Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Let us know about your latest FULL NETWORK CHALLENGE efforts
User avatar
greatkingrat
All Zones
Posts: 2544
Joined: 11 Feb 2005, 00:35

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by greatkingrat »

It rather depends what the change is!
Soon to be yet another forum train driver
User avatar
Sam
The Twilight Zone
Posts: 4240
Joined: 19 Jul 2005, 13:14
Location: Forest of Dean
Contact:

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Sam »

The Raven wrote:Would a change in timetables make it possible for the record to be broken?
The record is breakable without a change in timetables. I'm sure that any timetable change would not affect a record attempt with a masterminded route. :P
:D First and so far only female solo record holder!! :D

Ze forum's female train driver
palkanetoijala31

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by palkanetoijala31 »

Mastermind do tube routes wow im sure any network changes will affect any workings of a route from time to time u just have to have many routes and 1 works for you go get the record (all i will say is the next person whom breaks it should be a person whom has never held before cos that will make it more special)
Nigel
Zone 5
Posts: 640
Joined: 06 Jan 2008, 19:04
Location: Woodford

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Nigel »

I seem to have stirred things up. I didn't wish to denigrate team efforts - the main point I was trying to make, which I think some agree with, was that a record, although difficult, could still be achieved solo.
User avatar
Sam
The Twilight Zone
Posts: 4240
Joined: 19 Jul 2005, 13:14
Location: Forest of Dean
Contact:

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Sam »

Yes of course a record can still be achieved solo, without a shadow of doubt IMO :)
:D First and so far only female solo record holder!! :D

Ze forum's female train driver
Nigel
Zone 5
Posts: 640
Joined: 06 Jan 2008, 19:04
Location: Woodford

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Nigel »

I've decided to try and do another full network next Wednesday (31 August). It's not the news of the new record that's caused this, as I been thinking about this date for a while, given that the Circle Line is back working now. Ideally, I would have left it a bit later, but some of the possible dates in the Autumn I had considered are no longer free for me.

I'm certain that I can't beat 16h29m at the moment, as I need to be a bit fitter to achieve that sort of time. So I will just go out and enjoy myself and try out some ideas. The aim will still be to complete within a reasonable time, but I won't be bothering with all the stuff needed for GWR valaidation purposes.

I'm not sure whether to tweet by text like I did before - I'll see how it goes. Being a Luddite who doesn't have a smart phone, it's all a bit clunky.
Nigel
Zone 5
Posts: 640
Joined: 06 Jan 2008, 19:04
Location: Woodford

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Nigel »

Forget the DLR, my full network attempt tomorrow is going ahead. (Looking at the service at the moment, it's a good job it isn't today.)

I've now got to the stage (i.e. the day before) when I'm thinking to myself do I really want to do this, am I mad? I've got to get up before dawn in the morning, when I could be lying in bed for a few more hours. There's a fair chance I won't even complete, and even if I do I will be tired and sore. Does anyone else have this self doubt the day before, or is it just me?
User avatar
Going Underground
The Twilight Zone
Posts: 8793
Joined: 11 Apr 2006, 12:24
Location: Down in a tube station at midnight.
Contact:

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Going Underground »

Hi Nigel

Good luck tomorrow :D Yes I find myself torn between varying states of excitement and then that horrible thought when you are trying to get some sleep the night before going to bed way earlier than is normal about getting up in the middle of the night to set off on what is more often than not a fruitless, but none the less normally a fun day.....If that makes sense :!:
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
User avatar
Sam
The Twilight Zone
Posts: 4240
Joined: 19 Jul 2005, 13:14
Location: Forest of Dean
Contact:

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Sam »

The getting up part is easier for me as am used to being up early for shifts!! Sometimes a challenge is actually a lie in :lol:
:D First and so far only female solo record holder!! :D

Ze forum's female train driver
User avatar
Starkey7
All Zones
Posts: 2382
Joined: 30 Aug 2005, 00:04
Location: Bath, Somerset

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Starkey7 »

scrxisi wrote:... I am back to really wondering if I have all my bricks on my wagon, so to speak :)
:lol:
palkanetoijala31

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by palkanetoijala31 »

Nigel wrote:Forget the DLR, my full network attempt tomorrow is going ahead. (Looking at the service at the moment, it's a good job it isn't today.)

