UK Network Rail Map

[SamMacca]

Morning all..

I was having a browse earlier on and after reading through welshdragon's topic about the Franchised Network (http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=47993) I thought about a save game that would have all the Network Rail tracks in the UK, laid already.
The original scenario I was going to use is the 'England and Wales Scenario'. Credits to Brickie and Wasila for making that, its awesome. I understand that theres no Scotland on there but I think that map is the right size for it, the scale seems right.

Now I've searched for it and, correct me if I'm wrong, no-one seems to have made one before. So.. I was thinking about doing it myself.
The only problem being I'm not very good at the whole junction, signals, multiple track stuff. Don't get me wrong I'm quite happy to make one myself, just the quality wouldn't be as good as say, someone who actually knew what they were doing

The map I've found is this one; http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger ... plarge.pdf
It shows all the tracks, stations etc. If you look at it then you'll be thinking 'daaammnn thats alotta track' but I don't think it would be that much of a problem.

Don't slate me saying 'oh, do it yourself if its not a problem' and all that jazz because I will do it myself. Its just that it'll be about as good as a finger in eye. Which is why I'm putting the idea forward for other people to do it, aswell as saying 'Hey, I'm gunna do this'..

So, let me know what you all think. Any suggestions etc.
Cause if no-ones too bothered then I'll keep it for myself, muahahahaaha

Cheers y'all..

[EXTspotter]

There is probably no need in you doing it, Mark (Welshdragon) is planning on making something like what you want, using a map based on JonScaife's UK, which I added loads of towns to. I don't know exactly how far he has got with it yet, however there is no need for you to do it unless he says he isn't going to anymore.

[SamMacca]

Ahh cool. Like I said, if I did it then it wouldnt be very good haha so its probably better off with someone else doing it.

[Dave]

That doesn't show anywhere near ALL the track in Britain - no freight only lines.

However it's a good place to start. I'll consult with Welshie on the Midlands area if required.

[Dave]

Additionally, can a map be saved from the server? If so then we could have various people working on it all at once. Bear in mind it'd have to have all the towns, and be a really accurate representation of the country before we could do it.

And we'd also have to have an agreed scale.

We could build up a stunning vista of UK Transport here. I daresay that with strong enough knowledge we could do ALL passenger and freight services in the UK, and even move on to - god forbid - buses and planes!

I will say that we need two things though - custom bridge heads (saves space) and rivers. Dunno if that's feasible atm.

I will of course offer the best I can in the Midlands area in terms of rail and road. I think if the Drag' takes overall control then can consult with various area experts. EXTSpotter could do the south west, or whatever.

[SamMacca]

I have no idea about a map being saved from the server. I've played OpenTTD for ages but I've never played online or anything like that :/

Well It'd be awesome if we could create like England, Wales, Scotland, NI and ROI all in one map. Obviously if we did that on a 2048x2048 then I think the scale would be abit messed up. Too many small towns missed out and then distance between cities wouldn't be realistic.

Yeah well on that map I linked to above, thats all the Passenger routes covered by Network Rail in England, Scotland and Wales. Now do you know if Network Rail control all the Freight lines aswell, I have no idea, complete noob about all this stuff, just thought it'd be a good idea. Anyway, if Network Rail do control all the Freight lines then I'm sure that there would be a similiar map on the website? Then for NI and ROI, I'm guessing there would be a map provided by whoever controls the rail service over there. Google will tell

Couldn't rivers be done just by using the landscape thing? Or would they be too wide, unrealistic etc.

I don't know much about the roads around here (Sheffield) but then I could just use Google Earth for the whole lot to plot Motorways and the like. Same thing for Airports aswell, I'm sure theres a list somewhere on the Internet that lists every Airport in the UK.

[SamMacca]

Hmm.. done some looking on Google and found these.

The company that runs the Irish lines is called Irish Rail, fitting. Plucked this map from their website. It shows all Passenger routes in NI and ROI. http://www.irishrail.ie/home/maps/inter ... &width=540

Here is another map from Network Rail, showing what companys operate on what lines, might be useful.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger ... rators.pdf

And finally, here are a couple of regional maps that go into greater detail on some areas.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/maps/

[ijustlost]

I had a stab at doing something similar a while back. Can't remember which map I used, it was one of the common UK maps. I used this rail map: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger ... orsmap.pdf which shows the routes operated by different TOCs. The main problem I ran into was that the map was just too small to fit everything onto, and the scales got all messed up. for example, in urban areas the stations often ended up being longer than the bits of track connecting them. Trying to get all of the London stations to fit was a pain, let alone trying to connect them up. So I'd say a pre-requisite would be a huuge UK map

[Dave]

I have no idea about a map being saved from the server. I've played OpenTTD for ages but I've never played online or anything like that :/

I'll wait for the Drag to come in.

Well It'd be awesome if we could create like England, Wales, Scotland, NI and ROI all in one map. Obviously if we did that on a 2048x2048 then I think the scale would be abit messed up. Too many small towns missed out and then distance between cities wouldn't be realistic.

Not really that interested in ROI myself, but others might be of course.

Yeah well on that map I linked to above, thats all the Passenger routes covered by Network Rail in England, Scotland and Wales. Now do you know if Network Rail control all the Freight lines aswell, I have no idea, complete noob about all this stuff, just thought it'd be a good idea. Anyway, if Network Rail do control all the Freight lines then I'm sure that there would be a similiar map on the website? Then for NI and ROI, I'm guessing there would be a map provided by whoever controls the rail service over there. Google will tell

They do, but they won't show up on the National Rail website; they might be around though.

