London Rail, 2021

Inner London Rail, 2021.

54x 43 cm

Archival Inkjet print on Paper

Edition of 50

(Published by TAG Fine Arts)

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London Rail, 2020

Unique original drawing

Graphite on Paper 108 x 123.5 cm

£1,800 (unframed)

(Available from Stephen Walter)

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Works from this project include the unique original drawing and two print editions – London Rail, 2021 & Inner London Rail, 2021 (a smaller version of central London).

A special thanks to:

Andy Cummins and Alex Morrison at Cogapp (for the Storiiies page - Zoom Tool (above)) ; Hobby Limon and TAG Fine Arts & Anrew Turnbull (Digital Print Studio).

London Rail, 2021, is a geographically accurate rail track map of London and joins a long list of altered London transport maps where the station names have been changed to fit a particular subject or concept.

This is my version of this growing genre of which the most notable example is Simon Patterson’s The Great Bear, of 1992. This work, to some extent pays homage to Patterson’s famous map, however my focus here remains on exploring the nature of actual places and their particular geography, history and etymology.

Many of the new station names on this map celebrate notable people associated with the area, both contemporary and historical. Those who were either born in the area or have previously lived in or currently reside there now. These would have been, or are now, their local stations.

Local landmarks show up in some of these names such as ‘Horniman Hill’ for Forest Hill and it’s Arts & Crafts style Horniman Museum. Also, some historical landmarks are referenced such as ‘Placentia’ in place of Cutty Sark, where Henry VIII built his Palace of Placentia. Certain cultural and literary figures show up noting the places where they were written such as ‘Harry Potter Junction’ for Clapham Junction, and George Eliot’s ‘The Mill on the Floss’ for Southfields near Wimbledon.

Some names describe the archetypes found in these areas – ‘Hipfields’ for London Fields. Others show an areas’ locally known name such ‘The Cally’ for Caledonian Road. Earl’s Court is now ‘Bedsitter Land’. Others give a description of the meaning of some existing names, such as “Hawk’s Landing’ for Putney.

To slap down the pretentions of real estate agents, some names have been switched to adjacent areas such as ‘Dog Kennel Hill’ for East Dulwich, referring to the housing estate of this name, Queenstown Road is now “Patmore Estate.’ Some older names previously used for places are readopted as “Woodberry Down’ replaces Manor House station.

All of London’s ghost stations are shown, both on the underground and overground, of which there are many. Dates showing the opening year of many of the lines are shown. Also of particular interest is the predominant ethnic makeup of some areas. Kilburn is of course ‘Little Ireland’, Tooting Broadway is ‘Little India’ and Deptford is ‘Little Vietnam’. All the major football stadiums are commemorated here – Charlton is now ‘Addick’s Valley’; ‘Lost Boleyn Ground’ for Upton Park and on a national level North Wembley is now ‘North England’.

Finally, a few of the existing and enigmatic names of stations remain, such as ‘Gallions Reach’, ‘Silvertown’ and ‘The White City’, but these are few and far between amongst an array of names that delve into each areas’ history, etymology and some of their most notable landmarks and people.

This map comes in two versions - the large whole of London (London Rail, 2021), and a smaller central zones map called Inner London Rail, 2021. This shows the stations within zones 1, 2 and 3. It has been delicately edited and altered to an alternative scale to the whole map, and has a couple of different station names which makes it a stand alone piece in itself.