

EDIT - just noticed the LM stations between New Street and Stafford should be grey. I'll fix this soon.

Apropos Wiltshire/Yorkshire, it has to be one station really, not a whole county, but I'm happy to give Swindon a go!

 

[yorkie]

Looks good.

(You could avoid the VT line between Colwich & Macclesfield crossing the LM line between Stafford & Crewe twice and that would neaten it up a bit)

York would be a big project, if you're feeling ambitious

 

[40129]

Looks good.

York would be a big project, if you're feeling ambitious

Nah! The ultimate challenge would have to be New Street IMO

 

[superalbs]

Nah! The ultimate challenge would have to be New Street IMO

Try Stourbridge Town.

 

[Paul Kelly]

The Northampton map is missing the once-per-day services to and from Crewe via Birmingham:
http://www.brtimes.com/#!train?uid=P47913
http://www.brtimes.com/#!train?uid=P48904

The Milton Keynes map is missing the twice-per-day (in one direction only) services from Motherwell:
http://www.brtimes.com/#!board?stn=MKC&filt=MTH&show=arr&date=20170327

Sorry to be critical! It's a nice project. But I think you maybe need some computerised analysis of the timetable to be sure it's accurate.

 

[Chris M]

Nah! The ultimate challenge would have to be New Street IMO

Try Stourbridge Town.

Or Stratford, including all the TfL services.

Seriously, my requests would be Bristol Temple Meads and Nottingham, but I realise they're also up there in terms of complexity

 

[SwindonBert]

This is a nice idea, surprised no one has done this before, including the railway companies.

On a technical point, what software do you use?

Would like to see Swindon, easy to work out the colours to do for which company
There are once a day services to Devon / Cornwall which people forget about

 

[berneyarms]

Nice maps!
Milton Keynes is also missing the once per day VT connection to Wrexham General.

 

[bspahh]

But I think you maybe need some computerised analysis of the timetable to be sure it's accurate.

Generating the initial layout of the routes would be tricky from an automated script. However, having a filter that updates the details of the services along each route would be simpler.

It would also be cool to generate the diagrams on the fly so that you can say "show me the places I could go between 9 and 11am on a Saturday"

 

[Hartington]

You might find Castle Cary offers an interesting project.

On a more technical note I think as you progress you might find the need to be able to show routes that only operate on specific days, particularly weekends.

I'm also interested in the idea of trying to automate some of the process. If you can do that you would be able to generate maps showing diversions and replacements related to engineering works. For instance, if there are works between Westbury and Reading trains from the west will divert via Melksham and Swindon.

Lastly, I'm not sure my example is totally relevant to the project but take a look at the Cornish sleeper. The nominal route is Reading/Westbury/Castle Cary/Taunton/Exeter but several times during any given week it will go via Bath or Bristol Parkway or Yeovil/Honiton.

 

[IanD]

I like the maps but I would have the frequent stations as solid circles and infrequent as outlined to match the way the lines are shown

 

[mildertduck]

Nah! The ultimate challenge would have to be New Street IMO

The challenge with both of the above would be fitting them on something even vaguely paper-shaped without crushing, as they both feature on really long routes.... starting with the train that connects both of them, Aberdeen to Penzance!

 

[berneyarms]

You might find Castle Cary offers an interesting project.

On a more technical note I think as you progress you might find the need to be able to show routes that only operate on specific days, particularly weekends.

I'm also interested in the idea of trying to automate some of the process. If you can do that you would be able to generate maps showing diversions and replacements related to engineering works. For instance, if there are works between Westbury and Reading trains from the west will divert via Melksham and Swindon.

Lastly, I'm not sure my example is totally relevant to the project but take a look at the Cornish sleeper. The nominal route is Reading/Westbury/Castle Cary/Taunton/Exeter but several times during any given week it will go via Bath or Bristol Parkway or Yeovil/Honiton.

Surely with the sleeper it's kind of irrelevant which way it goes in terms of generating these maps, but rather that it just shows the stations that it serves?

 

[rebmcr]

This is a nice idea, surprised no one has done this before, including the railway companies.

TfL have had these for buses for years, they call them Spider Maps.

 

[SwindonBert]

TfL have had these for buses for years, they call them Spider Maps.

When in London i live by the spider maps when traveling, they're so easy to read. Part of the reason why I'm surprised none of the companies have introduced them

 

[swt_passenger]

On the Northampton diagram, why show the Wolverhampton service at all, if the aim is to show services FROM a station, which is what the diagram titles state, as does this thread title?

How about referring to it a as a direct connections diagram?

 

[Hophead]

When in London i live by the spider maps when traveling, they're so easy to read. Part of the reason why I'm surprised none of the companies have introduced them

TfL's maps benefit from the bus services being relatively simple - the vast majority operate end-to-end with no deviations 7 days per week all day. This minimises the number of codes and dotted lines or whatever is used to differentiate irregular operations. Provincial operators tend to have more complex service patterns.

 

[Hartington]

Surely with the sleeper it's kind of irrelevant which way it goes in terms of generating these maps, but rather that it just shows the stations that it serves?

Which is why I said "not totally relevant". However, it fits in with my comments about Sunday diversions. Not all trains from a given station always follow the same route.

 

[Martin S Heron]

Nice idea, very useful and interesting maps.

Any chance of doing Reading?

 

[MK Tom]

Ooh Reading could be a challenge! I'm out today but when I come back to this tonight or tomorrow I'll take all of these suggestions into consideration!

 

[toppington]

On your MK one, Streatham is missing one 'a' - but this is really good and very useful for people who are familiar with Spider Maps! Excellent stuff.

 

[Mordac]

Thanks for doing my station as one of your firsts! I love this, and like other posters, wish this was something the TOCs would do themselves.

 

[nottinghamcity]

I wonder how hard this would be to script? Working out the connectivity and station order should be straightforward enough. Drawing the maps somewhat trickier i think. With that algorithm in place an interesting extension would be destinations with a single change.

 

[mugam4]

I wonder how hard this would be to script? Working out the connectivity and station order should be straightforward enough. Drawing the maps somewhat trickier i think. With that algorithm in place an interesting extension would be destinations with a single change.

Interesting article on something similar here

 

[Trainfan344]

Lowestoft would be an easy one. With just stations to Ipswich and Norwich plus Harwich international, Ely would be a nicely sized one, with services to London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Norwich!

 

[Chris Butler]

They're very good.

The TfL Spider Maps for London buses are interesting because they cover all services from an area, not just from a single stop. That's what makes them so useful, you can see whether a 2 minute walk will get you to a direct service from a nearby stop.

How about Taunton ?