This flow-y and colorful map was my response to the release of a new official map by the Dutch Railways (NS). I vehemently disagreed with the styling and horrible legibility of that map, so I decided to have a crack at it. This map has a certain number of rules that guide it.
- Station labels had to be on the same side of a bundle of lines. This worked almost everywhere, safe for having to make a single twist at Heiloo and at Maarn.
- The various providers all had their own color group. NS was mostly yellow-brownish. Arriva red(ish). And so on.
- All labels had to be horizontal. This makes them much easier to read.
- Labels are not (and still aren't) allowed to overlap lines. Again, to improve legibility.
- I wanted to include museum railways, if only to give them a bit of free advertising, as these are often run by volunteers and on donations.
- I wanted to create nice, flowy lines. Curves are easy to follow.