DrainBrain's challenge attempts

[DrainBrain]

I couldn't attend the recent Zone 1 Challenge day, so I decided I would do my own Z1 challenge on Monday 3 June.

This was my first ever tube challenge of any sort. I'm familiar with the tube map, but not with the actual tube. I didn't run (though I do walk briskly), and I didn't worry about the correct carriage (since I haven't got a clue about that anyway).

My aim was just to finish, which I did, taking 3h 17m 5.7s.

I adapted a route from this post (thanks palkanetoijala31), deciding to start at Vauxhall and end at Southwark as both those stations are near Waterloo where my main line train arrives/departs.

Vauxhall > Victoria > Sloane Square > Aldgate East > Aldgate (foot) > Farringdon > Chancery Lane (foot) > Bank > King's X > Earl's Court > Bayswater > Queensway (foot) > Oxford Circus > Paddington (Bak/Dist) > Paddington (H&C) (foot) > Euston Square > Euston (foot) > Waterloo > Elephant & Castle > London Bridge > Southwark

Lowlights:
Walking the wrong way at Farringdon to a closed exit.
Sardine-like conditions on the Central line heading to Bank.
A coach-load of tourists in the way at Queensway.
An on-train delay at Baker Street.

Highlights:
Reasonably good changes just about everywhere.
I got to the end!

Here's the full account. If you've got important things to do, like watching paint dry, or grass grow, or maybe you're the person who has to put amendment stickers on every tube map everywhere, then you might want to stop at this point.


I set off from Vauxhall at about 12.47, starting my phone's stopwatch as the doors closed.

At Sloane Square I could have just caught a Circle line train to Aldgate, but the signs showed a District Line train following immediately behind, so I caught that to Aldgate East. I was gambling on a 'two lines vs one' basis that trains out of Aldgate are more frequent. This seemed to work because at Aldgate I walked straight onto a Met line train showing as 'ready' and it pulled away within about 30 seconds.

At Farringdon I had my worst moment. Instead of trusting my instincts (train is going north-ish, need to exit south-ish, so turn back) I blithely followed the Way Out arrows in the wrong direction to an exit that was, in fact, temporarily closed! Still, that sent me back the right way and I headed off on foot towards Chancery Lane, following the signs that have obviously been put there for my very own benefit.

I missed connections at both Bank and King's X by a few seconds. This was probably a good thing as the Farringdon/Chancery Lane walk and the sardine-like Central line had made me feel a bit hot and icky.

Minor delays on the Piccadilly line had been announced, but I didn't notice any particular delays, and by the time I got down to Earl's Court and stood on the relatively airy District line platform I was feeling better. Then a good thing: the next train into Earl's Court was heading to Edgware Road. Mild hoorays, though it had still been a four minute wait.

Walking up the slope from Bayswater to Queensway, I arrived at the station immediately after what appeared to be a coach-load of foreign tourists who were milling about and blocking the lifts and stairway entrances. I pushed through the throng with a few very British 'excuse me's and went down the stairs, arriving at the platform before anybody came out of the lifts.

Carrying on, I looped round to Paddington (the walk to Paddington H&C is deceptively far) but at Baker Street my train was held for about four minutes, announcements saying this was to let a Met line train go first - how dare they!

After that, it was plain sailing, er, railing, back round to Waterloo (where I actually know which carriage is by the exit) and then round to Southwark, stopping the watch as I stepped onto the platform. 3h 17m 5.7s seemed not bad for a first attempt.

I walked through to the Tate Modern and sat in the shade near the Thames for a well-earned rest.

(Edit 14-8-13: Changed title)

[hopeful traveller]

Not a bad time for a first go. You don't need the decimal places (although I like them!), as they are never recorded and measured by anyone, including Guinness for the Full Network.

Did you miss any trains as a result of your Baker Street problems?

[DrainBrain]

Hijacking my own thread rather than start a new one to report a couple of completed challenges. These were both done a few weeks back on 4 July. There's nothing new or special; in fact, I think the times are so mediocre that I'm planning to redo them. Somewhen. Anyway...

All lines challenge: 54m 20s
(It's a bad route, really bad. What was I thinking? Couldn't even be sure the first train was H&C until I was on it.)

Start at Euston Square
H&C to Great Portland Street
Met to Baker Street
Jubilee to Bond Street
Central to Oxford Circus
Bakerloo to Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly to Green Park
Victoria to Victoria
Circle to St. James's Park
District to Embankment (2 stops)
Northern to Waterloo
W&C to Bank

Nothing special to report. No really good changes, no really bad ones. This challenge is quite hot and frantic, isn't it? Temperature that day reached low 20s, but obviously much hotter down in the tube.


DLR challenge: 2h 30m 46s
Lewisham -> Canary Wharf -> Stratford -> Stratford Intl (foot) -> Beckton -> Gallions Reach -> King George V (foot) -> Woolwich Arsenal -> Bank -> Monument (foot) -> Tower Hill -> Tower Gateway (foot) -> Shadwell

No through trains at the time I was there, so had to change at Canary Wharf, but it was a one minute change. OK around the Stratfords, but 6 minutes at King George V, 5 minutes at Woolwich Arsenal, slow around Bank/Tower Gateway loop and 7 minutes wait for the final train out of Tower Gateway. It really felt very slow -- though not 2h 43m 14s slow.

