The London Underground, also known as the "Tube" or simply the "Underground" has been serving the public since 1863, making it the oldest underground railway in the world. However the problem on how to illustrate the vast network of railway lines to passengers has always existed.

The current London Underground Map or Tube Map has seen many experiments and changes over its long history. The follow post illustrates some of the most interesting and noticeable progresses within the history of the Tube Map.

The Evolution of London Underground Map

1889 - Geograph. Anst. V. Wagner & Debes., Leipzig.

The first Tube Map was shown as the current District Railway, the Metropolitan Lines and the completed Circle Line (currently the green, purple and yellow lines on the modern tube map). It appeared to be quite typical to simply superimpose the relevant lines onto a street map.

1902 - Opening of the Central Line

The central line was opened in 1900 and was quickly popular with Londoners. As you will see in the image the Red line (which it is still today) is simply super imposed onto the street map. Additionally the Generating Depot is most likely part of today's bus depot.

1905 - Sampson Low, Marston & Company.

This map was, of course, too large to carried around by the average passenger, which probably means that this was used mainly for pre-journey inspection. It illustrates the immense network of railway tracks which were present over 100 years ago.

1910 - Evening News Tube Map

The Evening News Tube Map, sponsored by the Evening News Newspaper, depicts the railway lines with several colours each illustrating the different companies that operated them. Not too far of from today's version.

1911 - cartographers at Johnson Riddle & Co

1911 was the first map to the Richmond as a terminal belonging part of the District and Metropolitan Railways. It also illustrated Hammersmith terminal as three separate stations, something that has not changed to this day.

1912 - George Phillip & Son Ltd

There is not much difference between the 1911 and 1912 tube maps with the exception of the new Underground logo on the side of the map, you will have to open the image above to see this.

1913

The map is expanded to include further stations, in particular suburbs Wimbledon (South) and Hounslow (West).

1914

Despite the First World War being on the doorstep, the Underground still issued a new tube map with additional over ground details for selected locations but as a result the print quality was lower than those before thou.

1919

After a couple of year, probably due to the war, a new map emerged. This new map advertised the following details:

• Every station is marked
• Each line is printed in different colours
• Exchange stations are distinguished
• A list of places of interest and their nearest stations.
• The way to the docks.
• The way to the Sports Grounds in London.
• Connections with the main line terminals
• and more...

Other minor changes included a now blue Piccadilly line, which was previously yellow.

1920 - Dangerfield Printing Company

In 1920 a rather drastic change happened, it was the first map not being superimposed on a street map. It also included decoration around the borders and calligraphy, which made it a unique and interesting map. The designer, MacDonald Gill, also designed 1922 and 1923 maps. Along with the other changes to be done were the "hollow" circles where interchanges occurred.

1922 - Dangerfield Printing Company

The next phase of maps, the station names started to become clearer and then...

1923 - Dangerfield Printing Company

...and the tube lines started to be clearer...

1924 - published by Waterlow & Sons of London, Dunstable & Watford

It appears that in 1924, points of interest becoming important for the Underground. This is probably to encourage passenger to use the railways for more than just business. The use of colour provide a clearer method of indicating the streets and landmarks.

1925 - Fred.H. Stingemore

But this doesn't seem to last long, as the very next year the streets are removed again and now suddenly the Central line was marked in yellow, when it was previously red. Additionally, the river was removed.

1926 - Fred.H. Stingemore

The designer, Fred.H. Stingemore, continued to simplify the maps until 1932.

1927 - Fred.H. Stingemore

In 1927 the river Thames we reintroduced into the Tube Map, it has been kept in all Tube Maps onwards until 2010 but luckily it is still in today's maps.

1932 - Fred.H. Stingemore

The 1932 was a further enhancement of the folding map that was first developed in 1925.

1933 - Harry Beck

Harry Beck's design was based on a circuit diagram. The Underground were not too sure how the general public would respond to the new style of map, so they placed a trial warning on the cover of the map. The design has become the general standard for railway diagrams across the world. As a thank you for his hard work he received about 2 weeks worth's of wages. Other significant changes to the map include a darker blue Piccadilly line as well as several new stations, namely South Harrow and Enfield West (now Oakfield).

1936 - Harry Beck

Three years after and the map was changed again by Harry Beck but this time the stations has returned to their previous circle shapes instead of the previous diamonds. There were also various changes to the angles of the lines (eg: Aldwych) as well as clarification to interchanges.

1939 - Hans Scheger

Harry Beck did not design the following map, and was not even informed about the decision until he saw the latest map. The 1939 tube map was designed by Hans Scheger, who expanded on some of the work previously done by Harry Beck. This mainly included the introduction of background colours to indicate the zones.