We could do with a Quail map... Something which Sacro might be able to assist with.

Couldn't rivers be done just by using the landscape thing? Or would they be too wide, unrealistic etc.

Exactly that. Rivers also allow there to be water above sea-level.

I don't know much about the roads around here (Sheffield) but then I could just use Google Earth for the whole lot to plot Motorways and the like. Same thing for Airports aswell, I'm sure theres a list somewhere on the Internet that lists every Airport in the UK.

I think the focus is definitely on the railways first - we have to also work out how to get round railways through towns, etc.

[SamMacca]

Not really that interested in ROI myself, but others might be of course.

Oh, me neither. Its just I thought it'd be somewhere else to get stuff built. Then again, some might see it as more hassle. I'll quite glady just stick to England, Wales and Scotland though.

I think the focus is definitely on the railways first - we have to also work out how to get round railways through towns, etc.

I agree. The railways through towns thing could be a problem, maybe just building stations on the outskirts then as the town develops it'll surround the town? Thats the only real thing I can think of.

Sorry if I should know this haha but whats a Quail map?

[welshdragon]

Blargh...

What wee need is a server! a really, really large map, the BROS grf and NuTracks!

(and yes, as a client you can take saves)

[kamnet]

And maybe a patched copy of the game for bigger maps than 2048x2048? Although not sure how well that goes down over a networked server...

[SamMacca]

yeah, if we could get a bigger map than 2048x2048 then that would be perfect. It'd just be a ball ache to get everything put in. Then again, it would look wicked.

[welshdragon]

I have no idea about a map being saved from the server. I've played OpenTTD for ages but I've never played online or anything like that :/

I'll wait for the Drag to come in.

answered - see post above

Yeah well on that map I linked to above, thats all the Passenger routes covered by Network Rail in England, Scotland and Wales. Now do you know if Network Rail control all the Freight lines aswell, I have no idea, complete noob about all this stuff, just thought it'd be a good idea. Anyway, if Network Rail do control all the Freight lines then I'm sure that there would be a similiar map on the website? Then for NI and ROI, I'm guessing there would be a map provided by whoever controls the rail service over there. Google will tell

They do, but they won't show up on the National Rail website; they might be around though.

We could do with a Quail map... Something which Sacro might be able to assist with.

I have all sets of Quail too (They are track diagrams), I also have other top secret documentation to help, as well as a handheld scanner/magnifier that plugs into a PC

While i think that having the UK on one OpenTTD map, we'll struggle to get everything in on 2048 x 2048 (And gettng a patched version of infrastructure sharing, cargodist and bigger maps would not be feasible, or even stable).
What I therefore suggest is that we do the Mainland Great Britain Rail network - What's the difference? We focus on Scotland, England and Wales (Great Britain) instead of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom).

Now I don't have the time at the moment to help, but over my 4 month summer vacation I'll give as much time as I can.

[SamMacca]

What I therefore suggest is that we do the Mainland Great Britain Rail network

Spot on. If we were to do NI then it'd look weird if we didn't do ROI. So really, it'll save A LOT of hassle and space, making GB more in scale.

I downloaded a scenario that was just England and Wales, that just seemed to fit nicely. Distance between towns and stuff seemed right. Again, Scotland might be a ball ache with all the hilly terrain and stuff?

[audigex]

A couple of people have taken the GB map off the wiki and connected up the cities which are on there - I did the same, but added in some extra towns cities in the large blank areas (approximately accurately placed)

It's a hell of a task to do properly, but it can be a lot of fun.

I STRONGLY suggest you find a build with an improved timetable patch integrated if you plan on putting trains on it, or it gets a bit messy with bunching up.

[SamMacca]

Yeah it will be a task haha. Could take a while to get everything nailed as close as it can be. Then again, it'll be awesome when its finished

I STRONGLY suggest you find a build with an improved timetable patch integrated if you plan on putting trains on it, or it gets a bit messy with bunching up.

I never grasped the timetables on this. Well, to be fair, I never tried to grasp it haha. How do they work?

[Wasila]

Heh, I was planning on doing this but I gave up (overwhelming project and there was no suitable map). I'd strongly suggest that you only include major London stations, otherwise there won't be room for the rest of the country except on the largest of extra-large-maps!

Thanks for reminding me, I must keep working on that UK map.

Wasila

[Lemonaitor]

I Don't See a problem with using, 2048x2048, because the distance between cities Will be Huge, but Using the largest map will Allow you to Create the complex Rail network that is British Railways, And there is little need to Miss out the small Towns, because you could do a Rail network, But still include All the Roads or ports that are Around england, So you could include all the towns in england, as well as some suburban locations.

An Afterthought is that you could also include closed and preserved railways.

[SamMacca]

I Don't See a problem with using, 2048x2048, because the distance between cities Will be Huge, but Using the largest map will Allow you to Create the complex Rail network that is British Railways

Hmm, suppose so. I downloaded a England and Wales map off the ingame download thing and thats perfect. Theres just no Scotland on it. I had a little play to see how it'd all fit and it'd be perfect for it.

Like I said, I'd do this myself but it just wouldn't be as good as if someone else did it. I have no patience to go into all the small details and stuff like that. Plus, all the big junctions/signals confuse me

Think if we did this, we could have it the same as the Multiplayer thing WelshDragon did. Great idea that was. Have companies for the different operators be well good! All the track and stuff would be done so it would just be choosing the best places to start.

I look forward to all this being done