tubechallenge.com

StonePony wrote:I am liking the look of this challenge - any event which has a rule to stop after an amount of time and go directly to the pub is good in my book (I have a feeling I may well hit the 4 hour limit.)

In my noobie way I was thinking about what i might need for the endeavour and came up with what seems a short checklist of

Pen/Pencil
Tube Map
Stopwatch
Bottle of Water
Some Snacks
Stout Walking Boots
Z1 Travelcard (if such a thing still exists)
Beer Tokens

I think that covers the essentials or am I missing something vital?

To be fair, if I can manage a sub-4 hour time on my own on my first attempt (although I did do a couple of R15s beforehand) anybody can! (The only reason I only just managed it last year was down to the heat and that I did end up at one point wandering aimlessly round Earl's Court station mildly confused with dehydration... plus a few crap changes)

As for your list, well I agree with Tubeguru that trainers are better than walking boots. I'd also suggest that snacks aren't needed either except maybe a packet of mints or something. Although four hours is a long time, when you're on the network it does go rather quickly and you'll find that you won't really have eaten anything. Once the challenge is over, pop into a Maccy Ds or something before getting to the pub (Although I will gladly be corrected, I don't think the H&G do food by the time we get there post-challenge).

You may find that a Z1-2 travelcard is better than just a Z1 one as you might find you end up just poking into Z2 a couple of times. Of course, you could probably wing it with a Z1 regardless, but we're not allowed to say that here. If you can get a travelcard from a Network Rail ticket office rather than a London Underground one, that might be better as they seem to be printed on more robust card than LU tickets - I'm actually planning on getting mine when I get my train ticket up from Tiverton... on the Thursday... (I know I can get travelcards for the same day, not sure about for different days. Only one way to find out!) (Also, if you're called Going Underground, you might want to get a spare ticket just in case the one you have dies... not that that ever happens of course... )

Also, take more than one pen... last year I lost two pens on my way around with them falling out of my pocket.

There isn't a Z1 only travelcard anyway, it would need to be a Zone 1-2 travelcard,

With it being a Friday, the H&G are normally still just about serving food when we first get back to the pub.

If you do the R15 the next day, definitely buy food at some point from somewhere else!

Happy with the rules but would just like to reiterate a couple of points

You MUST take the first train for your desired route AFTER 1300hrs, this was a bone of contention a couple of years ago with some teams waiting at their first interchange for several minutes being caught by other teams that had left from the same platform/line but on a later train, thus gaining a time advantage.

Tangy states to stop the watch with "foot on platform" so this should be clear, BUT if you have for example started at Temple and headed West and your last station to visit was Blackfriars then you would have to stop the watch at Temple and not when the train was "passing through" Blackfriars

I thank you

The 4 hour limit was introduced in -09 when I was responsible for the rules. The reason is not primarily to cater for the slowest contestants, but rather to put a limit to how long you should wait for a section to resume after a temporary suspension, should that happen. As many of you remember we had a person-under-train incident on Victoria Line in -07 (was it?). My team and several others simply gave up, while some teams waited for it to reopen (and, of course, a lucky few had routes that had already covered the section when the incident occurred). With the 4 hour limit, it would had been easy to decide if or for how long to wait...

That Victoria line closure was what cost me the win that year.

greatkingrat wrote:There isn't a Z1 only travelcard anyway, it would need to be a Zone 1-2 travelcard,

I'm going to use my Travelcard for getting into London
Will this work on NR trains?

ie Waterloo to Vauxhall

So would I be able to get a travelcard printed on NR ticketing stock from Liverpool Street NR ticket office? Or would they just send me to the LU concourse?

hwolge wrote:Is this the right spot: 51°31'3.5N 0°04'57W ? Paste in Google Earth / Googlemap to see where it is...

Thats the right place Hakan, though if you follow my simple directions (as detailed in post #42) you shouldn't go wrong!

uefacup81 wrote:So would I be able to get a travelcard printed on NR ticketing stock from Liverpool Street NR ticket office? Or would they just send me to the LU concourse?

Any National Rail station can sell you a paper Travelcard, even a NR station which has a neighbouring Tube station. It is only with Oyster that you usually be directed to the LU ticket office as the NR ticket office does not have the Oyster equipment.

A good point made by Nigel regarding contact details on the day. I should have put my mobile number in the PM messages I sent out to those that registered.

Obviously, many of the "regular" challengers will already have my mobile number but if you are new to this challenge or simply require it again then drop me (or Roger) a PM and we will reply.

The Raven wrote:

greatkingrat wrote:There isn't a Z1 only travelcard anyway, it would need to be a Zone 1-2 travelcard,

I'm going to use my Travelcard for getting into London
Will this work on NR trains?

ie Waterloo to Vauxhall

Yep its fine

Hello all

Just before I head off to Lyme Regis for a few days, with limited computer access. I would like to say if you have any further queries about Zone 1 2011 can you please forward them to Roger aka rhubarbrhubarb in my absence.

I will be returning Thursday evening to sort some last minute stuff out before gladly welcoming you all at Liverpool Street on Friday.

See you there.
Tangy.

greatkingrat wrote:There isn't a Z1 only travelcard anyway, it would need to be a Zone 1-2 travelcard,

Last year, I just used my PAYG Oyster and it worked fine, as up to 90 minutes is allowed on any leg before a maximum fare is charged, and capping means that you should never be charged more than the cheapest relevant railcard. However, yesterday I had a bit of spare time in the afternoon so I went out to do some research. I know I wasn't moving as quickly as I was wearing a suit, but I was surprised to be charged more than one maximum fare despite not taking over 90 minutes for any one leg. I think the problem is that the unpublicised list of allowed out of station interchanges (OSIs) has changed since last year and if your change on foot between stations is an allowed out of station interchange, it doesn't restart the clock on the 90 minute limit - so beware. This useful unofficial site gives more information: http://www.oyster-rail.org.uk/

I think I will be using a paper ticket this year.

Annoyingly, buying my ticket from Tiverton to Paddington at Barnstaple station earlier on today (strange I know, but I was in Barnstaple, needed to renew my railcard, and as the station is next door to Maplin, it made sense) and they wouldn't sell me a travelcard from there because they can only sell travelcards for same-day travel... Oh well, ne'er mind.