British Railways Operators Map

[DelW]

One tiny detail:
On the Sheerness Branch, there are no scheduled passenger services towards Gillingham, only to Sittingbourne.

There’s an 0505 Gillingham to Sheerness passenger service,

Oh so there is, unsure how I've never spotted that. Might have to try it someday...

IIRC a decade or more ago, there were a couple of morning peak services to London that started from Sheerness and used the west chord (avoiding Sittingbourne), with corresponding down workings in the evening peak.
Possibly they were a casualty of Covid and never returned?

 

[Trainguy34]

IIRC a decade or more ago, there were a couple of morning peak services to London that started from Sheerness and used the west chord (avoiding Sittingbourne), with corresponding down workings in the evening peak.
Possibly they were a casualty of Covid and never returned?

That's piqued my interest now so will have a look in the old WTTs later.

 

[DelW]

That's piqued my interest now so will have a look in the old WTTs later.

I hope my memory is right! I'm not too sure of how long ago I'm remembering it from.

I lived on the Isle of Sheppey in the early 1980s, and still go back to the area occasionally.

 

[PLY2AYS]

Stellar piece of work. Absolutely brilliant.

 

[Ian Hardy]

You have missed the line from Addlestone to Weybridge. There is a triangular junction between Addlestone / Weybridge/ Byfleet and New Haw. The line from Southampton to Romsey turns out west of Redbridge and not at Southampton Central. The line from Barry to Bridgend turns out south of Barry not at Barry Docks. There aren't any platforms at Stone on the line from Rugeley Trent Valley to Stoke-on-Trent. The line that bypasses Lewisham is missing as is the curve from that line to Ladywell. The only service to call at Watford High Street is the London Overground services. The AWC, LNWR and Southern use the direct alightment between Bushey and Watford Junction rather than the circuitous route via Watford High Street.

Did you get anyone to proof check the map before publishing it, as the list of errors that people have found highlight that it wasn't checked.

 

[The Planner]

Did you get anyone to proof check the map before publishing it, as the list of errors that people have found highlight that it wasn't checked.

Its someone that has spent a load of their own time creating it, if anything they are asking this thread for feedback. Its not as though its a commercial thing that is going to appear at a station. Lighten up.

 

[frediculous]

I hope my memory is right! I'm not too sure of how long ago I'm remembering it from.

I lived on the Isle of Sheppey in the early 1980s, and still go back to the area occasionally.

Literally pre-Covid. I used to use them from 2017-2020 as they stopped at Rainham and Denmark Hill (and then in the 2018 changes just to run fast through DMK but still stopped at Crofton Park)

 

[DelW]

Did you get anyone to proof check the map before publishing it, as the list of errors that people have found highlight that it wasn't checked.

Having produced a couple of similar maps myself (of much smaller areas), both producing and checking them is an extremely time consuming job, and it's very easy to overlook things.

Putting it in the public domain, as the OP has, opens it up to a much larger number of eyeballs, most of which will look in great detail at their local area. Considering the huge amount of detail in the map, I think the OP has done very well to keep the number of corrections down to the level appearing so far.

 

[dch82]

Could you add the London Underground where they use National Rail infrastructure (e.g. Bakerloo line on some parts of the Watford DC line)

 

[MrJeeves]

Let me know if you spot any errors and happy to hear suggestions for corrections/improvements. I'll probably collect all the amendments and do one big update at some point. Maybe one day I'll keep going north but that's it for now!

There's a piece of track which bypasses Ely station between Manea and Shippea Hill, which an EMR service uses once a week (1M80 on Sundays). You might want to include a this and show it as a limited service.

 

[moonarrow458]

