The Great Britain Historical GIS project will be making available image
scans of two editions of the Ordnance Survey 1 mile to the inch maps:

(a) First Series.  These were published over a very lengthy period, broadly
speaking starting in the south and working north, starting in 1805 but with
the final sheets not appearing until 1874.  The maps were revised by
changing the actual engraved plates used for printing.  Our resources only
cover one version of each sheet, and we have decided to scan the EARLIEST
printing, or "state", for each sheet;  the alternative would be to use
states for as close as possible to the same date for the whole country, and
that would mean using maps for the 1870s.  Obviously, the early sheets will
not show railway lines but the later ones generally will.

(b) New Popular Edition published in the late 1940s.  These of course show
the railway system at something close to its greatest extent, before the
Beeching closures of the 1960s.

The above maps are image scans.  Some years ago we were in touch with a
researcher who had digitised the lines (i.e. recorded them as vectors) and
gathered information on dates of opening, but not closures.  This material
would permit the creation of accurate, zoomable maps showing lines open at
any given date.  This is the kind of material we might be able to include
in our final system if time permits, but it is certainly not part of our
commitments to NOF.

Humphrey Southall

At 02:14 30/01/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>I am editing the site called "Victorian Times", which
>comprises documents from a number of sources.
>
>One of the subjects I want to cover in the site, to
>illustrate how the country changed during the
>nineteenth century, is the growth of the railway
>network.
>
>Within the NOF project is anyone else posting any
>material, or maps, relating to railways at that time?
>
>Thanks
>
>Tim Coates
>
>__________________________________________________
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>http://auctions.yahoo.com

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ======================================================
Humphrey Southall
Reader in Geography/Director, Great Britain Historical GIS Project
Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth

Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace, Portsmouth PO1 3HE

GIS Project Office: (023) 9284 2500
Home office:  (020) 8853 0396

Web site:  http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/gbhgis