The latest this can be from is 1984, as Abbatoirs station closed in November of that year. I remember versions of this above the seats on the old “red rattlers” as I travelled from Epping to Petersham for school in 1985, so they were still around after their “use by” date.
In a way, this is actually one of my favourite versions of the Sydney rail map, as it has a pleasingly compact shape that more modern versions lack. If there’s one failing with the layout, it’s the huge amounts of extra space between stations on the Western Line past Doonside: far more than anywhere else on the map.
The other weird part of the map is the visual implication that all routes can call at all stations between Burwood and Central, which simply isn’t true and never has been. At the time, I believe that “all stations” service was only provided by the Bankstown Line, with some Southern Line trains also calling at Ashfield.
However, the Bankstown Line – represented by a neat, simple loop – has never looked better, and the triangle formed by the two routes of the green Southern Line (via Regent’s Park or via Granville) also looks great.
Also of interest is the way that the City Circle is simplified down to its own route designation, rather than attempting to show how all the separate routes loop around it and head back out to the suburbs, as more recent maps do. In a way, this reflects the hub-and-spoke nature of the network and the way that the vast majority of people used it: to get from their home to the city and back again. Trains were announced simply as “To Central and the City Circle”, and it was only if you were catching a train from the City Circle back out again that you needed to know the outwards destination. No one rides the train around the whole city loop: in fact, if you know what you’re doing, you get off at Town Hall and walk to a destination near Museum station, as it’s much quicker than riding around the circle via Circular Quay.
Less useful is the separate designation of the Eastern Suburbs line, as it’s always been operationally tied to the blue Illawarra Line.
Our rating: At last, an old map of Sydney that lives up to my nostalgic memories. Three-and-a-half stars
Source: davemail66/Flickr
This is one of my favorite versions of the Sydney rail network map, too. Just one correction: when the Eastern Suburbs Railway opened in 1979, services terminated at the underground platforms at Central (Illawarra trains still went around the City Circle via Museum). The work to connect the Easter Suburbs Railway to the Illawarra line via Redfern and Sydenham was completed in 1980. So this is probably a 1979 map from around the time the Eastern Suburbs Railway opened.
This is my favourite retro map. As a Panania boy, I remember when the East Hills line was orange and ended at East Hills. The Glenfield extension made this the green line in 88.
Also love the pink north shore line.
The Granville/Regents Park triangle is representative of the actual map on UBD.
My guess is this is 1981/2 given the lines open.