Project: Diagram of Amtrak Rail Services, May 1971

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🔸澳州10开奖记录s, My 澳洲10开官网开奖, Prints Available

🔸澳洲幸运10开奖官网开奖结果走势图🔸May 1, 2021 marks Amtrak🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s 50th anniversary! On that day in 1971, most🔸澳洲幸运10预测 regional and long-distance trains in the United States either disappeared or became part of the new national rail carrier🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s network (there were some exceptions to this rule, which we🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ll get to later). While there are plenty of maps out there that show the general extent of Amtrak🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s nascent system — including one that I made myself as part of an historical series — there aren🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页t any that break things down to the actual routes that were available from that day. I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve been meaning to make just such a map for a while now, and the silver anniversary finally gave me the kick in the pants that I needed to get it done! Read more and see the map after the jump.

View the map in the window below – you can zoom in and out, pan around, and also go full screen. Or, you can also click here to experience the map in a full browser window. Read on underneath the map for a comprehensive overview of the design process.

Some Preliminary Notes

🔸澳洲10定位胆全天计划off, it🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s important to recognise that the map actually shows service as it existed at the end🔸澳洲幸运10预测 of May, 1971 – it just seemed churlish to leave a couple of routes off just because they started running a few days later than May 1 (New York to Chicago via Albany on May 10, and New York to Boston via Springfield on May 17). Other routes that began running later in 1971 – the West Virginian🔸澳洲幸运10预测, the North Coast Hiawatha🔸澳洲幸运10预测 and the Illinois Zephyr🔸澳洲幸运10预测 – have been omitted, however. I had to draw the line somewhere, and the end of May seemed like a fair place.

The other thing to note is that I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve used names for all the routes to make identification easier and consistent, even if some of those names weren🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页t actually in use at the time. While many routes carried prestigious names over from their pre-Amtrak days – the Silver Star🔸澳洲幸运10预测, Super Chief/El Capitan🔸澳洲幸运10预测, Broadway Limited🔸澳洲幸运10预测, etc. – others remained without official names until late 1971 or even later. On the other hand, many trains plying the Northeast Corridor bore individual names for each train number, which would simply be too unwieldy for a diagram such as this. So I hope you forgive me this one concession to simplicity – names that I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve brought forward in time a little are marked with an asterisk in the legend.

Wherever possible, I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve used the information from the May 1, 1971 Amtrak timetable, only referring to more recent editions 🔸澳洲开奖 that one was demonstrably incorrect (see below). Further listings of the trains as they existed on that day (here and here) were also invaluable in solving some mysteries.

Design

I definitely wanted this diagram to look like it could actually be🔸澳洲幸运10预测 from 1971, so I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve consciously designed it in a very modernist style. Thick, brightly coloured route lines that butt up to each other with black dots for station markers are right out of the Vignelli playbook, while the typography is Akzidenz Grotesk (as used by the New York Subway before🔸澳洲幸运10预测 Helvetica took over). All the labels are very tightly letter-spaced to give it that really authentic 1970s look, and I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve hand-kerned the map🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s title to get it looking just right. Some lovely subtle paper texture and slightly out-of-register CMYK halftone dots complete the vintage look: one might even think that this diagram was printed as a poster or newspaper insert to commemorate Amtrak🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s 🔸澳洲10定位胆全天计划day.

Frequency

Of everything I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve done with this diagram, this is the part I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页m most proud of: a simple, elegant way to encode frequency information into the design without having to change the thickness of route lines or use dashes or other esoteric symbology. Thin lines underneath each route bullet at termini simply count the number of trains that run each day: one per line. A thicker line denotes a multiple of five to enable quicker counting. As an example, a thick line plus f🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划thin lines equals nine trains per day (5 plus 4). The system also handles trains that don🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页t run on weekends, or only three or f🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划times a week, or even if a train changes its frequency at a station (daily in one direction, but only tri-weekly in the other). It can even help show service patterns – there are six Empire Service🔸澳洲幸运10预测 trains a day from Grand Central Terminal: three only go as far as Albany, while the other three continue on to Buffalo.

The Other Railroads

It🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s a well-known fact that the 🔸澳洲10定位胆全天计划Amtrak timetable is ever-so-slightly wrong. Having been prepared and printed in advance, it simply couldn🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页t have anticipated that at the eleventh h🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划some railroads would refuse to join Amtrak and instead continue to operate their own passenger rail services. Two of these railroads are shown on this diagram – the Southern Railway🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s services from Washington, DC through Atlanta to New Orleans, and the Denver & Rio Grande Western🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s Rio Grande Zephyr🔸澳洲幸运10预测 from Denver to Ogden via Salt Lake City. Eventually, these routes would end up being absorbed by Amtrak, which is why I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve chosen to include them on this diagram: the former as today🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s Crescent🔸澳洲幸运10预测, and the latter as part of the California Zephyr🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s🔸澳洲幸运10预测 route from Chicago to Oakland.

