Olympia Shuttle

[Nigel]

The weekday Olympia exhibition service is currently scheduled to run on

24/28 Sept
26/30/31 Oct
1/2/9/15/16 Nov
17/18/19/20/21 Dec

Apparently the criteria used by TfL is exhibitions with more than 6000 people expected to attend. From 2013 this will increase to more than 8000 attendees. It seems they are trying to gradually phase it out, but nothing is likely to happen in the short term.

In that case why are they not running it for the Great British Beer Festival at the beginning of August, the biggest event of the year (in terms of numbers attending)?

[moley]

Very specifically because of the Olympics.

[banjots]

Hi. New to the forum and chat.

Coming from Italy I dont' have the new wtt (only some of 2011) and planning the tube challenge is very funny.
I don't intend to beat the record but just have fun to run up and down on the tube for 18 hours or something like this.

I have only a question and surely someone of you can help me. Any case I will do it.

In the challenge is right to catch Overground Train to change station.

Is right to catch Overground from West Brompton to Kensington (Olympia)? In this case is not so difficult to get KEN O on the table.
I will do it any case I repeat, without any intent to get the name on the GWR.

I will run the Chris Green route cause is very difficult for me understand where and when...

Thanks in advance.

[Nigel]

Is right to catch Overground from West Brompton to Kensington (Olympia)? In this case is not so difficult to get KEN O on the table.

Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately this does not count under the rules as visiting Olympia. You can only use a non-Underground train to count as arriving at or leaving a particular station if it uses the same tracks (e.g. at Harrow & Wealdstone), but the Overground service does not use the same tracks as the District line.

[banjots]

ok. Never mind. The idea was to have fun. Damn Olympia.

[Soup Dragon]

ok. Never mind. The idea was to have fun. Damn Olympia.

You can still do the challenge but you would have to be sure to use one of the 5 District Line trains early morning or the 2 that operate in the evening. If you plan the route well then this is still possible.

[banjots]

ok. Never mind. The idea was to have fun. Damn Olympia.

You can still do the challenge but you would have to be sure to use one of the 5 District Line trains early morning or the 2 that operate in the evening. If you plan the route well then this is still possible.

Trying plan...

[palkanetoijala31]

A few thoughts definately do not use the Chris green (Moley) route its miles too old and out of date if ur looking for a slow man route perhaps u should look into andi tube 36 myles must complete thats a slow man route and a half but proven to stand up very well.

[tubeguru]

A few thoughts definately do not use the Chris green (Moley) route its miles too old and out of date if ur looking for a slow man route perhaps u should look into andi tube 36 myles must complete thats a slow man route and a half but proven to stand up very well.

And if you're wondering what the hell he's talking about, so are we ...

But seriously, here is the thread containing the route he is on about: http://www.tubeforum.co.uk/forum/index. ... =viewtopic

[Starkey7]

Banjots, remember that you can use the Overground to get to/from Olympia, but you must use the District line either to arrive there or to depart from there.

[moley]

A few thoughts definately do not use the Chris green (Moley) route its miles too old and out of date

Its also not online anymore (I think).

[palkanetoijala31]

Nope its still there in its entirety perhaps u should let him use it and see what time he would come out with?

[moley]

I really must take that down!

[Nigel]

For reasons that I will reveal in another post shortly, a few weeks ago I formally asked Guinness about the legitimacy of a Saturday record attempt, and also for confirmation of the status of Olympia and how it has to be visited given the current situation. Other than an automated response acknowledging that they have received my query, I've not yet had a response. I'm not not holding my breath expecting a speedy (or necessarily sensible) reply.

Nearly two months after I made my enquiry I have had a response from Guinness.

They have confirmed that attempts must be made on a weekday not a weekend. The reason given being that "all record attempts are undertaken under identical conditions so that the results of any two attempts at a given record title may be compared". Obviously this is nonsense as when the previous record was set there was an all day 20 minute frequency for the Olympia shuttle, as there is on Saturdays now, but not on weekdays.

In response to my question about what would happen if the Olympia shuttle were only to run at weekends they said that "since the current record holder planned their attempt in order to ensure that it was possible to visit Olympia, any future attempt must also do so". Adding rather patronisingly that "planning is part of the challenge which must be carried out before the record attempt takes place". So they have not actually answered the query about how you would do Olympia if the weekday service were to be completely withdrawn.

None of this this affects my next planned attempt on Saturday 25 August, which I'm still intending to do. What it does do is confirm my opinion that GWR do not understand this record and are probably not fit to adjudicate properly on attempts.

[tractakid]

Thanks for reporting, Nigel. It's preposterous. Just know that if you DO break the record on the 25th, I'm sure almost all of us here on the forum will consider you the best in the world.

As for the Olympia Shuttle, it was running 35 minutes late yesterday, due to a lack of taxis able to pick up the drivers.This was a great shame, as I might possibly have snuck onto the 06:06.