Advice wanted for first ever attempt - please!

[Perry Vale]

Just before Christmas I bumped into some guys on the Northern Line southbound from Stockwell in the middle of (I think) a South London challenge. They (from reading things I believe it may have been Soup Dragon and friends) pointed me towards this site/forum and with a friend, we will be undertaking our first attempt at the full challenge some time in April.

Although we have read lots of useful and interesting advice, there's a few things I've so far been unable to work out, so I was hoping that we may get some answers to the following questions:
- what is the definition of an independent witness?
- where is the train number, and does it matter if you don't have a record of every one?
- do you need to inform anyone in advance for a WR attempt?
- on a good day, how close do people get to the time their route is supposed to take? (so if our route takes 18 hours on paper, what could we realistically expect to do it in on the day)
- for how much of the day do you need a support team?

As you can probably see, we haven't done anything like this before, or have a clue what we are letting ourselves in for, but we are raising some good money for a charity, and want to make sure that we do everything correctly for a WR attempt. We've read a lot on the forum, but any answers and any other tips would be really welcome. Thanks in advance.

[snudge27]

Just before Christmas I bumped into some guys on the Northern Line southbound from Stockwell in the middle of (I think) a South London challenge. They (from reading things I believe it may have been Soup Dragon and friends) pointed me towards this site/forum and with a friend, we will be undertaking our first attempt at the full challenge some time in April.

Although we have read lots of useful and interesting advice, there's a few things I've so far been unable to work out, so I was hoping that we may get some answers to the following questions:
- what is the definition of an independent witness? Someone who is uninvolved with the challenge and is generally unknown to you
- where is the train number, and does it matter if you don't have a record of every one? The train number is the three digit number displayed under the cab on the front of the train
- do you need to inform anyone in advance for a WR attempt? You need to register your attempt on the GWR website
- on a good day, how close do people get to the time their route is supposed to take? (so if our route takes 18 hours on paper, what could we realistically expect to do it in on the day)
- for how much of the day do you need a support team?

As you can probably see, we haven't done anything like this before, or have a clue what we are letting ourselves in for, but we are raising some good money for a charity, and want to make sure that we do everything correctly for a WR attempt. We've read a lot on the forum, but any answers and any other tips would be really welcome. Thanks in advance.

[palkanetoijala31]

My advice is to dry run parts of ur route beforehand if possible and take any advice people give u there are many little snippets of short cuts and carriage and door positions some well known others not.Learn to pace yourself in running there is no point sprinting out of a station if u know the run is 5 or 6 mins and plenty of sneaky buses that people know about even i know of 1 that other people dont.

if u ran into Mr Soup Dragon on dec22nd was i with them at the point of not?i think i was wearing a red ferrari top that day?

[Going Underground]

Hello and welcome to the forum.....

To answer your other questions;

On a good day you could come fairly close to your estimated time, but good days are very few and far between......Most attempts are around an hour outside the estimate are or non-completions....

The support team can be of use all day, although some attempts are done without any support... The support team come in handy for carrying your bags and heavy items while your are doing the runs, going ahead and getting information, getting any train numbers you have missed at interchanges(the 3 digit number is also on the rear of the train), providing food and drink during the day.......

When you get the rules you will see that you need an independent person to start and stop the stopwatch....

Good luck

[hwolge]

About estimated time...

This is indeed a complex topic. My experience is that you should not look too much at the exact departure times (except early morning and possibly late evening), but rather look at the service frequency. So, when you estimate your route you should for each change add the actual time to move between platforms to the average wait time (or half the service interval for simplicity). My experience is that you end up with quite a realistic estimate this way.

Also, the bus time tables are extremely inexact. Quite often the listed journey times are fairly pessimistic. Real life recceing at the expected time of day is invaluable!

Good Luck in your future attempts!

[dudey]

Hi there! It looks like the other guys have pretty much answered your questions, but I just wanted to say hello as I believe I was one of the ones you met down on the Northern Line back in December. It was the team of myself, Soup Dragon and Dr Who, and i think the other team with Going Underground et al. were in the next carriage at the time. Anyway, it's good to see that we're not alone in being interested in this strange little hobby.....

[Dr Who]

Ah yes I remember now nice to hear from you. I think you must be the first person we have talked to on a challenge that has then joined the forum.

[Perry Vale]

Thanks for all the responses, welcomes and answers – really appreciated.

There were three people in the carriage (Soup Dragon, dudey and Dr Who I guess), and yes, Going Underground et al must have been the other team who were in the next carriage along. I was with my girlfriend who thinks you/we are all mad.

We did our first dry run yesterday (Chesham, Watford, Amersham) and discovered a few interesting things, like just how far away they are, and that there are stations outside the M25.

The ‘independent person’ still concerns me. Does a work colleague of my fellow challenger (Rick Mansworth) count as 'uninvolved with the challenge and generally unknown to you'?– I’ve never met her, but, obviously, he has. Can I check this out with Guinness in advance, or do they not reply to questions like that?

[nozzacook]

The Independant witness has to be somebody independant of the challenge (i.e. not doing the challenge) but can be known to you as this is the case with most challengers stopwatch operators.

[Perry Vale]

Another question. Do we need to contact Guinness in advance or only if successful? I have registered on the site, but it is making little sense to me. Thanks again in advance.

[Soup Dragon]

Yes you have to register your attempt beforehand and Guinness will give you a claim ID together with the full set of rules for "Record time all London Underground stations".

You need to click on: Make a Record Attempt, this then takes you through several steps and gives you the option of registering a Normal Claim, or going for Fastrack. You then have to fill in the record title you are attempting and the planned date, it also asks if the attempt will have any media coverage and if it is for charity. Once you have submitted this Guinness send you a claim ID together with a Record Agreement which needs to be completed and faxed back to Guinness. You will receive confirmation from Guinness that they have received your agreement and sometime after they will send you the rules for the challenge you are attempting.

If you have not yet received the rules please PM me and I can forward you the latest rules in a .pdf format.