Create a time line in plain TeX or ConTeXt

Question

I need to create a time line like this:

<----*----*----*--------*---->
    1991 1992 1993     1995

It will sometimes skip numbers, e.g. it could go from 1993 to 1995 without having a mark at 1994, but still needs to be scaled.

I am using ConTeXt, but since ConTeXt can display plain TeX, a plain TeX solution is fine too. The best I've been able to come up with is this, which is missing an arrow, doesn't have dots to mark the spot on the line.

\starttext
$\overrightarrow{1991....1992....1993........1995}$
\stoptext

I was hoping TeX had built-in features for this, since it basically looks like a number line, and it would certainly be nice if it had that "math mode" look to it, but I can't find any solution for number lines in TeX to begin with.

Answer 1

Maybe a MetaPost solution:

\startTEXpage[offset=3bp]
\samplefile{ward}
\startplacefigure
\startMPcode
u:=1.5cm;
drawdblarrow ((0,0)--(6,0)) scaled u;
for i=1,2,3,5:
  draw ((i*u,-2)--(i*u,2));
  label.bot(decimal (i+1990),(i*u,0));
endfor;
\stopMPcode
\stopplacefigure
\samplefile{ward}
\stopTEXpage