I've now got to the stage (i.e. the day before) when I'm thinking to myself do I really want to do this, am I mad? I've got to get up before dawn in the morning, when I could be lying in bed for a few more hours. There's a fair chance I won't even complete, and even if I do I will be tired and sore. Does anyone else have this self doubt the day before, or is it just me?
To be honest i have gone past the madness stage and just enjoy it nowadays when i was doing one every other 3 weeks i must admit i thought i had gone mad!But Good luck tomorrow it takes a special sort of gumption to attempt more than 3 times especially as you went out same time as the last record holder and could have just followed him!
Nigel
Zone 5
Posts: 640
Joined: 06 Jan 2008, 19:04
Location: Woodford

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Nigel »

I'm home now after after a satisfying, but towards the end very frustrating, day. Those who were following on Twitter will know that I completed in a time of 17h 07m 37s. Once I've sorted myself out a bit, I'll provide a full write up here on what happened.

Apologies that I failed to reply to most of your tweets yesterday, especially the one offering support, but only having a basic phone I only seem to get some of them forwarded by text (I suspect I probably need to change my Twitter settings). Also my wife, to whom I was separately copying my tweets as texts, tells me that she is not sure that everyting I sent actually appeared in the Twitter timeline - it does at times appear a little unreliable.
Nigel
Zone 5
Posts: 640
Joined: 06 Jan 2008, 19:04
Location: Woodford

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Nigel »

Yesterday was a real rollercoaster of a day, my fortunes fluctuating up and down, seemingly at almost every change. The important thing was that I managed to complete with a time of 17h 07m 37s. In doing this I went from at one stage fearing that I may not be able to finish before the last train, to just a few hours later appearing to be running on a record beating schedule.

The core principles of my route were the same as the one for my completion in April with a couple of minor tweaks (and a different start time). That said, not all the sections, as it turned out, were done in the same order (as the basis of my route planning is to be flexible enough to minimise wasted time doing the ‘difficult’ three of the Hainault Loop, Mill Hill East and Olympia).

I was also lucky that there were no major service disruptions affecting me. I heard an announcement about 10.30 that the Richmond branch was suspended due to a ‘serious incident’ at Richmond, which sounded ominous, but the next service announcement I heard about a couple of hours later was that there was a good service on all lines. Later there was a person ill on a train at Euston which was causing delays on the Victoria Line – classified as minor delays when I used it, but nonetheless causing me a few problems (see below).

The main features of the attempt were as follows:
- My starting train left nearly a minute late, which is helpful for one’s time, especially as it had no consequences for my first connection.
- Thereafter for the next few hours everything went to plan. The first run of the day confirmed I had got a little less fit recently, but nonetheless it was made with time to spare.
- A bit of quick thinking early on enabled me unexpectedly to get one train ahead. I knew that it wouldn’t in the end lead to a better schedule, but it did mean that some of the early changes were now more comfortable, and my second run of the day was a lot less pressurised than it might have been.
- My attempt in May, which I aborted at Olympia, started unravelling with a cancelled C2C train. This time I thought I was comfortably on schedule to catch it, only for my connecting train to be held for three minutes outside the station. This time the C2C left absolutely bang on time and I missed it by three seconds. This was not in itself a disaster as I knew I had missed it (whereas in May it was just shown as being late rather than cancelled). But as in May, the luck then seemed to leave me for a couple of hours with a succession of tight connections missed that I had made on my April attempt.
- I was getting a sense of déjà vu, fearing another Olympia disaster, when I had a stroke of luck. I caught a service running a few minutes late which put me back on schedule for making an Olympia connection from Earl’s Court rather than risk leaving it until later with a run to Olympia. However, my train approaching Earl’s Court then got held for about four minutes coming into the station, just enough for me to see the Olympia train departing as the doors on my train opened. But then I noticed the Olympia shuttle going the other way to HSK way was still in platform although it should have left five minutes earlier, which was quite useful.
- In the end I did have to run to Olympia, but this time it was comfortable and I made it with a few minutes to spare. In fact, all of my connections with the ‘difficult three’ involved no more than a four minute wait.
- I decided from the outset that I was not fit enough yesterday to run all the end of line links. However, rather than just waiting for a bus I would try a new strategy of using busses where I could, but combined with judicious runs where necessary. This was spectacularly successful and on three of the four ‘traditional’ joinings of the ends of lines, the time from arriving to leaving on an outgoing train was faster than anyone could have run. I realise that a lot of this was luck, but it did mean that I pulled myself from being behind my own most optimistic schedule to beating it.
- I was really thwarted by the Central Line turning trains round short of their final destination according to the Journey Planner. For both of my expected trains to Epping and West Ruislip they turned out to be terminating instead at Loughton and Ruislip Gardens. This alone cost me 20 minutes. Even more frustratingly at Epping they appeared to be only using one platform, so my incoming train sat outside the station for a few minutes to allow the other to leave, again missing a connection.
- At my home station of Woodford my wife and son came to say hello. I had come round the Loop, and on arrival at Woodford (a minute late) the train announcements of all change please came on, except the driver forgot to open the doors. Consequently, I failed to connect with a late running Epping train by a matter of seconds. Now my wife and son could easily have held the doors for this time, but they wouldn’t dream of doing this, nor would I want them to.
- Bizarrely, I managed to catch five different Circle Line trains during the course of the day (rather than District or H&C). Every single one of them ran more slowly on the bit I travelled than indicated in the Journey Planner.
- Another frustration was the Victoria Line recovering from its ‘person ill on a train earlier’ also turning round some trains short of their destination. This didn’t directly affect me, as I caught one to where I wanted to go, but at every station we were held for a minute or two ‘to regulate gaps in the service behind us’.
- Towards the end of the day another scheduled connection (cross-platform – doors closing as ours opened) was missed due to late running.
- The final annoyance was the Piccadilly Line out to Heathrow. I supposedly had a comfortable connection to a T4 train, with a T5 train before it. The T5 failed to show and at the time for the T4 train a T5 train appeared which then sat around for five minutes ‘awaiting management’. The indicator boards were giving conflicting information about the sequence of following trains and I wondered about doing T5 before T4 but by the time I got to Hatton Cross they were saying that there was a T4 train after mine, which I decided to catch. In addition to the normal hanging around at T4 it then sat around for another five minutes in the tunnel outside T123 – when it did come into platform at T123 I hadn’t realised but it had come in on the normal platform for trains to T5 (I didn’t know that they could do this) so I did a cross platform dash and just stopped myself in time from leaping onto a train which was about to depart back to London.

