Nigel wrote:Well done on a first completion! If you let me have your name, I'll add you to the list of top times.
Thanks for that Nigel, I've sent you a PM with the details.
A disastrous first attempt last October where we (I travelled with my son) accidentally got on a fast Metrpolitan train from West Harrow which then encountered a signal failure and other delays meaning we would miss the final Terminal 4 train. We had to abandon that effort around lunchtime.
For this attempt I decided to mostly reverse the whole route meaning a Terminal 4 start with Chesham/Amersham finish. This seemed a more sensible giving an option to clear Olympia early on rather than trying to connect with one of the two evening trains.
So a 0500 start at Hatton Cross where we managed shut the ticket machine after purchasing our Travelcards. Running down Olympia Way alongside the arriving District train was a good feeling. Things went well for a while including a zero second Edgware Rd connection but lack of experience let us down at Ealing Broadway. With two Central trains awaiting departure we boarded the one showing 'Next Train' only for the other platform to depart first, so more visits needed there to work see how the departures work.
A seemingly cancelled Hainault Loop departure from West Ruislip led us to joining a later Epping train only for this to change back to a Loop train by the time we reached White City. This train developed a problem at Fairlop the driver informing us we would have travel very slowly to Hainault. We lurched along for a few minutes but presumably he managed to somehow to fix the problem as we suddenly accelerated away so good work there.
A glance up at Walthamstow Queens Road Station still showed a barrier across the new exit to Walthamstow Central so a run around the long way. Still no idea when that link might open.
We watched 307 Bus at High Barnet depart as we were running along the approach road from the station. This did have a knock on effect later on as we needed to change at Dagenham East for an Upminster train so missed the C2C at Upminster.
A couple of hard runs late in the day left us on a Watford train to Moor Park arriving a minute after a Chesham departure. In the end it was a 30 second difference but it led to a 30 minute delay. The main aim of the day was completion and the later running timetable on the Metroploitan seemed to leave us with more chance of achieving that.
There seemed to be a good service all day. No major incidents, signal failures or train failures.
My son is 14 and a strong runner and I think it helped having someone to 'drag' me along the runs. He must be one of the youngest to complete the challenge though but I don't know any figures for ages. Maybe there could be an 'age graded record', I don't know how you would calculate such a thing.
I ought to just say thanks to all the people who take the trouble to post comments and information on the forum as it helped me a lot in the planning. I don't get the chance to travel the underground very much but hopefully I can offer some help on the forum to others in the future.