Tube Challenge practice/prelude

[Das]

Hello I will be shortly attempting another Tube Challenge but Ill bore you first with my 1st attempt last year and in this report my solo practice run.
I had decided I need to get to know where everything is before my solid attempt,exits times ect..better to make mistakes now I thought and I certainly made a few.
Thursday 13th March I drove the short distance from my home in New Milton to where my wife works at a care home in Barton on Sea for a coffee and a chat before leaving at 02.30 for the long drive to Amersham.Still too early on arrival and cold outside I stayed in me motor(parked up in the mini multi story car park next to the station) for an hour and dozed off.
I entered the station and my all day all zone travelcard didn't respond in the machine(it worked everywhere else),but I was invited to jump over the barriers and was helped with advice at which platform my 1st tube was leaving from.
05.28 Amersham - Chalfont and Latimer 05.31 a cold and lonely station i'm sure you will all be familiar with.
05.40 Chalfont and Latimer - Chesham 05.48 and stayed on the same train
05.57 Chesham - Moor Park 06.19 a change of platform in a foggy Hertfordshire.
06.29 Moor Park - Watford 06.36 and a quick dash across to a waiting connection,1 minute in Watford,I didnt realise at this time until my genuine attempt how lucky I was.
06.37 Watford - North Harrow 06.55 commuter gives me a fist salute in response to my Leeds United fleece(we get everywhere),and im off and down the stairs for a run/walk,well more of a walk actually.
07.07 West Harrow - Preston Road 07.13 things start to get busy
07.17 Preston Road - Northwick Park 07.22 when I think of Northwick Park I think of the ugly hospital building where General Pinochet and my Nan stayed,not together I must add.Quick walk to Kenton very well signposted.
07.28 Kenton - Harrow and Wealdstone 07.30 and across the bridge to the other side
07.32 Harrow and Wealdstone - Elephant and Castle 08.23 a very busy train up that emptied at Waterloo.Through the tunnels to the Northern Line platform.
08.26 Elephant and Castle - Oval 08.35 and on to the northbound platform and you could not squeeze any more passengers onto it,I waited for the Mill Hill connection and let 2 earlier tubes depart,a mistake?
08.40 Oval - Mill Hill East 09.27 and stayed on the train,finally a bit of space to myself.
09.32 Mill Hill East - Finchley Central 09.35 a change of platform
09.42 Finchley Central - High Barnet 09.54 Cant help but think of the late Amy Winehouse ,she also had a High Barnet.,boom tish kindly leave the stage.Made the mistake of exiting the station up hill and hence missed a 307 Bus ,but that why I'm here.
10.24 Cockfosters - Hammersmith 11.18 I also made the mistake of walking up to Cockfosters instead of getting the tube up from Oakwood,63 stations done.
11.20 Hammersmith - Richmond 11.34 now there are Romanians trying to sell me tissue paper!
11.44 Richmond - Turnham Green 11.55 change of platform
11.58 Turnham Green - Acton Town 12.02 stay on same platform
12.09 Acton Town - Heathrow T4 12.35 stay on train
12.37 Heathrow T4 - Heathrow T1 2 3 12.45
12.48 Heathrow T 1 2 3 - Heathrow T5 12.52 and a dive across just in time
12.53 Heathrow T5 - Acton Town 13.19 change of platform
13.21 Acton Town - Ealing Broadway 13.27 and i'm sprinting through the crowds
13.34 Ealing Broadway - West Acton 13.36 and i'm up and out the station trotting down the road towards North Ealing,not fast enough though,I can see the Uxbridge train leaving from above the station.
13.53 Nrth Ealing - Rayners Lane 14.08 passing the area many of my family came from and a park I used to frequent near South Harrow.
14.14 Rayners Lane - Uxbridge 14.28 things getting busy again
14.31 Uxbridge - Ickenham 13.36 and a slow walk to West Ruislip,so tempted I was to sneak a quick pint in,I was to be more fortunate on the real challenge a month later.
14.49 West Ruislip - Epping 16.12 the longest journey,a change of platforms.
16.14 Epping - Woodford 16.31 on this one I noticed a young dad with his 2 kids eyeing up the Hainault connection that was also pulling into Woodford so off I followed,very lucky.
16.31 Woodford - Hainault 16.39 and on advice of a local stayed on the train
16.44 Hainault - Wanstead 16.57 and now I make the biggest mistake and I should have known,I couldn't initially find the bus stop for the W12 and when I did it was leaving,lost loads of time and when it did arrive it went through tight estates and got stuck in lots of rush hour traffic,I wont do this one again,now its getting late and dark.
18.26 Walthamstow Central - Warren Street 18.50
18.54 Warren Street - Goodge Street 18.56
18.57 Goodge Street - Edgware 19.27 and on to the most confusing bus station,in the 90s I drove buses round North london when I was based at Potters Bar,I took the 142 bus to Stanmore
19.53 Stanmore - Baker Street 20,22 my final tube on this practice run as I needed to return to my car in Amersham,so a national rail train from Marylebone,197 stations complete but more importance a head full of experience and information,how useful will it be?Err I dont know.

