The Sunday New York Times ran a story on a group of RAILROAD.NET posters that call themselves "fantasy mappers." They create their own maps of the New York City Subway based on how they think service should be run. You may need to register with nytimes.com (free) to read the full story. Also, feel free to visit our NYC Subway forum for more details! We're very excited to have this kind of exposure, and hope that folks who never knew we existed will consider joining our community!
And All the Trains Run on Time
By ALEX MINDLIN
Published: May 1, 2005
For a fan of mass transit, life in a North Dakota monastery can be trying. "We've got a new bus system here in Bismarck, and that's got eight routes and one bus an hour," said Elias Thienpont. "To me that's not helpful."
As the resident technology expert at Assumption Abbey, in Richardton, N.D., where he is a monk, Brother Thienpont spends plenty of time on computers, and so in his spare time, he has begun revisiting a hobby from his Long Island boyhood - drawing fantastic maps of the New York City subway system.
Using computer graphics programs, Brother Thienpont charts a subway that exists only in his head. "I work at the thing like a puzzle," he said. "How do tracks cross or connect with each other? Exactly where are the stations to be built?" One of his recent maps features a new line that links eastern Queens to Midtown, barreling through Queens on concrete risers and crossing the East River through a four-track tunnel.
Brother Thienpont posts his maps to Web sites like railroad.net, where they can be examined by other fans of the hobby known as fantasy mapping, a kind of computer-aided daydreaming about subway routes...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/nyreg ... 1fant.html?
And All the Trains Run on Time
By ALEX MINDLIN
Published: May 1, 2005
For a fan of mass transit, life in a North Dakota monastery can be trying. "We've got a new bus system here in Bismarck, and that's got eight routes and one bus an hour," said Elias Thienpont. "To me that's not helpful."
As the resident technology expert at Assumption Abbey, in Richardton, N.D., where he is a monk, Brother Thienpont spends plenty of time on computers, and so in his spare time, he has begun revisiting a hobby from his Long Island boyhood - drawing fantastic maps of the New York City subway system.
Using computer graphics programs, Brother Thienpont charts a subway that exists only in his head. "I work at the thing like a puzzle," he said. "How do tracks cross or connect with each other? Exactly where are the stations to be built?" One of his recent maps features a new line that links eastern Queens to Midtown, barreling through Queens on concrete risers and crossing the East River through a four-track tunnel.
Brother Thienpont posts his maps to Web sites like railroad.net, where they can be examined by other fans of the hobby known as fantasy mapping, a kind of computer-aided daydreaming about subway routes...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/nyreg ... 1fant.html?
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Moderator: New York State Railfan :: New York Central :: Toy Trains
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Moderator: New York State Railfan :: New York Central :: Toy Trains
NYW&B Fan Site :: A Magazine I Read Often :: A Museum I Volunteer At