Good work, a few more points of pedantry that haven't been picked up on:
- You are missing the limited Chiltern Railways services between Banbury and Oxford, one of which calls at all intermediate stations, the 0022 from Oxford for reference.
-The third side of the Earlestown Triangle should be limited service (ie. The St Helens Junction to Warrington Bank Quay side)
-Likewise the curve from Newton-le-willows towards Golborne should be limited service
-TPE do not serve Bryn, Garswood, Thatto Heath, Eccleston Park and Prescot
- There should be a limited service connection for WMT trains between Smethwick Rolfe Street and Langley Green avoiding Smethwick Galton Bridge - a few late night WMT services use this connection running non-stop via Stourbridge - The same applies for XC with a few services running nonstop over this route at the extremes of the day
-The Northern Rail route through Pontefract Baghill should be shown as Limited service
- There should be a limited service route for EMR between Spalding and Ruskington that specifically avoids Sleaford. The last train from Peterborough to Lincoln on weekday nights takes this route
- The limited Stansted Express services via Seven Sisters are missing
- The Limited Service London overground route from Seven Sisters via South Tottenham to Clapton is missing (services over this route do NOT call at South Tottenham)
-GWR services via Eastleigh should be shown as Limited service
-SWR services via Westbury, Frome and Castle Cary should be shown as limited service
-GWR to Axminster should be shown as limited service, only 1tpd in one direction only
-There should be a limited service connection for TFW services from Ninian Park to Pontyclun - The 0535 Cardiff to Milford Haven uses this stopping at Ninian Park
-The New Beckenham to Beckenham Junction curve on SE should be limited service
-Likewise on SE the Sandwich to Minster Curve should be limited service
-With GWR only serving Hereford 3-4 tpd compared to WMT 1tph perhaps Great Malvern to Hereford ought to be denoted as Limited Service for GWR
-Avanti between Crewe and Kidsgrove should be shown as limited service - only 2tpd
-Avanti run some limited services nonstop Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton via Thame Bridge Parkway
- The limited service Cross Country route between Coleshill Parkway and Wilnecote is missing
-Cross Country via Weston-super-mare should be limited service
- Cross Country operate a limited service Bristol to Cardiff and vice versa - one of which even reverses at and calls at Bristol Parkway, the limited services in the opposire direction run direct avoiding Bristol Parkway
-The Strawberry Hill to Fulwell curve on SWR should be limited service
- There is a limited service on EMR from Melton Mowbray to Leicester - 1tpd uses this route - 2006 Peterborough to Nottingham service - currently not shown on your map

 

[etr221]

An impressive work, as others have said.

The niggles I've spotted are (1) the 'quarry line' (or lack of) between Purley and Earlswood; (2) it is only London Overground that goes through Watford High Street (it's on a loop off the WCML), and similar question/issue over stations between there and Euston (edited to add that the stations between Willeden Jn and Euston are missing); and (3) what should be done about Lewisham and vicinity...

But more generally, my comment would be over the lack of explanation, as to what it is showing (or trying to), or not, and key (there are a number of things unexplained/unclear)

 

[Bullfield WEst]

The Ordsal Chord does not currently have Northern passenger services

 

[jupiter]

That is the reason that the world is in the state that it is in, very few people actually check what they have done before they press post or send. As my grandfather said to me: Measure 3 times, check twice, cut once. People are too much in a hurry to send things out that they don't check properly before doing so.

Ian, frankly that is just so unnecessary. It quite obviously represents many hours of painstaking, detailed work and that's all you can say about it? They've graciously posted it for comment which is what people are politely doing.

To the OP: I think it's a terrific job, well done and thanks for posting. I know very many others in the thread feel the same.

 

[Kilopylae]

This is incredible! I expect I'll have hours of fun looking at this

 

[trainmania100]

When does Southeastern go to Ore?
As far as I'm aware there are no timetabled services past Hastings for as long as I can remember.
There's a video on YouTube about 15 years old that's the most recent I can find.

Otherwise a very good map. Similar to a foldable map of the south east rail network I had a while back, free from most major stations information desks.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

When does Southeastern go to Ore?

There's a solitary 0620 South Eastern service from Ore, to London Charing Cross (via Tonbridge) during the week. So, that's correct.

 

[dch82]

has anyone else noticed that south western railways never interchanges with south eastern

edit: probably just me being slow

 

[Expression357]

Very minor typo spotted:

Chesterfield has been put in as ‘Chestereld’.

 

[alexh2o]

Amazing feedback everyone, thanks so much for taking the time to highlight everything. I love that this communtiy has all this extra detail and knowledge to share which is hard to figure out on your own. Appreciate all the nice words as well!

I've put all your comments into a spreadsheet and will work my way through them and come back with an updated version soon...

I'll try not to clutter the thread by responding to everyone individually but will answer a few directly now and more later as I get my head round everything

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Sunday at 22:08 ==

Nice work.

If you go here on the NRES site is quite similar.

This is a great map, thanks for sharing! Definitely saving a copy.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Sunday at 22:11 ==

There seems to be some operators missing, at least three Open Access aren't on there

I did add open access in the beginning but the number of colours and lines was getting a little too much, so cut back on them and the sleeper services.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Sunday at 22:14 ==

What drawing package did you use to create it?

It was made in Sketch https://www.sketch.com/ - it's a vector app for Mac I like using.

 

[Revilo]

Great map! Something to fix is that Caldcot is not between Pilning and Severn Tunnel Junction, or served by GWR, but is only on the Cheltenham Spa line and served only by TfW.

 

[Bullfield WEst]

Ian, frankly that is just so unnecessary. It quite obviously represents many hours of painstaking, detailed work and that's all you can say about it? They've graciously posted it for comment which is what people are politely doing.

To the OP: I think it's a terrific job, well done and thanks for posting. I know very many others in the thread feel the same.

In total agreement.

 

[Gonzoiku]

A couple more:

Dronfield

Mobberley

Admirable stuff nonetheless!

