Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

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Iain
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by Iain »

I spent a fun afternoon with Kev, Tangy, Nozza and Garion. They'd had to miss Southwark and Aldgate to get onto the right Chiltern, but were otherwise on schedule when we met soon after one. They lost a couple of minutes putting MHE in doubt at the scheduled time so we doubled back Aldgate. When I left them they were 15 mins down but still had Southwark to pick up.
Full Network: Three completions, Best time: 17:18:18 - thanks Glen, Andrew and Rhys!
Former DLR 45 station record holder (with Glen, Andi and Stevo) - 2h:08m:57s
All lines: 46:11 (6th equal)
Zone One 2:52:51 (thanks Glen)
quisquidillius
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by quisquidillius »

How is this going?
Zone 1 Challenge (Olympics 2016): 3:44:31.67 - we were very unlucky indeed!
South London Challenge (Summer 2016): 1:58:40 - going to try again soon!
All Lines Challenge (August 2016): 44:38 - happy with this ... For now!
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Garion
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by Garion »

I think a few completions (tangy and the others) and three abortions (me, Kev and Nozza)
Zone 1 Winner 2009
02:52:59


Comic Relief 2015
17:42:22
RJSRdg
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by RJSRdg »

On leaving work I phoned Kev to see where everyone had got to. At that stage they were approximately 20 minutes down at Golders Green heading north, so I suggested I would try to meet them at Baker Street when they headed back south, suggesting that Kev ring me at Finchley Road so I could decide whether to try to join them at Baker Street or head for Bank or Liverpool Street. Unfortunately my train into Paddington was delayed owing to a broken down train, however I headed to Baker Street anyway. No call from Kev, so I called him. They were still heading south on the Jub (coach 4) and would be with me in a few minutes. So I stood on the Jub platform, looking for any characters in fancy dress. Unfortunately the doors had already closed by the time I spotted Kev, so all I was able to do was bang on the window as they passed.

Knowing they had to divert via Southwark, I caught the next train to Bond Street, then across to Bank (ironically catching the Woodford via Hainault train they were originally planning to catch!). I waited on the eastbound platform for the others to come up from the Northern Line and was lucky to spot them as they headed to the westbound platform! (To knock out Chancery Lane and St Paul's - which I had already visited!). On the way, Kev explained that they were likely to abort owing to the time already lost, and an incident at Stanmore which had left them all shaken and cost a chunk more time (hence my getting to Baker Street before them despite my late train). Anyhow, we doubled back up to Leytonstone to review our options. As we had missed the Woodford train, I suggested doing Epping first and coming back round via Hainault, which we did while reviewing options for the connection to Walthamstow. The next GOBLIN was in three minutes (too early) or 18 (long wait). One online timetable suggested the 287 could be done in 16 minutes so we headed to the stop only to see the sign say 28. "Don't worry," said Tangy, "It doesn't take that long this time of night...." (Famous last words).

So much time was lost by the time we reached Walthamstow, and several of the gang were pretty exhausted, so the decision was taken to head back to Green Park, then back out on the Picc to collect cars etc, and scrub the rest. I opted to bail at KXSP, but before I did, heard Tangy deliberating whether or not to go for the completion anyway!

I didn't exactly cover myself in glory at KXSP, as I took the wrong exit from the Vic and ended up heading for the Picc instead of the subsurface! Cut down the Picc platform then up the escalator/stairs to the SS lines (not a complete waste of time as both Vic/Picc and Picc/SS come into my FNC route so it helped me keep those changes in my head!). Second mistake was to catch a Met instead of an HCL/Circle, an error I only realised after the doors had closed at Baker Street.... So an extra little diversion via Finchley Road, still got to Padd in good time for the 22:15 and home by 23:00.
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
xcooler123
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by xcooler123 »

FNC - Attempt 2

Start - Heathrow Terminal 4
Finish - Amersham

A fantastic day mixed with a little bit of frustration. This was attempted with Andrew Chilcraft.