1940 - Hans Scheger

Much like the previous World War, the use of colour was restricted. Therefore this map didn't consist of any distinction between lines. It was designed again by Hans Scheger, much to Harry Beck's annoyance. As you will notice the map had returned to the previous state in 1939. At this time, Harry was no longer employed by London Transport as he had taken a post at the London School of Printing and Graphical Arts. Interestingly the map includes the triangle shapes with acronyms of the various train operators of the train terminal.

1941 - Harry Beck

In 1941 London Transport request Harry Beck to make a map with three distinct features, these were: the interlinked circles to indicate interchanges, provide 60° angled lines and label stations separately if they were sharing an interchange.

1943 - Harry Beck

Two years later Harry was asked to deduce the complexity of the Tube Map and minimise the angled lines. This poster was originally a station poster but was later transformed into a more portable print. However the duplication of station names was kept as well as the respective circle for each station at an interchange.

1946 - Captain Shepherd

In 1946 saw further simplifications by Captain Shepherd who removed duplicated names (eg: Bank) and also reintroduced lines that were under construction.

1949 - Harry Beck

This map illustrates the separation of the district and circle lines (green and yellow) and also is pretty close to the same colours that are now used on the current tube map. Another new innovation was the introduction of the station interchanges as white lines (eg: Charing Cross).

1951 - Harry Beck

By 1951 all the stations in construction were completed or abandoned. Additionally the location of Richmond was slight tweaked to be on the correct side of the Thames.

1956 - Harry Beck

The 1956 map did not change too drastically, it included thicker lines, a more rectangular Circle line (yellow) and a grid matrix which made finding a station easier.

1960 - Harold F. Hutchinson

This is the very last of the Harry Beck's design. Harry was apparently looking forward to the challenge of the new map to include the new Victoria line but due to some interpersonal relation problems between Harry and Harold F. Hutchinson (Publicity Officer ). Harold had voiced criticism and doubt over the rectilinear form of Harry's design. Harold eventually redesigned the map, which was then issued.

Harry had still completed and submitted a design incorporating the Victoria Line which was rejected by London Transport without comment.

1963 - Harold F. Hutchinson

1963 was the first time since Harry Beck's original map (1933) that incorporated a totally new design. Some new additions included all interchanges being placed in black, while all British rail services being placed with squares. Overall, the new design was not well received by the general public.

1964 - Paul E Garbutt

Paul E. Garbutt designed a new map in 1964, mainly within his spare time. He was apparently inspired to change the map due to his general dislike of the 1963 version. Various changes were taken from Harry's version with some minor alterations, in particular the interchanges were now circles but the white connectors were not incorporated everywhere (eg: compare Bank and Holborn stations). Additionally the text "Escalator" was introduced between Bank and Monument stations.

1970 - Paul E Garbutt

The largest change to the map was the inclusion of the Victorian line, as well as some minor tweaks to the King's Cross Station. The Underground logo also changed from "UndergrounD" to a consistent logo with consistent lettering, which is still mainly used today. Lastly it is the first time that the National Rail symbol was included on the map.

1974 - Paul E Garbutt

This version incorporated information of weekend closures, which are denoted with a star. It also show the progress made on the Victoria line, which was extended to Brixton. It also showed the closure of the Strand station due to rebuilding. Notice the extremely long escalator at Bank and Monument stations.

1986 - Designer not known

The new map is now called the "pocket map" and is issued free of charge. The Jubilee line has started to take shape, apparently reusing a lot of the Bakerloo line. Strand station is completed but is merged into Charing Cross, this merge also includes Trafalgar Square station. The older Charing Cross station was split into Charing Cross (with the mergers) and Embankment (hope that make sense).

Lastly, the Waterloo & City line appears to run from Waterloo all the way to Finsbury Park.

1995 - Journey Planner

The new "journey planner" show the new Jubilee line (gray) and a much lower Central line (red) which as a result removes the huge escalator label. Interestingly the Waterloo & City line has been reduced again along with a new colour of pale blue or turquoise.

1996 - Advertising

In 1996, London Transport discovers the potential of advertising.

2001

The new Jubilee Line extends to Stratford, removing it from Charing Cross (going through Westminster instead) and criss-crossing the Thames four times.

2002

The new map includes new zoning background colouring, which is similar to what was introduced in the Hans Scheger's 1939 tube map.

2011

The tube map has not drastically changed, it mainly gets updated to show station closures (eg: blackfriars in the above example) or new stations that have been introduced. The latest stations to have opened have been Heathrow Terminal 5 (Piccadily line) in 2008 and Wood Lane (Hammersmiy & City line and Central line) in 2010.

Wood Lane has its own interesting story, but I will allow you read the Wikipedia article if you interested.

The real tube map

The "Real" tube map

An interesting online discovery, the "real" tube map show the actual route of the London Underground within Zone 1.