What is Imagine One Day Having This Train Map?

It is a June 2020 Twitter caption format that started when @daveloach2 posted a hypothetical world transit map with ocean-crossing rail lines.

Where did Imagine One Day Having This Train Map come from?

The original image is the cover of Mark Ovenden's 2015 book 'Transit Maps of the World', shared by @daveloach2 on June 17, 2020, with the title caption.

What does Imagine One Day Having This Train Map mean?

The caption treats an absurd or impractical map as if it were a real goal, and parodies keep that earnest tone while swapping in impossible or pointed alternatives like a US map with a middle finger.

How do you use Imagine One Day Having This Train Map?

Post the exact phrase alongside an image of implausible transit, such as a Berlin-only close-up or a Google Earth render of the original routes over open water.

Is Imagine One Day Having This Train Map still popular?

The format had its main run in June 2020 and is still referenced as a Twitter transit-humor touchstone.

Imagine One Day Having This Train Map

2020catchphrase / image macroclassic

Published November 14, 2026

In June 2020, Twitter user @daveloach2 shared a hypothetical world transit map with long rail lines cutting through oceans, captioned 'imagine one day having this train map.' The post gained over 84,000 likes in two days and spawned parody images that reused the exact caption. By June 19, 2020, Twitter had published an official 'events' page collecting the viral replies into one feed.

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Overview

The joke works by presenting an obviously impractical map as if it were an aspirational infrastructure plan, so the mismatch between caption and image carries the humor. The source image showed long rail lines running straight through oceans and empty deserts, linking cities in ways no actual train could follow1. Readers responded as if the proposal were sincere, mocking the gaps in logic.

Parody versions reused the exact caption and swapped the image for something else. @ChippixOfficial drew a map where every country was covered in dense rail networks except the United States, which got a car illustration and an extended middle finger3. @bicknaker tightened the view to a single city, posting a dense Berlin close-up under the same caption4. The result became a template for transit jokes aimed at US car dependency and European rail envy7.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter

Creator

@daveloach2

Date

2020

On June 17, 2020, Twitter user @daveloach2 posted a world transit map with the caption 'imagine one day having this train map'1. The tweet gained more than 84,800 likes and 26,700 retweets within two days7. The image was not fan art. It came from the cover of Mark Ovenden's 2015 book 'Transit Maps of the World,' a Penguin title cataloging cities with Metro-type rapid transit systems6.

Ovenden himself replied the following day, June 18, 2020, calling @daveloach2 the 'master of satire' and clarifying that the illustration was a playful way to show which cities had rapid transit, not a serious proposal2. His correction did little to slow the joke, which already outran the source material.

How It Spread

Later on June 18, 2020, @johnlk_80 replied to the original tweet with Google Earth screenshots showing what the straight-line rail routes would actually look like crossing open ocean5. The post gained over 1,600 likes within a day7. On the same date, @ChippixOfficial posted the US-middle-finger illustration after another user, @Desmostylian, suggested the concept in a reply thread; that image gained roughly 7,300 likes in a day3.

@bicknaker's Berlin close-up gained over 26,800 likes and 3,500 retweets in a day, outpacing most other parodies4. On June 19, 2020, Twitter created an official 'events' page aggregating the viral replies into a single feed7.

Timeline

2015

Mark Ovenden's 'Transit Maps of the World' is published by Penguin, with the viral map on its cover.

2020-06-17

@daveloach2 posts the map on Twitter with the caption 'imagine one day having this train map.'

2020-06-18

Mark Ovenden replies, calling @daveloach2 the 'master of satire' and linking back to his 2015 book.

2020-06-18

@ChippixOfficial posts the US-car-and-middle-finger parody; @bicknaker posts a Berlin close-up; @johnlk_80 posts Google Earth screenshots of the routes.

2020-06-19

Twitter publishes an official 'events' page collecting the viral parody replies.

How to Use This Meme

Pair the exact phrase 'imagine one day having this train map' with an image of implausible or pointed transit infrastructure. Common versions include ocean-crossing rail lines, hyper-local close-ups of one city, or illustrations mocking a country's lack of public transport3 4.