Winnipeg Subway proposal, 1959

Even by today's Canadian standards, Winnipeg is not a particularly large city.  This has always been true: at the 1951 Census, Winnipeg counted 235,000 inhabitants - not a particularly suitable candidate for a three-line subway system.  But Winnipeg's leaders in the 1950s were enamored of Toronto's subway and so they commissioned engineer Norman Wilson, lead designer of the Toronto Subway, to design a system for Winnipeg.  It got as far as the planning stages, but the proposed investment never quite panned out. 

The elephant in the room was cost.  Most cities of 235,000, Winnipeg included, simply don't have enough people or population density to justify the cost of a subway.  The closest comparable city is Rochester, New York, population 300,000, which built a single subway line in the 1920s.  Winnipeg wanted three times as many lines, with no comparable right of way available.

The design of this map is based on an old New York City Subway map from 1959.  It was an interesting design challenge to go around breaking modern design rules - back then, because full color was so expensive to print in, it was much, much cheaper to use simple colors like red, green and black.

- Designed in New York City, printed in Nashville, Tennessee.
- Printed on satin finish 80# cover stock - 220 GSM.
- Image will be printed with a border for framing.
- Please allow five business days for production before it gets shipped out.
- Free standard shipping within the US, flat rate shipping to Canada.

All designs I sell here are made by me! If there's something you'd like custom-made, shoot me a message.