tubechallenge.com

I thought I'd let everyone know that yesterday myself and two friends attempted the all stations challenge (not visiting Shoreditch) and finished with a respectable time of 18:25:44.

It was a very tiring but enjoyable day for all.

41 seconds behind the record although we obviously benefited from not visiting Shoreditch.

I will try to put some photos up somewhere within a few days for those who are interested.

That's a fantastic time MJ - will you reveal any details of your route/what happened?

We started at Amersham and finished at Heathrow, as with any attempt we had our share of good and bad points

Good points

We departed from Harrow and Wealdstone exactly on schedule
Very quick change onto ELL at Canada Water
2 minute wait for a Woodford via Hainault train
16 second change from Woodford via Hainault train to an Epping train

Bad points

11 minute wait at Richmond after waiting 6 minutes at Gunnersbury
Just missing an immediate change at Brixton
12 minute wait for a Circle line train
20 minute wait at High Barnet for a bus
C2C from Upminster not stopping at West Ham, we had to wait 9 minutes for the next train

Well done MJ

Looks like you had a very good Hainhault (sic) loop but a few lengthy delays elsewhere, sound like a typical mix of luck you get on a full network attempt...

Were you actually trying for a GWR and logging all the times, taking witness statements etc.. or just trying to complete

We were going for the GWR although we realised that Guinness probably wouldn't accept an attempt that didn't visit Shoreditch (Shoreditch wasn't mentioned in the set of rules that they sent me)

Actually the loop didn't go that well because when we arrived at Hainault the train just sat at the platform for 7 minutes before leaving. I'm not sure if this is standard practice however.

MJ wrote:(Shoreditch wasn't mentioned in the set of rules that they sent me)

that's interesting. GWR are so disorganised.

Well done!

MJ wrote:(Shoreditch wasn't mentioned in the set of rules that they sent me)

Interesting indeed. I assume thay also mentioned that Edgware Road and Shepherd´s Bush count as two, BUT they don't mention Paddington and Hammersmith...

I find the rules close to amusing -

Guinness wrote:The record is for the fastest time to cover all networks of the London Underground. The (SW Trains) Waterloo and City line, the (West Anglia) Finsbury Park to Moorgate line and the Docklands Light Railway are not included.

The inconsistencies here are amasing. It's been a few years since W&C was included. Worse, it's totally irrelevant since only stations are counted (but they state "cover all networks"). And so on...

Did they still have the obsolete Heathrow closure paragraph at the end of the document?

hwolge wrote:Interesting indeed. I assume thay also mentioned that Edgware Road and Shoreditch count as two, BUT they don't mention Paddington and Hammersmith...

I assume you meant Shepherd's Bush.

MJ: Congratulations on this! Ive had 5 (i think) attempts (including tube relief, so lets make that 4) and have yet to cover all stations (with or without shoreditch)!

hwolge wrote: Did they still have the obsolete Heathrow closure paragraph at the end of the document?

Guinness supplied me the rules again in February this year and I asked them just before we made our 5th April attempt if the rules were still valid. They confirmed that the rules are still valid, and these are dated December 2005 and still include all the Terminal 4 nonsense.

As we have always said, Guinness really don't care about this record so can't be bothered to update the rules.

Of course I meant Shepherd´s Bush and nothing else... (Original post edited!)

I'm surprised you elected to include Shoreditch then! And in my book there are several minutes to gain from not doing all 4 doubles...

They sent me the same set of rules in December. Amusingly the rules state that you can use British Rail, even though British Rail no longer exists.

MJ wrote:They sent me the same set of rules in December. Amusingly the rules state that you can use British Rail, even though British Rail no longer exists.

I still sometimes go to put BR when posting