Calling all people with knowledge of Europe railways !

[SwissFan91]

Right, it may sound a bit of an odd thing, but i was wondering how reliable some of the sources on the internet are in terms of network maps. I am hoping that some of the members of this forum that have much more knowledge than me about the European railways can shed some light on whether these attached maps are 100% reliable;

1. FRANCE. This looks to be very good, so no real queries here.
2. GERMANY. Much more basic than the French one, and i guess a proper network map. I was wondering if this map just covered the ICE services, or which routes are just ICE or which are in the TGV Est Europeen.
3. UK. I know some stations are missed, but i believe this to be quite reliable yes ?

[broodje]

What kind of maps are you looking for? The French map you've got there only contains the high speed lines, non of the normal lines. The same goes for the DB map, it contains all major lines, but non of the more rural lines. The UK map is the most complete of the 3 in my opinion. I've got a much more detailed map if you want. For one it is scaled properly and it also contains freight lines and show's the difference between single and double track lines. If you are interested I can send it via PM as I can't find where I got it from.
For germany I would use this one for the ICE lines and this one for both the ICE and EC lines.

[SwissFan91]

Sorry i explained it really poorly. Basically i am using it for my Europe scenario, and because of the scale, it is only really suitable to recreate the High Speed lines as it would become far too congested to have the rural ones too. I am also very interested in a more detailed one of the Netherlands, as i have a much bigger scenario just for that, so the possibility of adding the rural lines is high.

[Rubidium]

The map of the Dutch railways overlayed on a topographical map of the Netherlands, so it also contains the major roads. It's made by the company that maintains all rail and stations in the Netherlands so it should be fairly reliable. It also differentiates between single, double and more than double track and whether it's electrified or not.
http://www.prorail.nl/SiteCollectionDoc ... roRail.pdf (5 MiB)

[JamieLei]

The most detailed (although incomplete) map of the UK is the New Adlestrop Railway Atlas, showing every line that once existed in England and Wales, up to about southern Manchester.

[Kevo00]

Or you could use SK Baker's Rail Atlas of the UK, which shows all current lines.

[SwissFan91]

Some of those are great, thanks guys. I was wondering if anyone knew of any good ones of Italy, as I have a good Interrail one showing the main routes, but nothing of more detail.

[SwissFan91]

I thought I would ask a question in here instead of creating a new topic. I am thinking of eventually playing my Swiss scenario, and I am considering making seperate companies for the main transport companies in the region. Now, bearing in mind that the in-game company limit is 14, here are my suggestions for the main companies:

1) SBB CFF FFS
2) DB AG
3) FS
4) SNCF
5) RhB
6) BLS
7) MGB
TPC

and some others to pick from:

BLM
BOB
CJ
BRB
FO

Now, many of these can be better categorised. For example, you could make MGB (Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn) the company, and then have groups of Furka-Oberalp (FO), Brig-Visp-Zermatt (BVZ) and Gornergrat Bahn (GGB).

There are probably some I have missed, or can be better categorised, so I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on this?

[teccuk]

Hi Jake,

I have tried many times to do the same as you and find a good online source for railway maps of Europe. I don't think there is one... and some of the national operators only have diagrammatic or don't seem to have maps online at all. Google maps is equally no help as it only shows railways at very close up levels. You could use google earth by selecting the rail layer and hiding others.

In the end I bought the Thomas Cook European Railway Atlas, which is very accurate, comprehensive, and great fun to have! I would suggest a copy just for the sake of it, as well as your scenario. Stanfords will have it i'm sure: http://www.stanfords.co.uk/

[Jimbow]

Hi Jake

I use http://www.bueker.net/trainspotting/maps.php for european railway maps.
It's fine for creating the main lines of Europe, allthough it's not as detailed as other maps.

I also use http://www.sporenplan.nl/ but it doesnt include all of Europe.

[SwissFan91]

Cheers guys, always a pleasure. Seems like nobody has any views of Swiss Rail company groupings though

[teccuk]

Oh wow Jimbow that's a great link! Thanks!

[Kevo00]

Does seem to be very very good - thanks for that.

[SwissFan91]

OK, so to my Swiss style predicament. I have got a working build of the IS patch, and have got to grips with that. From what I can gather, it seems easier to use one company to build all the track, yes? Here are a semi-final 14 companies:

1) SBB
i. Main lines
ii. Gotthard Line

2) MGB - Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn
i. BVZ (Brig-Visp-Zermatt)
ii. Glacier Express
iii. GGB (Gornergrat Bahn)
iv. FO (Furka-Oberalp)

3) RhB - Rhatische Bahn
i. Arosa Line
ii. Bernina Line
iii. Davos Line
iv. Engadine Line

4) BLS - Bern Lotschberg Simplon

5) DB - Deutsche Bahn

6) FS - Ferrovie dello Stato
i. Aosta Line
ii. Centovalli

7) TPC - Transports Publics du Chablais
i. AOMC (Aigle-Ollon-Monthey-Champéry)
ii. Local Buses

8 ) Bernese Oberland Railways*
i. BLM (Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Murren)
ii. BRB (Brienzer Rothorn Bahn)
iii. Brunig Line
iv. BOB (Bernese Oberland Bahn)

9) MOB - Montreux-Oberland Bernois

10) Central Swiss Lines*
i. Gruyere Line
ii. Jura Line
iii. General railway links in the lowlands
iv. Around Zurich/Basel/Bern

11) SNCF
i. Saint Gervais Vallorcine
ii. TGV

12) OBB - Austrian Railways

13)

14) Other transport
i. Buses
ii. Planes
iii. Ferries

*Made-up company to encorporate multiple existing companies

[Jimbow]

I do not know the Swiss private railways very good, so to me your list looks fine

Making groups of private railways located near eachother seems to be the way to go.
Maybe in the future some of them will join eachother in real life anyway
At least here in Denmark they have done that.

I can see you have one empty slot in your list. Maybe it can be for a rail freight company. Isnt there a company that is not on your list, that is transporting cargo accros the Swiss alps? Or is SBB and BLS in charge of transporting all the cargo?

[teccuk]

10) Central Swiss Lines*
i. Gruyere Line

Hmm the Gruyere line sounds yummy!

I dunno sounds like your the expert, looks fine, lol.

Used to go on something called the 'Lebi' in Lausanne, it was green. Is that there?

[SwissFan91]

10) Central Swiss Lines*
i. Gruyere Line

Hmm the Gruyere line sounds yummy!

I dunno sounds like your the expert, looks fine, lol.

Used to go on something called the 'Lebi' in Lausanne, it was green. Is that there?

Well, that could be the Lausanne-Echallens-Bercher (LEB), which is a commuter train in the city.

@jimbow, I suppose you could have SBB Cargo as a part of the SBB company, but it might not be right to just have a Swiss freight company when other countries are represented on the map. Maybe I shall just have 13) Rail freight

[Ameecher]

Can't find a suitable place for this already so I've decided this ticket will do. How do I force an online booking agent, whatever one it is, to display Heathrow connect services? Currently managing to get the tube and HEx services. Do I have to put in via Hayes & Harlington to provoke a result?

Cheers my lovers.


Edit: Managed to force it by adding in a via clause of Hayes & Harlington. God I'm good.

[Marco]

Right, it may sound a bit of an odd thing, but i was wondering how reliable some of the sources on the internet are in terms of network maps. I am hoping that some of the members of this forum that have much more knowledge than me about the European railways can shed some light on whether these attached maps are 100% reliable;

Very good network maps are published (on paper and sometimes on DVD) by Schweers&Wall: http://www.schweers-wall.de/