GZ

 

[renegademaster]

Is it really important to show once a day curves like the one used for the Liverpool-Norwich service? You don't show explicitly where every other operator occasionally skips stops.

 

[tbtc]

I don't bother posting so much these days, but I simply had to see this map that's apparently responsible for all the social ills of modern day life, wow, that's quite an accolade!

More seriously, it's a great looking map, easy to understand, simple looking (in the best meaning of the word!); maybe it'll be a good guide to people in five/ten years to try to understand what life was like before full government control

Is it really important to show once a day curves like the one used for the Liverpool-Norwich service? You don't show explicitly where every other operator occasionally skips stops.

I agree

(AIUI) this wonderful document isn't a map of every line, but a map of services, and (whilst I appreciate the pedantry and the chance for people to flex their knowledge) I don't think it particularly matters whether (e.g.) some services from the East Midlands travel non stop from Chesterfield past Woodhouse/ Darnall, or the various diversionary/route retention stuff like occasional trains skipping the Meadowhall route to run alongside the Supertram route in the Don Valley

You could add a hundred examples of alternative routes that services occasionally run but (unless they actually stop on these sections) it's generally irrelevant to passengers , all they'll notice is that a service didn't stop at a certain intermediate station (but does it matter whether it was an avoiding line? How pedantic do people want to be, e.g. Lumo and some LNER/GC services are non-stop through Doncaster but does it honestly matter whether they run through the station on a line with a platform face or one of the middle roads?)

There has to be a balance between easily accesible information and "the kitchen sink" , and I think that this map does a cracking job, top work

If only everything on the modern railway was this simple

 

[YorksLad12]

I'm sure the OP checked it many times, but still missed things. It's a well known phenomenon that it's difficult to spot your own errors which fresh eyes see immediately. It's why proof-reading is a skill, which the OP asked for help with.

I'd be much more in agreement with your criticism if it was applied to those posts that contain typo's, completely incorrect words, or even omit a "not" (or similar) that inverts the sense of the post. But I fear we're dragging the thread away from the OP's map.

Seconded. The forum has checked over my stuff in the past and made great suggestions (which I have gladly acknowledged). We critiqued Northern's map from earlier too, and that had the benefit of actually being Northern's product. No-one's perfect.

 

[FR510]

Wonderful map.

There are plenty of Southeastern services between Strood and Rochester, it's not just Thameslink.

 

[321362]

Lichfield not Litchfield.

Lea Bridge station is south of the junction to Clapton.

GA stops at Hackney Downs.

 

[moonarrow458]

Is it really important to show once a day curves like the one used for the Liverpool-Norwich service? You don't show explicitly where every other operator occasionally skips stops.

(AIUI) this wonderful document isn't a map of every line, but a map of services, and (whilst I appreciate the pedantry and the chance for people to flex their knowledge) I don't think it particularly matters whether (e.g.) some services from the East Midlands travel non stop from Chesterfield past Woodhouse/ Darnall, or the various diversionary/route retention stuff like occasional trains skipping the Meadowhall route to run alongside the Supertram route in the Don Valley

You could add a hundred examples of alternative routes that services occasionally run but (unless they actually stop on these sections) it's generally irrelevant to passengers , all they'll notice is that a service didn't stop at a certain intermediate station (but does it matter whether it was an avoiding line? How pedantic do people want to be, e.g. Lumo and some LNER/GC services are non-stop through Doncaster but does it honestly matter whether they run through the station on a line with a platform face or one of the middle roads?)

There has to be a balance between easily accesible information and "the kitchen sink" , and I think that this map does a cracking job, top work

If only everything on the modern railway was this simple

I do agree that there is perhaps a limit at which the pedantry gets a bit much, such as my own example of XC running via Stourbridge - perhaps not super relevant, and clearly including all avoiding lines would be overkill, however it does raise the question where the limit goes? - ultimately that is up to the map maker.

However when the map maker chooses to include for example, the Didcot avoiding line, Rotherham Central on its own little spur, as is done in this first draft map, its not necessarily unreasonable for people, based off of what shown on that draft, to then come with suggestions of other places where there is track geometry avoiding a place that is very seperate to the main route physically, such as the Ely North curve, or Sleaford avoiding line, or the quarry lines versus the route through Redhill, admittedly each of these having very different service levels. But as i say it is up to the map maker to set the parameters for what they wish to include (such as XC via camp hill, despite not stopping there).

Then the rest of us can of course come with suggestions, and as long as we are respectful about it, and don't go completely bashing someones hard, and very good btw, work done in their own free time, i don't necessarily see a problem with suggestions such as the Ely north curve. Its not inconsistent with what is already shown on the first draft.

 

[NealG]

Brilliant map - I'm curious what software/format is the original in?