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GWR has published a national railway network map !

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yorksrob

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By contrast to my usual threads which tend to highlight problems on the railway, I was delighted to find that GWR has published a full, fold up map of the national railway network, available for free at it's stations !

The leaflet has a map of the GWR network on one side, with insets showing the London area and branch lines such as Looe, whilst the other side is given over to a full map of the National rail network. Even better, this is based on the old timetable map, which is a more geographical representation of the network, rather than the angular diagrams that NRE seems to prefer.

It's probably been around ten years since the network map was available at large stations, so I think this is a wonderful development and hope GWR keeps it up.
 
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Peter C

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By contrast to my usual threads which tend to highlight problems on the railway, I was delighted to find that GWR has published a full, fold up map of the national railway network, available for free at it's stations !

The leaflet has a map of the GWR network on one side, with insets showing the London area and branch lines such as Looe, whilst the other side is given over to a full map of the National rail network. Even better, this is based on the old timetable map, which is a more geographical representation of the network, rather than the angular diagrams that NRE seems to prefer.

It's probably been around ten years since the network map was available at large stations, so I think this is a wonderful development and hope GWR keeps it up.
I think they have been doing this for a while now. I picked up one a while ago and was surprised to see the NR map! :)
It is a very good idea. I hope other TOCs do it, so that people can see what the whole network looks like, not just their local TOC(s).

-Peter
 

221129

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They've been doing it for many years. I remember picking my first one up in FGW days in 2010...
 

R G NOW.

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Are these available without charge?. Seem to remember British Rail charged for theirs and were also found at the back of an, all line timetable book. It was the same size as an Argos catalogue
 

yorksrob

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I think they have been doing this for a while now. I picked up one a while ago and was surprised to see the NR map! :)
It is a very good idea. I hope other TOCs do it, so that people can see what the whole network looks like, not just their local TOC(s).

-Peter

Indeed. Surely the most important sales pitch the railway has to make, is the range of destinations one can reach by it.
 

Peter C

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Surely a railway map of the uk has long been available for free on the interweb
Fair point - and @johnr57 has posted a link to the Project Mapping site. Personally, I prefer having a paper copy of a timetable so I can physically have it with me. I know, call me old-fashioned, but I like being able to have it with me and not mess around with files on a phone. :) I also approve of the use of the word "interweb".

-Peter
 

trainophile

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I have an app on my iPhone called Zuti that shows the whole UK network. It's zoomable for ease of reading. Unfortunately it only seems to be available for iOS not Android, unless that has changed recently.
 

DarloRich

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Fair point - and @johnr57 has posted a link to the Project Mapping site. Personally, I prefer having a paper copy of a timetable so I can physically have it with me. I know, call me old-fashioned, but I like being able to have it with me and not mess around with files on a phone. :) I also approve of the use of the word "interweb".

-Peter

Ok I will: you are old fashioned ;)

The map isnt taken with me. I know where Manchester is ;) I just have it for reference at home.
 

Peter C

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Ok I will: you are old fashioned ;)

The map isnt taken with me. I know where Manchester is ;) I just have it for reference at home.
:)
I normally take my Rail Guide with me to places (only when I am going somewhere to watch trains, not on journeys to London with family, etc.). I have terrible geographical knowledge bar the place I live and surrounding area and basic city/town knowledge for some parts of the country.
I actually stumbled across my copy of the GWR map today, along with a reproduction of a much older (steam era) GWR map of their whole network!

-Peter
 

yorksrob

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Surely a railway map of the uk has long been available for free on the interweb

I would suggest that few people have a printer big enough to produce a satisfactory copy for when they're out and about.

Plus, NRE have hidden the nice timetable map and replaced it with various angular versions.
 

PeterY

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I have one stuck, well blue tacked, on my wall. I got mine from Paddington.
 

DarloRich

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A3 isn't as big as the GWR version. Plus I've no interest in making that sort of capital outlay for a printer anyway.

I didnt buy a printer JUST to print out a train map!

But if someone else will print it for you then great. I simply pointed out such a map was available and that it wasnt hidden
 

yorksrob

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I didnt buy a printer JUST to print out a train map!

But if someone else will print it for you then great. I simply pointed out such a map was available and that it wasnt hidden

Fair point regarding printing.

Although when I go on NRE, the ATOC recognised website for railway information, it's notable that they have the angular project mapping designs on display but not the geographical one.
 

Clip

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Fair point regarding printing.

Although when I go on NRE, the ATOC recognised website for railway information, it's notable that they have the angular project mapping designs on display but not the geographical one.

Whilst I I appreciate your aversion to anything modern, including smartphones i think, then if you get one you can just download the map once and use whilst offline too - instead of using your data - now you non longer have to root about in your bag for a bit of paper, unfold it and then attempt to fold it back again and use up the whole table you are it, its in the palm of your hand.!!
 

hexagon789

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I don't think this is anything new as such, FGW used to do one and I'm sure Barry Doe of RAIL used to say how good it was if I remember rightly.

Hopefully GWR continue that tradition - that it's a good, useful map.
 

yorksrob

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Whilst I I appreciate your aversion to anything modern, including smartphones i think, then if you get one you can just download the map once and use whilst offline too - instead of using your data - now you non longer have to root about in your bag for a bit of paper, unfold it and then attempt to fold it back again and use up the whole table you are it, its in the palm of your hand.!!

I do have a smart phone, although it isn't keen on pdf's for some reason. They take an age to download and then you have the joy of trying to focus on and expand the bit that you actually want to look at on a tiny screen.

Crummy modern technology 0 - folded up paper 1, I think.
 

AlbertBeale

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I do have a smart phone, although it isn't keen on pdf's for some reason. They take an age to download and then you have the joy of trying to focus on and expand the bit that you actually want to look at on a tiny screen.

Crummy modern technology 0 - folded up paper 1, I think.

Agreed!

On a screen, you either can't see much of the map at once, to get your bearings so to speak, or, you can see lots but it's too small to read/understand.

A map on a screen simply doesn't fulfil the same purpose/needs as a larger paper one.
 

yorksrob

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Agreed!

On a screen, you either can't see much of the map at once, to get your bearings so to speak, or, you can see lots but it's too small to read/understand.

A map on a screen simply doesn't fulfil the same purpose/needs as a larger paper one.

And that's before we get to running out of electricity, lack of signal etc.
 

Clip

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I do have a smart phone, although it isn't keen on pdf's for some reason. They take an age to download and then you have the joy of trying to focus on and expand the bit that you actually want to look at on a tiny screen.

Crummy modern technology 0 - folded up paper 1, I think.


You dont need to view it as a Pdf though and the files are so small in the grand scheme of things that i simply do not believe you when you claim they 'take an age to download' - i mean these thigns are in kilobytes in size which takes seconds.
 
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