Track maps from the Boundary Commission

[martin_wynne]

For modern tracks you can almost always find the OS large scale maps online, usually small areas, from which you can make screenshots and paste together a larger map (or use multiple picture shapes in Templot).

For example my local County Council has a detailed map online showing the locations of winter road grit bins for residents' use.
 
Now the Boundary Commission have just posted maps of their proposed electoral changes for the whole of the UK:

 http://www.bce2018.org.uk

If you zoom in as far as it will go, you get detailed mapping of modern railway tracks. Not quite as detailed as the local "grit bins" mapping but still very useful for Templot design backgrounds. This is the Severn Valley Railway's turntable at Kidderminster:



And here is the same on the County Council's grit-bin map. A smaller zoom but it does have finer detail and the advantage for our purposes of showing (very faintly) the switch toes (and also the set of catch points in the siding):

 

 

These are fine as Templot design backgrounds. For example this turnout at Worcester Tunnel Junction is found to be a D-10:



The switch toe marks are very faint, but are there (ringed red above). Align this to the blade tip marks in Templot.

For more Templot info about fitting track to background maps, see:

 

 http://templot.com/companion/swell_function_ctrl_f10.html

regards,

Martin.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Will the Boundary Commission maps only be available for the next couple of months, during the consultation process?

[hayfield]

Just printed off a hard copy for Bodmin General as it is now for baseboard purposes and will use it to check turnout sizes, thanks for the heads up on this one. Some anomalies as one engine shed road has a kink rather than a curve Still a very timely resource. Thanks 

[Dunsignalling]

It's also unclear how up-to-date these maps are. Honiton is shown having a signal box and engineer's siding (both removed in 2012) with the original footbridge by the station entrance (replaced with one sited towards the country end of the platforms in 2011).  

 

There also appears only to be detailed mapping available for locations that are expected to remain within existing constituencies - I tried a couple that are planned to move and just got blank pink outlines of the proposed constituencies.

 

John

 

Edit - Just tried it again and the blank pink response happened wherever I searched for - looks like the website is kaput.

[martin_wynne]

Will the Boundary Commission maps only be available for the next couple of months, during the consultation process?

 

Hi Joseph,

 

They are likely to be available on that site at least until the final boundaries are decided in 2018, and presumably up until the next election in 2020.

 

In fact the electoral boundaries are always available online, for local district ward elections, etc. See the existing boundaries: 

 

 https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/

 

The critical aspect for us is which base map is used, and how far they allow you to zoom in to show full railway details. Railway tracks don't vote, so there is no actual reason for them to be shown in full detail on election maps. It's just a happy accident for us depending on the licence agreement with OS. The maps on the above link don't zoom in far enough to see more than a sketch outline of the tracks.

 

It was purely by accident that I discovered my local County Council are publishing grit-bin maps of the county which can be zoomed in to see full track plans. It's likely that other councils and government agencies are doing the same. It's just a lucky guess to find which organisation and which overlay allows the deep zooming.

 

Just checking now I found that many counties have maps of winter gritting routes -- when zoomed in you get full details of platforms, signal gantries, etc., but the actual rails vanish at that zoom level.

 

p.s. if you want historical maps, NLS are rapidly covering the country with their geo-referenced 25" maps, and free. For example, see this bit of video which I posted recently:

 

 https://flashbackconnect.com/Movie.aspx?id=8Du_Kizucpvgbsfe2rGw4g2

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Hi Joseph,

 

They are likely to be available on that site at least until the final boundaries are decided in 2018, and presumably up until the next election in 2020.

 

In fact the electoral boundaries are always available online, for local district ward elections, etc. See the existing boundaries: 

 

 https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/

 

The critical aspect for us is which base map is used, and how far they allow you to zoom in to show full railway details. Railway tracks don't vote, so there is no actual reason for them to be shown in full detail on election maps. It's just a happy accident for us depending on the licence agreement with OS. The maps on the above link don't zoom in far enough to see more than a sketch outline of the tracks.

 

It was purely by accident that I discovered my local County Council are publishing grit-bin maps of the county which can be zoomed in to see full track plans. It's likely that other councils and government agencies are doing the same. It's just a lucky guess to find which organisation and which overlay allows the deep zooming.

 

Just checking now I found that many counties have maps of winter gritting routes -- when zoomed in you get full details of platforms, signal gantries, etc., but the actual rails vanish at that zoom level.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

As you say, licensing can be an issue. Here in Dorset, one needs to subscribe for many of these services. In my political role, I have often used election-maps.co.uk but never seen one that I could enlarge to that level.

 

Local Plans and SHLAAs (Strategic Housing Land Assessments?) may be another route into these detailed maps.

[Horsetan]

...And here is the same on the County Council's grit-bin map.

 

Not all Councils provide that level of detail yet, e.g. Leicestershire County Council's grit bin route map for Loughborough only shows the centre lines of the tracks at Loughborough GC, certainly not switch-toe marks