Beck's Map with 2020 network

[ijmad]

A young artist on Twitter has updated Beck's map for 2020.

It shows just the tube but it's a really interesting comparison, and a darned sight prettier than TfL's official map:




Credit to Arturs D

[whistlekiller2000]

Jan 4, 2020 20:26:12 GMT ijmad said:

A young artist on Twitter has updated Beck's map for 2020.

It shows just the tube but it's a really interesting comparison, and a darned sight prettier than TfL's official map:




Credit to Arturs D

An artistic triumph indeed, although totally useless for getting people from Richmond to Willesden Junction in a hurry. 

[35b]

Jan 4, 2020 21:40:24 GMT whistlekiller2000 said:

Jan 4, 2020 20:26:12 GMT ijmad said:

A young artist on Twitter has updated Beck's map for 2020.

It shows just the tube but it's a really interesting comparison, and a darned sight prettier than TfL's official map:




Credit to Arturs D

An artistic triumph indeed, although totally useless for getting people from Richmond to Willesden Junction in a hurry. 

Though perhaps the urgency may be greater in the opposite direction!

[Chris M]

As a route planning aid it is, as whistlekiller2000 notes, significantly inferior to the present day map. As a piece of art, personally I think it has its good and bad parts. The graceful curve of the river around the Isle of Dogs and the Jubilee line between Canning Town and West Ham are elegant, but the sharp corners around Paddington and Edgware are anything but.

[ijmad]

Jan 4, 2020 21:56:48 GMT Chris M said:

As a route planning aid it is, as whistlekiller2000 notes, significantly inferior to the present day map. As a piece of art, personally I think it has its good and bad parts. The graceful curve of the river around the Isle of Dogs and the Jubilee line between Canning Town and West Ham are elegant, but the sharp corners around Paddington and Edgware are anything but.

Beck's original map featured some sharp corners too. It certainly captures his style. I agree it's next to useless for modern day route planning outside Zone 1 without the Overground etc, but as a piece of art and a comparison with the original it's great work.

[Dstock7080]

Jan 4, 2020 20:26:12 GMT ijmad said:

A young artist on Twitter has updated Beck's map for 2020.

It shows just the tube but it's a really interesting comparison, and a darned sight prettier than TfL's official map:




Credit to Arturs D

Very nice map!
Why are Southfields and West Kensington interchanges?

[ijmad]

Jan 5, 2020 9:25:43 GMT Dstock7080 said:

Very nice map!
Why are Southfields and West Kensington interchanges?

He mentioned he suspected there were a couple of mistakes. Hard to spot in your own work that you've stared at for many hours! I'll feed back via Twitter.

[theblackferret]

Art has to make its' own rules & if the thing is wrought, riven or otherwise created in the essence of Beck, it has to allow for the historical ambience of the era.

At which point, London Overground did not exist as an entity, and the days of Willesden Jcn as the ne plus ultra of destinations and interchanges akin to the lost treasures of Mayan civilisation were not even a distant gleam in anybody's eye at 55 Broadway.

That's channeled my inner Brian Sewell for today.

[Chris L]

When I managed the first computer generated Tube map in the 1980s we used a cartographer to establish a set of rules for curves, angles and intersections. Previous maps had been tweaked over the years when changes were required and there were lots of anomalies.

This was incorporated into a design manual for future Tube maps.

Sadly this has been consigned to the bin in recent years.

[superteacher]

I think it's a good attempt at updating the original map. arturs has now been accepted as a member, so I'm sure he'll be along here soon with his responses to everybody's comments.

[arturs]

Hello everyone!
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, it's very much appreciated. I'll respond to them one by one below:


whistlekiller2000

useless for getting people from Richmond to Willesden Junction in a hurry

Yes, I have not included any Overground, TfL Rail, Trams or DLR services as I chose to focus solely on the Underground, mainly for 3 reasons. 1, it is more suited to the 1931 map, where only the Underground was included; the map would get very crowded if I included more services, and the colours of each line would be harder to distinguish from each other; and I started the recreation off by tracing the original map, so adding extra services would remove the space needed for station names.
I am however working on 2 more maps, one that is traced from the current official map with only the colours and font changed (although trams services will not be included), another map that only includes the different overground services.


Chris M

but the sharp corners around Paddington and Edgware are anything but

This section of the map has been traced nearly exactly as how it was on the original Harry Beck, which was a conscience decision so as to stick to Harry Beck's style.


Dstock7080

Why are Southfields and West Kensington interchanges?

Thank you for bringing this up, these were mistakes. I accidentally made West Kensington an interchange between the District and Piccadilly lines, but after releasing my mistake I removed the Piccadilly line blob but failed to remove the District line one. As for Southfields, I have accidentally interpreted the step-free access blob as an interchange blob, and have now removed it.

The corrected map is shown below, and a high-resolution version (only to be used for personal uses, such as a desktop background) is available at this link:
gum.co/VqvAP
It is free to download, but donations are very much appreciated.

