British Railways : Eastern Region : map revised to March 1954
There is something quite visually appealing about the Philip's railway system maps for British Railways; yes, there can be a fair amount of station name 'clashes' but overall they give a good sense of the network, in this case revised to March 1954, and how it 'sat' in the topographic landscape. This particular version appears in the 1954 issue of the "Passenger Train Facilities" booklet for the Region and it shows the many lines allowing for some early closures but before the swathe of abandonments that the next decade would see. The only downside of such a map is the slight downplaying of other Region's services; in some areas these were quite important yet here, as if they were competing companies, they can be a little understated!
Later versions of the map show the 'Great Northern' and 'Great Eastern' lines in separate colours - after the central shackles of the BTC were lifted a little - and another feature is that the lines in east London and Essex transferred to the Central line of London Transport still appear here with stations still open for parcels and freight; operation of such trains in between Central line trains were at the time still to be seen. This is seen in one of two district insets; London and Sheffield.
British Railways : Eastern Region : map revised to March 1954
There is something quite visually appealing about the Philip's railway system maps for British Railways; yes, there can be a fair amount of station name 'clashes' but overall they give a good sense of the network, in this case revised to March 1954, and how it 'sat' in the topographic landscape. This particular version appears in the 1954 issue of the "Passenger Train Facilities" booklet for the Region and it shows the many lines allowing for some early closures but before the swathe of abandonments that the next decade would see. The only downside of such a map is the slight downplaying of other Region's services; in some areas these were quite important yet here, as if they were competing companies, they can be a little understated!
Later versions of the map show the 'Great Northern' and 'Great Eastern' lines in separate colours - after the central shackles of the BTC were lifted a little - and another feature is that the lines in east London and Essex transferred to the Central line of London Transport still appear here with stations still open for parcels and freight; operation of such trains in between Central line trains were at the time still to be seen. This is seen in one of two district insets; London and Sheffield.