TrainAtlas
To make a useful train journey map, record the stations where you boarded and left, the travel date, and the railway route for each trip. Start with journeys you know well, then add older trips from tickets or an existing travel log. A rail mapping app can help turn those records into a connected map.
The difficult part is usually reconstructing the journey accurately. Two cities can be connected by several railway routes, and a straight line between them tells you little about the train you actually took.
Start with a small reliable record
Choose your last holiday, a familiar commute or five trips you remember clearly. For each, keep the origin station, destination station and date. Add the operator, train number and departure time when you have them.
Use station names rather than city names where possible. London King's Cross and London St Pancras are different railway starting points, even though both might be remembered simply as London. The same distinction matters when a city has several mainline stations.
An old booking email is useful evidence of what you booked. It is not necessarily evidence of what you rode. If you changed trains or abandoned the trip, record the journey that happened.
Choose a method that suits your history
| Method | Useful for | What you will need to check |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet | A portable record you can sort and keep | Station names, dates and the route behind each row |
| General travel journal | Remembering a whole holiday | Whether the map represents rail travel accurately |
| Train journey tracker | A growing railway map and rail statistics | Route accuracy, supported imports and storage settings |
A spreadsheet is a good starting point if you have years of journeys already recorded. A dedicated tracker is useful when you want to see those trips together on a map. If you are choosing between trackers, use our journey-log comparison.
Follow the railway and check the evidence
A railway-following line is more informative than a straight segment between stations. However, it can still be an approximation. The normal route between two stations may differ from a particular train's route during engineering work or a diversion.
When reviewing a mapped trip, check whether its intermediate stops match what you remember. For an older journey, a ticket, timetable or note can help distinguish plausible routes. Avoid presenting a reconstructed route as an exact record when you cannot establish which line the train followed.
Route accuracy matters for statistics as well as appearance. A different route can change the distance and the places your map appears to cover.
Add journeys in TrainAtlas
TrainAtlas is an iPhone app for recording rail travel and building a personal atlas.
- Open Map and tap the turquoise + button. You can also open Trips, tap +, and choose Log a trip.
- In Find your trip, choose your From and To stations.
- Set When using Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, or Pick... for another date. Choose the date you boarded the train.
- Tap Find trains and select the service that matches your journey.
- Review its route, stops and times, then tap Save Trip. Return to Map to see the saved route.
If you cannot find your train, scroll to the bottom of the results and tap Can't find your train? Add it manually. The Log a trip form lets you enter the stations and separate departure and arrival dates and times. Those times use each station's local time. Replace the form's default times with your own records, and choose an operator if you know it.
The quality of a historical result depends on the available data. Saving a trip does not establish that an exact service shape or a confirmed arrival time exists for it.
What is free, and when do you need Pro?
Free lets you add journeys from the last 12 months, including manual entries and eligible CSV imports. Journeys you save remain on your map as they get older; free statistics cover a rolling 12-month window.
Adding journeys more than 12 months old requires Pro, whether you find a service, enter it manually or import it. Pro also unlocks all-time statistics and Map Replay. You do not need live tracking to start building a map of recent journeys. See the Free versus Pro comparison for the wider feature list.
Bring an existing travel log with you
TrainAtlas supports CSV imports from viaduct.world, Trainlog at trainlog.me, supported Trainline data exports, and spreadsheets with recognisable journey columns. From Trips, open the plus menu, choose Import from CSV, then select your file.
Keep the original export. Review the preview before confirming the import, particularly the journey dates, station matches, duplicate rows and trips requiring Pro. Check the saved map afterwards too. Successful import does not guarantee an exact historical route or delay record.
Different exports preserve different information. Some contain a travel date and route; others contain an approximate date or ticket purchase details. Treat an uncertain date as something to resolve with your records, rather than as a confirmed journey.
Reconstruct older trips gradually
Work backwards by holiday or year. Booking emails, photos and calendar entries can help, but each has a different role. A timestamped station photo may establish where you were. A booking confirmation may establish a reservation. Neither proves every intermediate stop.
For overnight journeys, check the arrival date separately from the departure date. For a trip with changes, preserve the actual legs rather than assuming you rode a direct train between the first and final stations.
Keep the map useful and private
A personal rail atlas can include regular commuting as well as memorable journeys. Those patterns may reveal where you live or work, so review what a share card shows before sending it.
No separate TrainAtlas account is required. Review the app's iCloud and sharing settings when deciding how to keep your history. A private record and a deliberately shared image serve different purposes.
Start with a few trips you can verify. Once the stations, dates and routes make sense, the rest of your map becomes easier to build.