Map of Hourly Service Patterns

[Minstral25]

What a work of art - Brilliant

 

[Ianno87]

Great map!

It would be quite useful to have this as reference material in the speculative ideas area to give an idea of what level of service is actually practical on various bits of route and through route nodes - eg to only consider a certain level of uplift without infrastructure development.

Though spare capacity one one route and spare capacity on another route does not mean that this spare capacity can be joined together in a coherent train path.

 

[Andyh82]

Great map, and like others have said, it might help me learn the network in areas that I'm not familiar with

South London is quite ridiculous, and you must have had great patience fitting in that massive glut of services around Waterloo, Victoria and Thameslink

 

[Meerkat]

Fantastic work. This style is the easiest way to visualise services - I wish it was the standard for route maps on franchise websites (and on Wikipedia entries for station)

 

[raetiamann]

Exceptional work and very useful. Thank you.

 

[Alex1994]

Thank you everyone, means alot!

I've updated the map fixing the errors you have pointed out

how did you make it? what program did you use?

Adobe Illustrator

South London (especially Calpham Junction) must have been "fun" to try and fit it all together

South London was by far the largest headache to work out how to squeeze it all in while keeping it looking ok.

 

[ABB125]

An excellent map.
What software did you use? I've tried something similar to this before, but gave up because I couldn't find a way to draw parallel lines; presumably you've found a way to do this?
Edit: I seem to have missed the post above!

 

[PTR 444]

This is amazing work! Love it to bits!

I never thought that the Southern lines crossing the South Western lines at Clapham Junction would have so much visual appeal until I saw this. As another member posted upthread, I think this would definitely be my first point of reference when coming up with an idea for the speculative section of this forum.

 

[Tw99]

Very impressive !

 

[alistairlees]

This is indeed an excellent piece of work. Thanks for sharing. You should definitely look at sharing this with a few websites. Somewhere like Londonist, they are interested in things like this, e.g. https://londonist.com/london/transport/a-new-geographically-accurate-tube-map

 

[XC victim]

Possibly the most useful rail map I have ever seen

 

[asdirective]

Great map.

Just spotted a small omission - the EMR Doncaster to Lincoln service isn't on there.

 

[si404]

Just spotted a small omission - the EMR Doncaster to Lincoln service isn't on there.

It's a handful of services a day and doesn't serve any stations not on the map without it (unlike all the other thin-dashed lines, save the Caledonian Sleeper*). As explained in the original post:

Only the standard timetable is shown - one-off daily services, occasional extensions to standard services and services which only run during the peak rush hours, are not shown. Otherwise the map would become far too overcrowded.

Services which run at a limited frequency are only shown if they are the only service to call at a station. For example, the Far North Line in the Scottish Highlands only has a handful of services each day, but that's the only service the stations on that line get. Whereas the daily LNER extension from Edinburgh to Inverness is not shown, as the stations along this route are served by the usual ScotRail service. These limited services are shown as a dashed line on the map.

*why is that one-off daily service there? It doesn't meet the criteria.

 

[PR1Berske]

Long time follower of this forum, even if from behind the scenes.

Over the lockdown period I’ve killed time by mapping out every standard hourly National Rail train service. As you can imagine it’s quite a complex map, but I’m sure some people on this forum would find it interesting.

You can find it here: https://alexhancock.webs.com/Great Britain Train Services - Dec 2019.pdf

Each line is an hourly service, colour coded based on its operator and showing which stations it calls at. There are also thin lines, which represent a bi-hourly service.

Only the standard timetable is shown - one-off daily services, occasional extensions to standard services and services which only run during the peak rush hours, are not shown. Otherwise the map would become far too overcrowded.

Services which run at a limited frequency are only shown if they are the only service to call at a station. For example, the Far North Line in the Scottish Highlands only has a handful of services each day, but that's the only service the stations on that line get. Whereas the daily LNER extension from Edinburgh to Inverness is not shown, as the stations along this route are served by the usual ScotRail service. These limited services are shown as a dashed line on the map.

I have tried to keep the map as geographically accurate as possible, however with so many services, it has not always been possible.

I have used the December 2019 timetable as a guide (so pre-COVID service), and with the complexity of trying to map out the general service pattern across the country, there are bound to be some mistakes. If you spot anything, let me know and I shall update it.

That is one of the best maps of its type this forum has seen for many a moon, I'm certain. Well done, sir.

 

[The Planner]

You have both the XC going via Cov which is incorrect, any way of putting the 1tph via Solihull?

 

[mmh]

Fair play, that is absolutely superb work!

 

[Alex1994]

Just spotted a small omission - the EMR Doncaster to Lincoln service isn't on there.

It only has a few services each day and does not serve any station not already shown. I was very tempted to still show it (mostly because I used to use it), but then you have the argument of adding other limited services and the map starts to become increasingly confusing!

You have both the XC going via Cov which is incorrect, any way of putting the 1tph via Solihull?

Good shout, I shall see if I can re-jig that area.

 

[si404]

Good shout, I shall see if I can re-jig that area.

There's quite a few similar things where non-stop services are routed via routes they don't take - eg all the SE non-stop trains between Victoria and Bromley South are routed via the Catford loop on your map, when they typically go via Herne Hill.

And XC in Birmingham towards the SE using the line through Moseley Heath as well as the one via the University.

I'm not that sure it matters much to get this right, but some people's proposed usage of this excellent map would be improved by it being the case.

 

[I13]

You have both the XC going via Cov which is incorrect, any way of putting the 1tph via Solihull?

Good shout, I shall see if I can re-jig that area.

Ah, I had assumed it was a stylistic/practical decision. I was going to point out the Southeastern via Herne Hill thing but I see I've been beaten to it!

 

[YorksLad12]

That's an amazing piece of work Alex. Brilliant stuff.

 

[306024]

Seen similar small maps in the past, but this takes it to another planet. Well done for having the patience.

It seems churlish to question any of it but as you have asked for comments I wondered if you decided to show Colchester Town like that for simplicity, just that it is a spur off the Clacton branch so Liverpool St to Clacton trains don’t go through there.

 

[Bald Rick]

Brilliant work, well done.

Now, how much are you going to pay @The Planner (and others) to not do significant timetable recasts every May and December?

 

[si404]

Now, how much are you going to pay @The Planner (and others) to not do significant timetable recasts every May and December?

And how much to get one really good timetable recast that makes the map less spaghetti-like in places like Manchester and therefore more beautiful.

 

[Andyh82]

I've been through all the Northern services, and I can see some things that I think are errors that could be corrected in a future version to make it even better

Manchester Piccadilly to Hazel Grove - I don't think this existed, the only Hazel Grove is the one from Blackpool?

Northern services up the east coast should be Scarborough to Sheffield via Hull and Bridlington to York via Hull?

Hull to Doncaster and Doncaster to Sheffield should be shown as seperate services?

also as previously mentioned Leeds to York is missing

 

[tbtc]

You have both the XC going via Cov which is incorrect, any way of putting the 1tph via Solihull?

There's quite a few similar things where non-stop services are routed via routes they don't take - eg all the SE non-stop trains between Victoria and Bromley South are routed via the Catford loop on your map, when they typically go via Herne Hill.

And XC in Birmingham towards the SE using the line through Moseley Heath as well as the one via the University.

I'm not that sure it matters much to get this right, but some people's proposed usage of this excellent map would be improved by it being the case.

The same could be said of Castleford - the two "semi fast" Sheffield - Barnsley - Leeds services appear on the same timetable as the even slower Sheffield - Barnsley - Castleford - Leeds stopper, so it gives the impression that all services run through Castleford.

However, Castleford is effectively a terminus for stopping services - everything reverses there (though it is on a through line towards York) - the semi fast services take a chord that avoids Castleford entirely - so don't pass through the station.

Same in Rotherham - e.g. TPE don't generally pass through there - the station is built on a loop from the current main line - but for a schematic map I guess it doesn't matter whether the trains pass through non-stop or avoid the station completely - the map accurately shows that the trains don't stop there. I suppose you could similarly argue that some XC Bristol - Manchester services run via Camp Hill and therefore don't pass through the local stations north of Kings Norton - but where do you draw the line (as long as the service doesn't stop there?

I think that the map matches simplicity/ accuracy/ style/ accessibility perfectly well - on a site of enthusiasts there'll always be quirks and minutia to pick up on - but I could never do anything as well as the OP has produced here so I can't criticise (I only offer humble comments)

(I wonder how one from the late nineties would look, so we saw just how sparse some frequencies were back then?)

 

[greatkingrat]

Just to confuse things, some services are asymmetrical. For example trains run from Dalmuir to Larkhall via Singer, as shown on the map, but then the return from Larkhall runs to Milngavie.

Admittedly that would be very difficult to show clearly on a map, and the overall frequency at each station is still correct.

 

[soccermad]

A fantastic effort Thanks !!!!

 

[snookertam]

Absolutely superb. Scotland is pretty much spot on.

EDIT: Aside from the point above, but not sure how you could realistically show that.

also, East Kilbride is east of Neilston (the lines cross each other) and Alloa is east of Stirling.

Also now that I mention it there’s not really an hourly Queen St to Dunblane any more, instead they mainly go to Alloa to provide a half hourly, with a selection still going forward to Dunblane. That might be best shown by splitting the thick line at Stirling for two thinner ones to each location, but there isn’t really a consistent pattern there any more.

 

[cle]

This is wonderful, looks great and super useful - thank you for the time spent.

 

[BayPaul]

Incredible work - by far the best rail map I've ever seen. I'm already planning lots of ways I could use it!