London's Rail & Tube Services map

The 6 May 2014 edition of this map, valid from 18 May, shows the effect of some long running engineering work by omitting some interchanges. This is interesting as the map has no expiry date and often people keep and refer to editions of this map long after they are superseded. The absence of a station is quite misleading to the uninitiated who might not know of its existence and would not look it up.

At Embankment the Northern and Bakerloo line stations (so to speak) are not shown. Trains won't be stopping until early November and as the closure is not just shown by an obelisk, there must be a new edition of the map ready for the re-opening.

Similarly, the Gloucester Road Piccadilly Line "station", closed until mid December 2014, is not shown. I would have shown it with a white - ie unfilled / outline - tick.

Covent Garden is more complex - westbound trains are not stopping at weekends until mid November, and the station is exit only until then, too. This is marked with an obelisk, but no change to the map.

Bond Street is the oddity and I think may be an error. The Central line station was to open in late June, yet it is not shown even though the map is valid from 18 May. The Jubilee line station is shown, even though it is closed from early July to early December. I would have shown two separate Bond Street ticks, unfilled, with one name label and the obelisk.

At last a unified London Connection Map

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/maps/London_Rail_Tube_map.pdf

The National Rail website "London's Rail & Tube services map (which replaces the former London Connections map) shows all National Rail routes and stations within the Greater London area, together with London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and London Tramlink services and stations.
The map highlights principal interchange points and London Fares / Travelcard zones. It also shows the extent to which Oyster pay as you go is valid.
Leaflet copies of this map (with the London & South East map below on the reverse) are normally available from staffed National Rail stations in London and the South East and should now also be available from most London Underground stations."

Should say "replaces the former London Connections Maps" as for many years TfL (and its antecedents) puboished a map under this title. It was fairly recently displace by a  map showing where Oyste PAYG could be used. Nevertheless, I welcome at long last one map (not two rivl versions) showing all London's Railways, along with the zones.

"Should now be available from most London Underground stations" is rather tentative, but the old ATOC map (and antecedents) never was. Is there reluctant acceptance that public  transport is about where people want to go, and not about who runs which railway?

At last the rival London Connections Maps are to merge!

For a long time, TfL and AYOC each produced maps called London Connections Maps, showing both National Rail and LUL lines. Foillowing my suggestion several years ago, ATOC's introduced the colour codes for Underground Lines, so with colur coding for each TOC, it makes a good document. TfL's LC map used to show all the National Rail lines in one colour / without colour, until Oyster PAYG spread to National Rail, whereupon it changed the LC Map to the Oyster Map, and colour coded the National rail lines according to the London Terminus, or pair of termini. This avoided the irritating and changing names of the TOCs, but makes the maps very similar in content.

According to Modern Railways magazine (April 2011) ATOC and TfL have devised one map between them. At last and end to the wasteful duplication.

New ATOC London Connections Map out

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/maps/London_Connections.pdf

The new map "effective from 23rd May" shows the DLR branch to Stratford International with "opens Summer 2010". It doesn't show the street level interchange between Dalston Kingsland and Dalston Junction that TfL show on their maps such as their (arguably) most useful one the 'Oyster Rail Services Map' (the effective successor to TfL's London Connections Map, which did not colour code National Rail lines at all). Trains will run through from Dalston Junction (East London Line) to Highbury and Islington (North London Line) from May 2011 and the train service between Gospel Oak and Stratford resumes next month.

Massive expansion of Oyster PAYG

[See new entry dated 28 December]

Oyster Pay as you go will be accepted on every train in London that accepts travel cards, from 2 January. This map http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/Oyster-rail-services-in-London-Jan-2010.pdf shows it diagrammatically. PAYG is also accepted on Thames Clipper.

Don't be fooled into thinking that the lower PAYG fares that exist on London Transport Services will apply though. The National Rail (NR) fares are not changing.

My friends at FWT who make the useful ATOC London Connections map didn't accept that their text about tickets should be updated for Oyster - they argued that Oyster was primarily a TfL thing and their main concern was National Rail. I think they will have to change their mind now.

The interesting thing about TfL's PAYG map is that the NR lnes are colour coded according to the London Terminus/-i they serve - completely ignoring the mind boggling name/ownership changes that pervade NR. All that said, there is too much duplication in the world of train maps in London and TfL and ATOC/FWT should collaborate and rationalise.

London Connections Maps

Despite what I was told, the little enquiry office by the stairs to platform 1 and 1a at Barking Station does have these - in the middle drawer of the office desk. I have been told there that they haven't go any and to go to Fenchurch Street - yet today they had dozens. It's a 4/08 version, which may not be the latest (the on line version is dated 26 September) but it's better than nothing.

The National Rail website says (http://nationalrail.co.uk/tocs_maps/maps/network_rail_maps.html) "Copies of this map are normally available from staffed National Rail stations in London and the South East." Well not in my experience in the case of Barking.

At Limehouse I was told they had more than they could deal with. Why not send them to Barking if they haven't got any - or even to LUL stations!

If you can get hold of these maps, do, and give them out to fellow travellers, friends and family. Many people don't know about them. Even slightly out-of-date / used versions get snapped up in my experience.

National

North London Line Services

On its network diagrams London Overground is showing a route between Camden Road and South Hampstead - a diversionary route whilst the Euston - South Hampstead stretch of route is closed Mon - Sat. There's no hint on the map, though, that the route is temporary. The closures (until 15 November) are codified on the diagram, but not the temporary [re]opening.

The link is not shown on the latest edition of the ATOC London Connections Map, and TfL's map of the same name doesn't have any hint of the closures or diversionary route.

The latest ATOC style London Connections map is 8.4.2008 and was effective from 18 May.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/print_maps/LondonConnections.pdf. Good luck getting hold of one - though Limehouse National Rail is often a good source.

National Rail and London Overground

The London Overground (LO) is a National Rail Line but is not under the National Rail branding. TfL's journey planner has accommodated the new name, as has National Rail's, but National Rail hasn't yet published an ATOC London Connections Map with this and the other changes. They're also going to have to update the Oyster PAYG in National Rail map - a copy of which (it's not a link) is published on TfL's website. I'm sure the mappers at FWT are on the case.