[Nigel]

Thanks for sharing this. May I remind you though, that while Central line trains are not stopping at Tottenham Court Road, for a valid completion Tottenham Court Road has to be visited by a Northern line train.

[Das]

Thanks for that reminder,Ive only just realised how long this engineering work will endure,same thing with Embankment last year.

[palkanetoijala31]

Thanks for sharing this. May I remind you though, that while Central line trains are not stopping at Tottenham Court Road, for a valid completion Tottenham Court Road has to be visited by a Northern line train.

NIGEL i think everybody knows this by now!it compromises very good routes!

[jimbob]

Hi, looking at your bus connections, two tips I had last year was to avoid both the W12 and 142. You can jog from Leytonstone to Leytonstone High Road and get Overground either to W'stow Queens Road and jog to W'stow Central (best if some new footpath has finally opened there) or go on one stop further to Blackhorse Road. From Edgware bus station stop C, 79 and 186 go to Canons Park in about 5 or 6 mins.

[palkanetoijala31]

Hi, looking at your bus connections, two tips I had last year was to avoid both the W12 and 142. You can jog from Leytonstone to Leytonstone High Road and get Overground either to W'stow Queens Road and jog to W'stow Central (best if some new footpath has finally opened there) or go on one stop further to Blackhorse Road. From Edgware bus station stop C, 79 and 186 go to Canons Park in about 5 or 6 mins.

and bus 340

[Das]

cheers for that jimbob

[The Orange One]

Also, a good idea to simply take the next train as far as you can take it along your route - there are a few exceptions to this rule, of course - if there are others I have missed, point them out.

Great Portland Street - if you want to go west along the Circle/H&C and a Met comes first, wait for a Circle/H&C unless the Baker Street-Aldgate section is severely disrupted. If you want to go north on the Met, though, take the first train that comes even if it's a Circle - there are lots of Baker Street terminators on the Met.

South Kensington - if you want to go to HSK and a District comes first, but a Circle is following immediately behind, wait for the Circle - there are two westbound platforms at Gloucester Road and the Circle train may reach the westbound platform before the District train, leaving you 10 minutes down. Vice versa (though in that case the Piccadilly might be more reliable.

Canary Wharf/Barbican/Liverpool Street/Blackfriars/Monument - if you are on an eastbound North Greenwich/eastbound Moorgate/eastbound Aldgate/eastbound Mansion House/eastbound Tower Hill terminator and you are heading onwards down the line (not changing to the Northern at Moorgate or doing the Aldgate run, for example) it may be worth waiting. I'm not certain on this one though.

Northern Line towards Camden Town means it's always worth catching the first train in either direction - two branches make this worthwhile, as is Bakerloo Line towards Queen's Park from either direction - LO trains make this worthwhile.

[palkanetoijala31]

here are a few u missed hugo leytonstone always be aware here going westbound for a train in nearby platform sometimes goes first. at ealing broadway if u know you have a wait for a district to ealing broadway bus or running will 90% be better.

[The Orange One]

To add to Leytonstone, stations you should always be aware that adjacent trains may depart before you:

Aldgate (Circle arrives northbound, Met departs first from bays)
Arnos Grove (Piccadilly southbound)
Earl's Court (District both directions)
Golders Green (Northern southbound)
Leytonstone (westbound as Andi says)
Mansion House (westbound, train may depart from bay)
Moorgate (westbound, trains may depart from bays)
North Greenwich (westbound, train may depart from central road)
Tower Hill (westbound, train may depart from bay)
White City (eastbound Central)

Also possibly East Finchley and Finchley Central, though I am unsure about them?

Barking, Plaistow and Dagenham East also have bay roads from which trains may depart first, but as these are on the other side of the tracks (in the case of Barking, platform 3 is so awkwardly positioned from platform 6 that it takes half a minute to reach it for even the fastest runners), it is not worth going for them.

[greatkingrat]

Kennington (southbound) and Acton Town (eastbound Picc) are another two.

Golders Green northbound is interesting if you are on a terminating train. If there is a train already in the centre platform, then the terminator can be held in the loop outside the station, while the following Edgware train leapfrogs it.

[The Orange One]

How could I forget about Acton Town! I've had two trains alongside there in the past (made the right choice then)! That's happened to me there, Aldgate and Earl's Court, as well as White City and Arnos Grove where I've got it wrong.

I also managed to get ahead of the train I was on at HSK by switching onto a sneaky Olympia train. Don't try this yourself - actually, if you're in a Full Network, you haven't done Olympia and you see an Olympia train, you should probably go get on it ASAP, no matter where you are.

[Das]

Wow,thanks lads,thats a hell of a lot of information,and I will try digest it all,I noticed a attempt was made starting at Heathrow T4,can I just enter the station at stupid o clock or do I need to be on a train from Hatton Cross and can I get a coffee at 3am there?Thats when my cousin is dropping me off.

[Das]

And how do you post photos on this?

[palkanetoijala31]

Wow,thanks lads,thats a hell of a lot of information,and I will try digest it all,I noticed a attempt was made starting at Heathrow T4,can I just enter the station at stupid o clock or do I need to be on a train from Hatton Cross and can I get a coffee at 3am there?Thats when my cousin is dropping me off.

At terminal 4 there is a coffee shop just above the underground by arrivals!