tubechallenge.com

Going Underground wrote:

tubeguru wrote:

***** wrote: i know i can not bother to look in the alternative challenge section (as i often don't) and not miss anything.

You could always log in and click "view unread posts" on the forum's main page you know. Or shall I remove that feature because you don't use it?

Please keep the unread posts as I do like to read everything, I find it all of interest

Don't worry - I don't do knee-jerk requests.

tubeguru wrote:I agree with what you say about getting stuff into its correct forum, but let's not get too over-zealous. We've done alright for an internet forum as we approach our seventh birthday in January.

I agree with this.

The one where everything went wrong.

Some good connections to start with meant that I was on course for a good time. That is, until Liverpool Street.

Oxford Circus, 15:30:30. Train 221 on the Victoria line leaves. I know that the Victoria Line had minor delays at the time, but it still didn't hold me up at all. One long run down the corridor to the Piccadilly Line resulted in a good-ish connection. London Underground really does have 100 seconds per minute. FINALLY a Cockfosters train came in.

NOTE: The passage at Piccadilly Circus to the Bakerloo Line does not work any more, as it simply says "Way Out" now. However I didn't need the passage as I needed a Southbound Bakerloo Line train.

Now, Charing Cross & Embankment. Would any of you believe that the Northern Line is so far away from the Bakerloo, sincethey run to the same stations? Nope, they are.

Embankment. MORE District Line shenanigans. Again. . 3 whole minutes. Very annoyed. Bad Jubilee Line connection (2 mins wait) meant that I was behind at Waterloo. Fatigue creeps in. Stopped running.

15:57
Waterloo. #rratt

Bank, diving into a train as its doors were beeping, that was my high point. This was my last hurrah. The record was gone but I was still in for a top 5 or a PB failing that, right?

Wrong.

I'll let my Twitter updates do the talking.

16:13
Aldgate East wrong way #rratt

Yep, I, the slightly experienced guy, went the wrong way. In short, I dived onto a Hammersmith & City Line train at Liverpool Street, thinking it was a Circle Line. Then the phrase "The next station is Aldgate East" is the worst in the English language. Yep. Even beats "Circle Line via King's Cross - delayed". And I couldn't run to Aldgate as this would make things even more worse as I couldn't catch the necessary trains. In other words, SCREWED. So I started re-routing but there's not much re-routing that could be done.

16:32
re routing #rratt

I was now focussed on finishing anywhere other than last. Got it, just.

16:38
Hello daylight. #rratt

LOG BOOK
Station - Arrival Time - Departure Time - Train Number departed on - Line departed on
(Red is not a part of intended route)
Oxford Circus - n/a - 15:30:30 - 221 - Victoria
Green Park - 15:31:51 - 15:34:53 - 356 - Piccadilly
Piccadilly Circus - 15:35:55 - 15:39:17 - 240 - Bakerloo
Charing Cross - 15:40:31 - 15:44:37 - 006 - Northern
Embankment - 15:45:22 - 15:50:02 - 015 - District
Westminster - 15:51:17 - 15:54:15 - 350 - Jubilee
Waterloo - 15:55:36 - 16:00:09 - 201 - Waterloo & City
Bank - 16:03:59 - 16:05:44 - 077 - Central
Liverpool Street - 16:07:19 - 16:09:48 - 245 - Hammersmith & City
Aldgate East - 16:13:40 - 16:20:48 - 226 - Hammersmith & City
Liverpool Street - 16:23:15 - 16:27:13 - 415 - Metropolitan
Moorgate - 16:28:39 - 16:31:03 - 202 - Circle
Liverpool Street - 16:32:33 - n/a - n/a - n/a

hopeful traveller wrote:Now, Charing Cross & Embankment. Would any of you believe that the Northern Line is so far away from the Bakerloo, sincethey run to the same stations? Nope, they are.

Assuming that you are talking about Charing Cross station then I'm pretty sure most people on here will believe it seeing that they used to be two separate stations...

Steeevooo wrote:

hopeful traveller wrote:Now, Charing Cross & Embankment. Would any of you believe that the Northern Line is so far away from the Bakerloo, sincethey run to the same stations? Nope, they are.

Assuming that you are talking about Charing Cross station then I'm pretty sure most people on here will believe it seeing that they used to be two separate stations...

