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- This looks like the same map as RailRoute.
- The printed map I received was superbly printed on heavy paper and pretty good value at £10. Every station on a piece of paper larger than A1 (63 x 100cm) is quite an achievement. Each station also has its 3-letter station code. The font size at around 5pt, condensed about 75% is a bit of a challenge to read (a magnifying glass is helpful!), the condensing being a bit self defeating as opening out the letterspacing would have made it more readable.
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- It copies the convention established by Project Mapping of showing each operator's services in their house colour keyed nearby rather than in a remote legend (including choosing red for TfW and grey for GA when they have similar house colours.) Unadjusted colours make Northern, Avanti West Coast, Caledonian Sleeper and East Midlands Trains difficult to distinguish between.
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- It's difficult to follow main routes, for example Great Western Paddington to Penzance is shown as a very bendy route as is the Midland Mainline.
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- A schematic map aims to simplify the spaghetti of geographic maps and this map mainly shows correct geographical accuracy at junctions and bridges except in these glaring examples :
• The line out of Marylebone should cross over the Euston line twice: 'what you see on the map is what you see out of the window'.
• High Speed 1 takes a completely wrong route out od St Pancras with Stratford International shown wrongly below Stratford with the Elizabeth line running through it instead of through Whitechapel.
• What's going on at Worcester - shows a Birmingham-Hereford service running through a loop and Shrub Hill without reversing?
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- One doesn't expect true geographical accuracy but showing the Severn Beach line running south rather than north along the Severn estuary is a little odd as is the positioning of the Isle-of-Wight putting Ryde west of Portsmouth.
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- The lines are drawn competently. Tight radii are sometimes replaced by gentle curves, eg at Cromer and Hampton Park. Sometimes the radii are a little sharp making directions at junctions a little tricky to see (as the example at Barrasie below).
- Railmap sometimes shows services even though its impossible to show them all, eg Bromley North and GW branches. If you're going to do this then Wrexham Central should run to Bidston for example.
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- Some other minor points:
- • Camp Hill line missing
• Cathcart drawn wrongly
• Junction south of Barrasie not clear
• Unused link shown Ashfield - Bishopbriggs north of Glasgow
• Junctions near Croy shown incorrectly
• Fitzwillian - Wakefield Kirkgate missing
• Shows Leamside line as under construction
• Shows Salford Junctions oddly
• Some West Midlands Railway trains call at Claverdon and Bearley
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- Overall a challenging task with a pretty good result but with some poor straight line trajectories spoiling the clear understanding of the structure of the British railways by someone who clearly understands the the UK rail network.
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