[norbitonflyer]

I think showing interchanges at stations such as Sloane Square or Harlesden is not quite consistent with Beck's system. The original Beck map only used the interchange symbol where lines intersected, and not on shared lines (note the South Harrow, Hounslow West and Watford Junction lines).

[arturs]

Jan 5, 2020 19:32:30 GMT norbitonflyer said:

I think showing interchanges at stations such as Sloane Square or Harlesden is not quite consistent with Beck's system. The original Beck map only used the interchange symbol where lines intersected, and not on shared lines (note the South Harrow, Hounslow West and Watford Junction lines).

This was quite a personal decision on my behalf. I am often confused why some shared stations have the interchange blob, while some don't. One good example I can think of is Gloucester Road and South Kensington while are right next to each other, but the former doesn't have an interchange blob, while the latter does.
I don't intend on changing that on my map (will be fairly difficult to change), but if you have a good explanation as to why this is I would love to hear it.

[Chris M]

AIUI the Gloucester Road/South Kensington difference is a desire to minimise interchange traffic at the former because the station is less able to cope with the movement of large volumes of people between the lines (that's not to say South Ken copes well, just less badly). I'm not very familiar with the station though as I only use it about once every couple of years.

[MoreToJack]

South Ken is cross-platform between Circle and District in opposing directions, and same platform for same direction. Escalators are provided to the Piccadilly, of pretty good capacity.

Gloucester Road is separate platforms for westbound Circle/District services, and cross-platform only for eastbound Circle/District to westbound/Outer Rail Circle. Interchange to Piccadilly is via lifts and stairs, which also mixes with any interchange between westbound District and other SSR routes.

Far better to get people to interchange via South Ken.

An interesting interchange anomaly is also Kennington, which has a blob, whilst (say) Finchley Central does not. Woodford/Hainault should probably also have one with the upcoming changes. I’d actually retain the one at Kennington but add a second, Camden (current map) style interchange if the Battersea route is under construction, as trains won’t be able to run there ex Bank which is currently suggested.

I’m also intrigued as to what dictates the colour of the connector diamonds - why are most on the top side of the Circle in Met maroon, yet King’s across is pink? There’s a few options that could be used to apply these consistently, but none of those options appear to have been used exclusively.

[norbitonflyer]

Jan 5, 2020 20:01:34 GMT arturs said:

if you have a good explanation as to why this is I would love to hear it.

I think the logic is that there is no particular reason anyone would wish to change between lines at stations such as Sloane Square or Harlesden, as the two "lines" are simply different services running on the same tracks, only diverging further down the line. (Indeed, Beck did not even show the Circle as a separate line until 1948). In the same way, for example, Oval isn't shown as an interchange although you could, if you so desired, change from a City train to a Charing Cross train there. Although even Beck wasn't consistent - compare Turnham Green or Kennington with Harrow on the Hill or Surrey Docks.

[arturs]

Jan 5, 2020 20:14:01 GMT MoreToJack said:

I’m also intrigued as to what dictates the colour of the connector diamonds - why are most on the top side of the Circle in Met maroon, yet King’s across is pink? There’s a few options that could be used to apply these consistently, but none of those options appear to have been used exclusively.

There was a sort of loose set of rules that I had in my mind. Usually, I would use the colour that would be the most legible as text over the background, which is why I used the Metropolitan purple at most of the stations where it links with the Circle. However, in densely compacted areas, like in zone 1, I would sometimes use a different colour so as to reduce confusion of what label belongs to what interchange blob. At King's Cross, there was a slight chance that the label for Euston Square may be confused for that blob (obviously if you look closely you would see the gap, but at a quick glance there is a chance of confusion).
Another example of this is on the Central line where all the station names are quite close together, so at any point that the Central line intersects with another line, I used the colour of the other lines (i.e. green at Notting Hill Gate, black at Totteham Court Road, and so on), with the only exception being Stratford as the West Ham label is very close.

[norbitonflyer]

I've never thought about it before, but the colours of Beck's station labelling seems to follow a hierarchy - any station served by the District is in green, any station on the Northern (other than Charing Cross, which is also on the District) is in black, then Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central, and finally the Met and its former subsidiaries (Northern City, East London Line) only get their own colour if the station is served by no other line

[Chris L]

Jan 5, 2020 20:01:34 GMT arturs said:

Jan 5, 2020 19:32:30 GMT norbitonflyer said:

I think showing interchanges at stations such as Sloane Square or Harlesden is not quite consistent with Beck's system. The original Beck map only used the interchange symbol where lines intersected, and not on shared lines (note the South Harrow, Hounslow West and Watford Junction lines).

This was quite a personal decision on my behalf. I am often confused why some shared stations have the interchange blob, while some don't. One good example I can think of is Gloucester Road and South Kensington while are right next to each other, but the former doesn't have an interchange blob, while the latter does.
I don't intend on changing that on my map (will be fairly difficult to change), but if you have a good explanation as to why this is I would love to hear it.