This was my first FNC where I had planned the route myself and also the first FNC where I started from Heathrow Terminal 4. I was a little bit nervous as I hadn't tested this route out at all so it was a gamble, especially with a sub-17 hour finishing time. Nevertheless, a group of us set off from HT4 and covered off the first few stations before leaving at South Ealing to catch the bus down to Richmond. Sadly the bus was on a diversionary route so we miss the required train at Richmond by about 1 min :cry: We caught the next train out of there to head up towards Olympia. We knew we need to catch a certain Olympia service to keep us on track which we did thanks to the help of Nozzacook! With that problematic station out of the way, we left the others behind and knocked off a few more stations in the City before heading out to complete some of the outlier stations. As the hours passed by the route was holding up very well until we reached White City where our train was held for too long and therefore we missed another connection. Once getting back on route we worked out we were about 12 mins down on schedule but knew if we made some time up in the City later on we could still get back on schedule. Fast forward a couple of hours and on a train out to Upminster where we discover that we are back on schedule :D We also re-worked some stations later to give us a chance of making some more time up. More hours passed and we were still on schedule, the changes were all good and some really quick ones as well (<20 seconds cross platform at Stanmore was a highlight). Finally we ended up on the Bakerloo and worked out that we were now 12 mins ahead of schedule...

...until Stonebridge Park. 12 hours (!) in and we find an Overground train has ended up in front of the Bakerloo line train we needed. By the time we had got to Harrow & Wealdstone we were 5 mins down on schedule with little room to make up time. We continued on hoping Lady Luck would shine on us but despite our best attempts we reached North Harrow knowing that the sub-17 hour time was gone. We carried on and finished at Amersham after snaffling a dirty Chinese takeaway at C&L.

Despite not being a sub-17 hour time it was still a PB for me for a FNC... by 54 seconds :lol: A PB is still a PB... I was also very heartened that my planning translates well into the real world and learnt a lot whilst I was out there. I will be attempting this route again in the future...

Time - 17:25:11
David
5 x FNC attempts, Best Tine - 17:25:11 (Comic Relief 2017)
20 x R15, Best Time - 02:02:46
2017/18 & 2018/19 R15 Champion
4 x Alternative Challenge Records (LO, Z1&2, SofT & Compass)
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tractakid
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by tractakid »

Was a fantastic day! Especially the first 12 hours :D
*insert boasting about notable tube accomplishments here*
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Iain
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by Iain »

The NW corner finishes are a bit of a pig - missing a train by a couple of minutes at North Harrow can knock you back half an hour plus, and from what I've looked at, unless you get there early, they don't synch up well.

It was a really fun day, sorry I didn't get to see you but I had no idea where you were (I lost your number when my phone died).
Full Network: Three completions, Best time: 17:18:18 - thanks Glen, Andrew and Rhys!
Former DLR 45 station record holder (with Glen, Andi and Stevo) - 2h:08m:57s
All lines: 46:11 (6th equal)
Zone One 2:52:51 (thanks Glen)
Elsie
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by Elsie »

That sounds like a fun day :)

Any pictures?
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by Going Underground »

Elsie wrote:That sounds like a fun day :)

Any pictures?
I stuck a few on the event page on FB....
Twice former full network GWR holder and former Zone 1 Olympic and World Record holder with The Raven and Soupie
Tube personality of the year 2009
Twice Winter Olympic Biathlon Gold Medalist with The Beer Baron
2008 All Lines Olympic Gold
Elsie
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by Elsie »

Darn!

I don't do Facebook :?
Elsie
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tangy
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by tangy »

I did complete the challenge, despite having a train go out of service at White City due to having no driver to take it forward, 10 minutes lost there... though had my best Ealing Broadway less than minute in and out (miss that the next District would have been 12 minutes)!

18:42:58 final time.
Adjudicator of the Alternative Challenges and webmaster of the Tube Challenge "Top Times" website at www.explorerticket.co.uk/tubechallenge

This is a Central line train to "Woodford via Hainault"- sadly, not no more!

Tangy.
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Re: Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Friday 24th March

Post by Going Underground »

Elsie wrote:Darn!

I don't do Facebook :?
PM me you e-mail will forward :)
Twice former full network GWR holder and former Zone 1 Olympic and World Record holder with The Raven and Soupie
Tube personality of the year 2009
Twice Winter Olympic Biathlon Gold Medalist with The Beer Baron
2008 All Lines Olympic Gold
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