I don't believe it. I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you. Who must I write to in order to rectify such a matter?

Mr H. Traveller
AL4 Tube Forum Road
Wávéfórmville
London

Steeevooo wrote:Mr H. Traveller
AL4 Tube Forum Road
Wávéfórmville
London

Like

Though his name be long blocked and comments long gone, W A V E F O R M legend lives on!

His comments haven't been deleted. Well, the ones that weren't deleted at the time haven't been.

I feel like I've read the same flaming posts three or four times here.

And I agree with everything that Geoff said.

I confess. I will do this within the next couple of hours.

moley wrote:Sounds like a round of beers are in order........

more details to come in a few weeks.....


(yes very mysterious - but I don't want this to go too of-topic).

When are these beers then moley? And is the first round on you?

Yeah, if I can get work out of the way for a weekend then I might think about it!

The un-tweety one.

I tried to adopt the Geoff and Anthony strategy of "Don't tweet, it will give you more focus."
However on the back of my sheet I had

"All Lines" Tube challenge in progress

Follow @TheOtherRB on twitter
#rratt

Nevertheless, I still got quizzed by a man on the Waterloo & City line!

14:48
Last all lines attempt of the year #rratt

It started OK, as for once I actually was early to my destination and had to wait 15 minutes so I could get my scheduled train (letting 8 or 9 go) without the platform announcer noticing! Sadly the train was one minute late and, as such, I got to Green Park (not saying where from!) one minute late, which severely annoyed me, as I had the BIG run now.

I was following the same route that looked so good for me last time, until I got lost as Liverpool Street and ended up on the wrong line.

At Piccadilly Circus, I tried to use that spiral staircase thing - it is still there but it looks very different from the picture Geoff has! Then it's a simple case of Bakerloo northbound to Bakerloo southbound. I did make the train, yes, but I didn't get the train number, and as it was a tight connection (doors closed just after I got in) then I didn't get the right door, giving me a chance to see what the number was when it left at the next station.

Charing Cross.

The nightmare run.

I didn't run into anyone this time but I certainly came close as we all had to avoid a busker! I didn't see him so I leapt OVER his instrument case! The whole episode set me back a bit - I was now down on a slowish schedule by one minute. The only thing that caused me to stick to the route was the ludicrous claims that the schedule was saying (9 minute waits at Liverpool Street in both cases).

But with minor delays on the District Line I was sure there would be no Embankment shenanigans this time. Finally, there was no shenanigans. So much so I'm wearing a green shirt today. Nice 'n' easy change at Westminster (despite the dodgy flooring!). But I was now down on schedule by a full 3 minutes, and with a tight Waterloo & City line connection coming up (and I actually used one of my own tips to get to it!) things did not look good. It was so tiring, the run, that I actually stopped when I had a full escalator to myself at Waterloo! An antagonising 3 minute wait certainly made things look bad. The run at Bank went OK but I was now 7 minutes down on schedule. But all I knew was that if I made the 1545 circle line then I was still in with a shout of a PB. I didn't; I missed it by 7 minutes (later I found that it was departing just as my Central Line train was pulling in), so I got onto a Metropolitan Line train but the top 3 had now gone. A VERY bad change at Aldgate (6 minute wait anyone?) didn't comprehend things, and by the time I got to Liverpool Street I hopped onto a Hammersmith & City to Moorgate. Surely nothing could go wrong now? Yes, something went wrong.

A BTPO was on the train and, whilst he didn't inspect my ticket, he held the train for about a minute as the ruthless Hammersmith & City line driver shut half of the capacity of that train out! The BTPO forced open the doors and that set me back by yet another minute.

There was, though, limited celebration at Moorgate. Somehow I had clawed back some time and I was only 2 minutes down in the end.

53:54
New personal best.

44mins 18sec on December 17th
My Route:
Barbicain Moorgate Liverpool Street Bank Waterloo Westminster St. James Park Victoria Green Park Piccadilly Cirus Charing Cross Finishing at Leicester Square.

Big thumbs up to the accordian player at Bank who gave me a shout of encouragement.
Big thumbs down to the Picc line whose departure board was blank!

That's almost exactly what I did on my 57:02!