However, other passenger railroads that existed into the Amtrak era never became part of it, so I made the decision to omit them (for this reason and for overall clarity of the design). The Georgia Railroad ran a daily mixed-car train from Atlanta to Augusta in order to fulfill a requirement of its charter to offer passenger services, but the journey could take hours longer than scheduled because of the freight-based nature of the train. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad continued to run intercity trains from Chicago to Peoria and Rock Island as a “public service to the state of Illinois” after deciding the fee to join Amtrak was too high. Service ended in 1978 as ridership dropped off completely. And finally, the South Shore Line continues to provide interurban service between Chicago and South Bend today.

Miscellany

The Clamdigger🔸澳洲幸运10预测 (local service between New London and New Haven once a day on weekdays only!) has to be the weirdest service that Amtrak inherited. It only lasted until January 1972 before being axed, so it seems they thought it was pretty weird as well.

Similarly, Batavia must have been a pretty useless station: only one northbound train stopped at it each day and there was no return southbound service! It🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s not listed in the July 1971 timetable, so it seems like it was very short-lived.

Showing both of the Chicago termini turned out to be far easier than I thought it was going to be 🔸澳洲开奖 I started. The way that the Abraham Lincoln/The National🔸澳洲幸运10预测 line is able to drop straight down to St. Louis because of the way I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve aligned the stations was just an absolute bonus.

Those sneaky separate stations in Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia almost tripped me up both times! I knew about the two different Pomona stations in California, though.

The intertwining of routes in Florida is my favourite part of the diagram, but I had to redraw it three times to get it looking just right.

It🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页d be nice to be able to show the original – and never realised – plan to reroute the Texas Chief🔸澳洲幸运10预测 through Dallas. The map in the May 1971 timetable shows a proposed stop at Waxahachie on the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad (BRI), so it🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s not the same as the 1973 plan to run through Bryan–College Station via the Southern Pacific. I suspect further stops would have been at Corsicana and Teague (following in the footsteps of previous BRI passenger services like the Sam Houston Zephyr🔸澳洲幸运10预测), but I haven🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页t seen anything definitive yet.

As always, let me know what you think! Despite my best efforts, I feel sure there🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s going to be both factual errors and typos, so do let me know if you think I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve made one! Prints are available in the store, as both a clean design and as the “vintage print” version seen here.

12 Comments

  1. Ivan Forry says

    Let🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s bring back the dc/Baltimore to Harrisburg route.

  2. meirk says

    I see there are places where routes have a white “bridge” outline 🔸澳洲开奖 crossing other routes, but it🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s not always present. Is there a rule behind this, or is it an inconsistency?

  3. Miguel says

    The map looks great! I work at a transit agency and have wanted to develop a map like this for some time now. Did you make the map using something like Adobe Illustrator and a lot of time or is there another software that maybe streamlines the process?

  4. Clinton Willis says

    How about bringing back the Jacksonville to 🔸澳洲幸运10开奖官网授权 route. Florida Alabama and Mississippi get on board and subsidize the route through y🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划states.

  5. Yorkman Lowe says

    The Coast Daylight was a Southern Pacific train, SF – San Jose- LA.
    Amtrak on 5.1.71 changed its name to Coast Starlight, and rerouted it to Portland – Oakland – San Jose- LA. Im not sure if on 5.1.71 it extended to Seattle and San Diego, but it was extended to Seattle, and it was extended to San Diego for a short time.

    • The May 1, 1971 Amtrak timetable is pretty clear on how the Coast Starlight🔸澳洲幸运10预测 and Coast Daylight🔸澳洲幸运10预测 ran, though Amtrak hadn🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页t assigned them those names at that time. Trains 11 and 12 were the Starlight🔸澳洲幸运10预测, and they ran thrice-weekly between Seattle and San Diego. The Daylight🔸澳洲幸运10预测 (trains 98 and 99) ran between Oakland and LA on the days that the Starlight🔸澳洲幸运10预测 didn🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页t run, giving daily service between those cities. The Starlight🔸澳洲幸运10预测 was further supplemented at each end of the line by trains that served Seattle–Portland (what we now call Amtrak Cascades🔸澳洲幸运10预测), and LA–San Diego (the San Diegan🔸澳洲幸运10预测, today🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s Pacific Surfliner🔸澳洲幸运10预测).

  6. Great map! Do you think it would be possible for you to also design a map of Amtrak services as they existed in 1979 and in 1993 as those were the two years in which Amtrak service was arguably at its peak?

    • Definitely an idea for the future, though I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ll probably take a break from Amtrak-related projects for while to prevent burnout and insanity.

  7. Darryl Turner says

    I noticed that Aberdeen, MD isn🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页t listed on the map. Was service stopped in Aberdeen 🔸澳洲开奖 Amtrak formed and then reinstated later?

    • All I can say is that it🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s not included in the May 1, 1971 timetable, either in the tables or in the index of stations served by Amtrak at the front.

  8. Andrew Ganley says

    Travelled coast to coast with the Broadway and Desert Wind in1991. For a UK railfan it was a delight never forgotten and for a graduate of American Studies in the UK much much more – place, landscape, history – it had it all. A few years later I was, surprisingly, living in Akron, OH 🔸澳洲开奖 the last Broadway Limited passed through deep in the night, as it had 🔸澳洲开奖 I was aboard. A benefit from that time was that through the window of my office at Akron U I had a perfect view of the main track through Akron and enjoyed several freight services every day and have continued my interest in US railroads to this day.

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