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Welcome to the 2023/24 Random 15 season!

If you are new to all of this:
Welcome to the 2023/24 Random 15 Championship. I am your host (commonly known to regulars as the BERC when I am hosting Random 15 challenges). The Random 15 challenge is just that, visit 15 randomly selected stations that feature on the Tube Map (usually within zones 1-2 and using the Underground network only). There will be certain rounds within the championship that are a variation of this such as adding an extra zone or network e.g. DLR onto the challenge. So are you ready to take on the Random 15 championship?

The rules and scoring are unchanged from previous seasons but if anyone is not familiar with them, or needs a refresh, you can view them here: http://www.explorerticket.co.uk/tubecha ... 5rules.htm

Details for round 3:
When: Saturday 20th January 2024 12:30 UK local time.
Starting at: Finchley Road (LU) (meet in the ticket hall, street side of the barriers).
Post challenge pub: The Blue Posts, 81 Newman Street, Marylebone W1T 3EU (in between Oxford Circus and TCR, north of Oxford Street). Evening meals available upstairs from 17:00.
Variant: it's everyone's favourite- the National Rail round! So there will be 15 LU and/or NR stations to visit within zones 1 and 2. NR does include Overground and Crossrail (as they are NR TOCs).
Time limit: National Rail round, 6 hours.

Closures affecting the challenge (correct at time of posting):
Crossrail: No service Paddington - Stratford/Abbey Wood. Trains to/from Shenfield diverted to Liverpool Street terminal platforms. Reduced services on west end of line towards Reading/Heathrow.
South Western Railway: No service Clapham Junction - Barnes (hence no service at Queenstown Road either).
Waterloo & City line: Usual weekend closure.

Other closures to be aware of:
DLR: No service Poplar/Stratford International - Woolwich Arsenal/Beckton

Therefore the following stations are closed and will not be in the bucket: Canary Wharf (XR), Queenstown Road, Putney (NR), Wandsworth Town.

Please note as this round contains National Rail stations, a standard Tube Map may not be sufficient for you to plan your challenge. I will have limited copies of the London Connections map available at the meet up (I cannot get any more as NR have stopped producing them) but it would be helpful if challengers downloaded and printed a copy off the TfL website themselves.

Who am I expecting?

I know the Crossrail core is closed on the date of this challenge but I thought I would post this again as it still contains relevant information as to what the criteria are for visiting a station in regards to the NR element of this challenge.

As Crossrail is part of the National Rail network like the Overground (XR is just another TOC), the low level platforms at Liverpool Street and Paddington can be used for the NR purposes of this challenge. If a station is noted with an NR tag then as long as you visit the station on any NR TOC operated train then it is considered valid.

Canary Wharf XR is really the only one of the "core" Crossrail stations that is physically separate from its namesake Underground station. Therefore if say Bond Street appears in the list then as it is considered one station it can be visited by LU or XR as you see fit (as per already the case for stations like West Brompton or Stratford).

I'm hoping to be there.

I did wonder if the starting station was going to be Brent Cross West (although I know that's Zone 3).
However Finchley Road seems an interesting starting point with several options, and has the possibility for an unusual start depending on what comes out of the bucket...

Attending: Lotg, RJSRdg?

Agree that there are many opening moves for the selected start station.

I've thought of another closure affecting this round:

Northern line trains are currently not stopping at Kentish Town, due to the escalators works. Therefore, if Kentish Town is drawn it would have to be visited by National Rail.

Lunaticonthegrass wrote: ↑15 Jan 2024, 07:55 I've thought of another closure affecting this round:

Northern line trains are currently not stopping at Kentish Town, due to the escalators works. Therefore, if Kentish Town is drawn it would have to be visited by National Rail.

GWR LU pass through rules surely ?

Attending: Lotg, RJSRdg? GU
parkrun; Crane Park GU

I'll be there.

I'll be there

Maybe.

(Marylebone NR, anyone? “finishing at Harrow-on-the-Hill…”)

If you get to Marylebone NR between xx27 and xx37, your optimal finishing station is Gerrards Cross!

Andy_JS and David will be there.

Going Underground wrote: ↑15 Jan 2024, 08:26

Lunaticonthegrass wrote: ↑15 Jan 2024, 07:55 I've thought of another closure affecting this round:

Northern line trains are currently not stopping at Kentish Town, due to the escalators works. Therefore, if Kentish Town is drawn it would have to be visited by National Rail.

GWR LU pass through rules surely ?

The pass through rule only applies if the station itself is closed and all lines are skipping it, so it isn't applicable as long as Thameslink does not fail.

greatkingrat wrote: ↑19 Jan 2024, 15:31 If you get to Marylebone NR between xx27 and xx37, your optimal finishing station is Gerrards Cross!

If doing this, please remember that Gerrards Cross is outside Zone 6 and so will require an additional ticket.

How easy is it to buy a Boundary Zone ticket from various ticket machines? I have tried using GTR / LU machines only.