So while I’m pleased with my time yesterday, there is also a big sense of ‘if only’. If from around 7pm onwards everything had run to Journey Planner schedule I would have finished inside the new World Record (with no tight connections). But I guess that’s the beauty of tube challenging you swing from triumph to disaster – I wouldn’t have been in that position at 7pm without some very good luck during the afternoon.

Other amusing highlights from the day:
- In the morning on a section of track shared with National Rail, having a steam train go past the train I was on.
- On one service I was approached by someone who flashed their ID and asked to see my ticket. However, he wasn’t a revenue inspector, but instead doing market research into people’s journeys. It would have been quite fun to explain how I had got there, but I suspect his form wouldn’t have been long enough! However, I didn’t meet his quota and he didn’t want to talk to me in detail, which was fortunate as I was due to get off at the next stop and was desperately trying to plan my options.
- Just after I started one of my runs in the evening I was overtaken by a jogger in proper kit who immediately got twenty yards ahead of me. However about four hundred yards later I caught him up. You could see that he wasn’t pleased by having an old boy, carrying a rucksack, wearing a normal button up shirt and trousers outpacing him on his run.
- Also later in the evening while waiting at a station I saw two Domino’s Pizza Delivery people appear on the platform each carrying wrapped-up pizza and animatedly discussing the time of the next train. I began to wonder if someone else was doing a challenge, and had been following the recent discussion on the forum about ordering takeaways to be delivered. However, when the train came they got on, and got off at the next stop. Very odd, perhaps their delivery motorbike had been stolen?

So when will I go out again? I’m a little stiff today, as I did have to do a few hard runs I wasn’t expecting. I do have a couple of day spare in three or four weeks’ time – so maybe then?
User avatar
Going Underground
The Twilight Zone
Posts: 8793
Joined: 11 Apr 2006, 12:24
Location: Down in a tube station at midnight.
Contact:

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by Going Underground »

Excellent write up Nigel and a very good time, although could have been a whole lot better by the sounds of things..
A typical and classic day of highs and lows...
Reading your DLR thread I used to have a household that was interested in tube challenge and the like but these days its just me :(
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
geofftech
All Zones
Posts: 1102
Joined: 03 Feb 2005, 20:35
Contact:

Re: Full network attempt(s) in 2011

Post by geofftech »

this is a great read, thanks Nigel.

too many questions to ask really ... so i'll go with the most pertinent one (which you may or may not reveal) is how fast you had hoped you might do it it, or how fast it might it have been if things had run better for you after 7pm... 16:18, or 16:08 ??!?

do you also think overall you got lucky (with buses, etc...) and that the same route on a different day would be slower... or faster?

and yes : trains sitting outside of stations for 2/3/4 minutes making you miss your connection (sounds like you had that a LOT yesterday). we've all been there, and i know your pain!!
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests