Vintage maps

A slight deviation away from books and magazines today, but I've always been fascinated by maps, and the older they are the more I like them. However, I have only recently started collecting them. Ok, so collecting is a bit of a loose term here, and I don't have shelves stacked with 100's of them, but I do keep an eye open for these when I'm out and about and pick up any that are in reasonable condition, moderately priced and look interesting. One of the great things about these maps is that being from the 1930's to the 1960's, they show the pre-Beeching view of the railway lines and stations.

1954 Ordnance Survey, cloth map of Lowestoft, Suffolk

1963 Ordnance Survey, cloth map of Saffron Walden, Essex

1946 Ordnance Survey, cloth map of Exeter, Devon

1953 Ordnance Survey, cloth map of Buxton & Matlock, Derbyshire

    

Keeping with the vintage theme, I also have a vintage postcards blog, and a web site where I have vintage postcards for sale and for a different perspective completely, my In Search of Space blog chronicles, amongst other things, my urban wanderings around London, on the look out for ghost signs, and other curious items.

Vintage London Underground map, c.1924

I was leafing through a vintage guide book of London, searching for inspiration for a future blog post, when I came across a couple of maps that the book owner had obviously use to aid his/her trip around the city. The first was a cutting from the Daily Sketch newspaper from 1924 featuring a London Underground map. This one is A3 and quite battered so I'm still working out how to scan that one in. However, the second insert is a bit smaller, and although in 2 pieces and bigger than my scanner, I think I have managed to successfully merge the 2 parts of the map.

London Underground map, c.1924

What I love about this map, in fact all old maps, is looking at the places where the lines used to end compared to where they end today, where station names have changed, and also where stations have become disused. For example, the Highgate and Hampstead Line has been much extended, merged with the City and South London Railway, and has become the Northern Line. St. Mary's, Mark Lane, Brompton Road, Dover Street, Down Street, British Museum, Post Office, and Trafalgar Square, have all either been renamed, closed or merged with other stations. Some of these 'ghost' stations are still visible from passing tube trains whilst others are long gone. Keep a look out the window as you pass through the tunnels ... you never know what you might see.