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Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 25 Oct 2020, 10:51
by jrparkin
Several sporting disciplines have a Grand Slam like Tennis and Golf. What could be the Tube Challenging equivalent

The current GWR challenges seem a good place to start, but would you add/take away any. We could say London, Paris, New York for definite but would we include Boston, Berlin, Munich and Copenhagen S Train or replace them with Moscow and Tokyo for instance

I'd choose the seven GWR challenges personally, but that could be it's own category

Re: Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 25 Oct 2020, 23:52
by RJSRdg
On a smaller scale, a few years ago we did the 'Triple Crown' challenge - quickest combined time for doing the DLR, Bottle and Tramlink Challenges (in any order).

Re: Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 26 Oct 2020, 21:22
by al
And good fun it was too! If only my tram had arrived 10 seconds earlier at Elmers End...

Re: Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 26 Oct 2020, 21:58
by Lunaticonthegrass
jrparkin wrote: 25 Oct 2020, 10:51 We could say London, Paris, New York for definite but would we include Boston, Berlin, Munich and Copenhagen S Train or replace them with Moscow and Tokyo for instance
One would need a rather large wallet to do all that!

As to the Triple Crown - It sounds fun, but I'd describe that as a triathalon. I hope another is organised at some point so that I can have a go at it.

Re: Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 27 Oct 2020, 09:21
by trains 500
al wrote: 26 Oct 2020, 21:22 And good fun it was too! If only my tram had arrived 10 seconds earlier at Elmers End...
oh no what happened im interested ??

Re: Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 27 Oct 2020, 12:23
by Going Underground
Loved The Triple Crown :D Even gave up a local Exeter match to attend....

Re: Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 27 Oct 2020, 13:56
by xcooler123
jrparkin wrote: 25 Oct 2020, 10:51 Several sporting disciplines have a Grand Slam like Tennis and Golf. What could be the Tube Challenging equivalent

The current GWR challenges seem a good place to start, but would you add/take away any. We could say London, Paris, New York for definite but would we include Boston, Berlin, Munich and Copenhagen S Train or replace them with Moscow and Tokyo for instance

I'd choose the seven GWR challenges personally, but that could be it's own category
Using GWR as a starting point may seem a good idea but they do like to chop and change what they deem as "significant" records for metro systems depending on applications, justification, judges views, etc. at the time (and that's before we go into the politics of GWR but now is not the time).

The common theme all 'grand slams' have is that the events that count have some importance, usually historical. In addition, there has to be some documented history of tube challenging there. London and New York both qualify under these definitions and also have long been recognised by GWR. Paris has had significantly less documented attempts than those but the first one can be traced back to the 60's. Given it's historical importance as a metro system, size and complexity, it probably does qualify.

After that, the issue is that documented attempts for 'completing a metro system in the quickest time possible' for other networks have only occurred in the last 20 years (for the majority). This timeframe is not considered 'historical' in many other areas of life and therefore probably does not qualify under this definition. Regarding importance, a number of networks can lay some sort of claim to this -
  • Beijing is the longest by length and has the largest annual ridership of any metro system in the world
  • Chicago, Budapest, Glasgow, Boston and Berlin are all older than New York
This is just two examples of I'm sure many.

Even if you just consider London, Paris and New York, I don't even know if anyone has attempted all three (there maybe one or two people I know of but can't confirm) let alone held the record for all three (at any point or simultaneously, people have held the record for 2/3 at some point and I think simultaneously). This shows you just how difficult it is to do and therefore on that basis in my opinion, you're probably best just considering those three as a 'grand slam'.

Re: Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 27 Oct 2020, 13:58
by al
trains 500 wrote: 27 Oct 2020, 09:21
al wrote: 26 Oct 2020, 21:22 And good fun it was too! If only my tram had arrived 10 seconds earlier at Elmers End...
oh no what happened im interested ??
It meant I missed my next tram (by the 10 seconds), which would have connected smoothly into a half hourly rail service. I was therefore of course half an hour down on where I should have been. The tram was about 3 mins late getting into Elmers End in total - it was such an agonising crawl into the platform! It would have been very close for first place if I was half an hour ahead. Never mind, such is tube challenging!

Re: Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 18 Nov 2020, 12:11
by Golf
A grand slam of tube challenge should be 4.

1. A full network record or just a completion (thoughts on that?)

2. A zone 1 day win

3. A random 15 championship win.

4. A smaller record like dlr,zone 1,south of thames etc etc.

Re: Grand Slam of Tube Challenging

Posted: 18 Nov 2020, 13:12
by trains 500
i like that idea