I would suggest reading Max Roberts' book

www.tubemapcentral.com/writing/umu.html

[whistlekiller2000]

Jan 5, 2020 18:54:12 GMT arturs said:

Hello everyone!
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, it's very much appreciated. I'll respond to them one by one below:

whistlekiller2000

useless for getting people from Richmond to Willesden Junction in a hurry

Yes, I have not included any Overground, TfL Rail, Trams or DLR services as I chose to focus solely on the Underground, mainly for 3 reasons. 1, it is more suited to the 1931 map, where only the Underground was included; the map would get very crowded if I included more services, and the colours of each line would be harder to distinguish from each other; and I started the recreation off by tracing the original map, so adding extra services would remove the space needed for station names.
I am however working on 2 more maps, one that is traced from the current official map with only the colours and font changed (although trams services will not be included), another map that only includes the different overground services.

I'm aware of the constraints and it wasn't intended as a criticism, hence the 'artistic triumph' bit. Following, there was a level of tongue in cheek humour, particularly as Willesden Junction (although a station I sadly had to use quite a lot in the early 80s) is not the sort of destination one would usually choose willingly.....

[littlejohn]

On first sight, the only element that jarred with me was the treatment of the Thames at the Isle of Dogs. The use of a semi-circle seems to be contrary to all of Beck’s design ethos. That apart, and allowing for the odd errors already noted, I like it.

[rincew1nd]

Now I like that semicircle. The other corners on the river are parts of a curve, so I like the way this takes that principle and reflects reality.

[arturs]

Jan 6, 2020 9:15:15 GMT littlejohn said:

On first sight, the only element that jarred with me was the treatment of the Thames at the Isle of Dogs. The use of a semi-circle seems to be contrary to all of Beck’s design ethos. That apart, and allowing for the odd errors already noted, I like it.

I'm going to be honest, I don't like the curve either, but it would be impossible to fit in the Canary Wharf station while not going off the map, so it was more of a necessity.

[ijmad]

I like the semicircle, although if you ever did feel inclined to add the Elizabeth Line or DLR, it'd have to change quite I bit I suppose.

[arturs]

Jan 6, 2020 16:49:36 GMT ijmad said:

I like the semicircle, although if you ever did feel inclined to add the Elizabeth Line or DLR, it'd have to change quite I bit I suppose.

I think the official modern map is way too crowded, and I don't want mine to end up the same so I don't intend on adding Crossrail or DLR services to this specific map

[ijmad]

Jan 6, 2020 18:19:27 GMT arturs said:

Jan 6, 2020 16:49:36 GMT ijmad said:

I like the semicircle, although if you ever did feel inclined to add the Elizabeth Line or DLR, it'd have to change quite I bit I suppose.

I think the official modern map is way too crowded, and I don't want mine to end up the same so I don't intend on adding Crossrail or DLR services to this specific map

Yeah totally understand your reasoning here although I would also be interested in seeing a more Beck-like interpretation of the full TfL map. Maybe I'll go learn to use figma and spend 2020 attempting to build one 

[class411]

Jan 6, 2020 23:31:27 GMT ijmad said:

Jan 6, 2020 18:19:27 GMT arturs said:

I think the official modern map is way too crowded, and I don't want mine to end up the same so I don't intend on adding Crossrail or DLR services to this specific map

Yeah totally understand your reasoning here although I would also be interested in seeing a more Beck-like interpretation of the full TfL map. Maybe I'll go learn to use figma and spend 2020 attempting to build one 

You could probably make quite a nice one including the DLR if you didn't mind going more landscape.

It would waste space on a monitor but look really good in print.

The big problem would be with the overground, as that cuts across so many of the 'radial' lines to the north.

[arturs]

Jan 6, 2020 23:31:27 GMT ijmad said:

Jan 6, 2020 18:19:27 GMT arturs said:

I think the official modern map is way too crowded, and I don't want mine to end up the same so I don't intend on adding Crossrail or DLR services to this specific map

Yeah totally understand your reasoning here although I would also be interested in seeing a more Beck-like interpretation of the full TfL map. Maybe I'll go learn to use figma and spend 2020 attempting to build one 

I've got one copy (shown below) that I've started drawing but haven't finished yet, which is a near-exact copy of the current official map just using Harry Beck's style, but you should probably give learning to use Figma a go and drawing it in a style more similar to Beck rather than the modern layout.

[brigham]

I'm more than happy with the version which shows only what it claims to show; the Underground.
That designation is still in place, irrespective of its relevance to today's transport scene.
Diagrams shewing anything else are 'travel maps', or some such.

[ducatisti]

Jan 7, 2020 16:30:25 GMT arturs said:

A map to issue with you second annual travel card "you've had a year to learn it, sir..."

Love the first-posted map.

Totally get the reason you've not put the others on, I wonder what Harry Beck would have done for the cable-car? And you could have a nice 1930s aeroplane icon at Heathrow aerodrome too...