Historical Map: Railways in Cornwall, 1936

An absolutely gorgeous hand-drawn map from a “Little Guide” to Cornwall published by Methuen in 1936. Drawn by B.C. Boulter, who also illustrated the guide book.

(Source: Lost-Albion/Flickr)

Emeliano Ponzi — Subway Map Illustration

Absolutely gorgeous illustration for a May 2011 article in La Repubblica about the power of infographics.

(Source: Emeliano’s website via thisisn’thappiness)

Illustration: New York City Subway Map

I’ve definitely witnessed people looking at the real map as if it resembled this — or worse.

(Source: adamjamesturnbull/Flickr)

100 Ways to Serve Pizza: Pizza Subway Map

From Lauren Manning’s highly amusing 100 Ways to Serve Pizza tumblr.

Historical Diagram: Hudson River Tubes Cutaway, 1909

While not strictly speaking a transit map, this awesome cutaway diagram of the Hudson River Tubes featured in our last post is just too cool not to share with you. Contemporaneous with that map, this cutaway shows the junction to the northern (or Uptown) cross-Hudson tubes which leave the image to the right. Of particular interest is how the lines stack and twist around each other, almost certainly done to minimise the width of any excavation work.

(Source: Wikipedia)

A Kid’s View of the New York Subway

I’ve always loved this one-off poster by designer/illustrator Erin Jang. Designed specifically to showcase her three-year-old nephew’s favourite places in New York, it’s a fantastic example of pitch-perfect design: bright, bold and colourful with whimsical illustrations balancing the geometric route lines.