[DrainBrain]

I'm going to be in London today (14-8-13) and might have time for a challenge of some sort in the afternoon/evening. Might try the Mouse Challenge, or an All Lines if less time available. Watch this space...

[Iain]

The mouse is fun - slightly less frantic than the all lines, but still a quickie. Don't forget Kennington!

[The Orange One]

Perhaps a bottle at some time in future?

[DrainBrain]

Well, I did complete the Mouse, but I'm not claiming a time. This is mainly because I forgot to take a screenshot of the stopwatch app and now I don't know my precise time. It's also because it was very poor at about 2hrs 10mins. I honestly don't know if it was better or worse than the time listed for Cathryn Peppard.

I started with a train affected by delays, then had 6 changes in a row where I arrived at the platform to see a train departing. Some of these were caused by me still not knowing the correct carriage to be in, but the last was due to a broken escalator at Bank. I had planned to finish at Cannon Street but, with the delays, the 21:00 cut-off time was approaching (I didn't think it could possibly be a factor) so I changed my route to ensure a completion, but it added probably 10 minutes to my time.

The only bright spots were some decent changes south of the Thames and a surreal chain of events on the District line: at Mansion House we were held for several minutes "to regulate the service". As we left Mansion House the next station was announced as Monument (it was 20:45-ish) only for the train to then stop at Cannon Street anyway. No Cannon Street would have meant no completion.

Overall, another one to add to the redo list. I'm sure my route should yield something below 1h 45m.

@The Orange One. A Bottle is certainly a possibility. It all depends on what time I have available and when I can get to London.

[DrainBrain]

Here I go again... I'm going to be in London Tuesday and Wednesday so time for some more challenges.

Not much time available on the Tuesday so I'm going to redo the Mouse before the Embankment partial closure.

Wednesday I have all day, so will probably try the Points of the Compass challenge. I have a route planned that I'm hopeful will get me second place in the table. Oddly enough, the route includes an Embankment change too.

[DrainBrain]

I hate meeces to pieces... well I hate the Mouse Challenge anyway. Time: 2h 4m 27s

All was going well until I got south of the Thames. I got swamped at Waterloo by people getting off, causing me to miss the train by seconds. Next change I got my bag stuck in the closing doors! Later at E&C I got on a Bakerloo train signalled as 'Ready,' which then went nowhere for 8 minutes; I suspect the driver was late. Then a 4 minute wait at Embankment for my final train to Cannon Street. Like my first Mouse attempt, there was even a 'this train will not stop at Cannon Street' announcement - at 4 in the afternoon - only for the driver to say 'ignore that, it's wrong.'

The Points of the Compass Challenge was much, much better. Time: 7h 35m 11s

I started in the fog at MHE and my route went generally anti-clockwise, finishing at Dagenham East. A signal failure closed the Met between Wembley Park and Harrow-on-the-Hill for a short time. Fortunately I was past that area, but trains were affected while I was doing the fiddly stuff around the various Harrows. Hence I got delayed, and the knock on effect was that I just missed a train at North Ealing and had to wait 8 minutes for the next one. However, other than that it all went pretty well.

Once the fog cleared it was a beautiful, bright, crisp day. It was a little depressing to go underground in the daylight at South Wimbledon and then not emerge above ground again until it was dark.

There's such a contrast between the above ground outer reaches in uncrowded trains, and the crowded and stuffy Zone 1 madness!

[The Orange One]

Try the South of the Thames Challenge. Fits with your profile.

[DrainBrain]

Not a challenge as such, but I can report that I have now visited all stations on the standard tube map.

That's all LU, LO, DLR and even the cable car stations.

[Going Underground]

Not a challenge as such, but I can report that I have now visited all stations on the standard tube map.

That's all LU, LO, DLR and even the cable car stations.

Welcome to the full network club , don't forget to let Nigel know for "Top Times"

[DrainBrain]

I was in London last Thursday and did some challenging, though most of it went horribly wrong.

I got up later than planned, then having left home, realised I left a window open so went back and closed it. Forgot about the phone-in-same-pocket-as-ticket thing, so arrived in London an hour later than planned with a borked ticket.

Bottling the Bottle
I set off on the Bottle Challenge, and I want to recce the Lancaster Gate to Paddington run so start at Bank, then double back Queensway to Lancaster Gate. Arriving at Paddington (B/C/D) a District line train is just leaving. I thought that would be a good omen for a Circle soon, but I was so, so wrong. Trains came and went on the opposite platform (District, Circle, Circle), but 9 minutes later not a single train had come back out of Edgware Road. Then it was announced that a District(!) was due in 1 minute, with a Circle in 6 more minutes. So that's potentially a 15 minute wait for the train I want. I give up, get on the Wimbleware and go to Putney for some lunch. So much for my first Bottle attempt: 13 stations.

Tramlink: how to get lost on a 5 yard walk
After lunch, I went down to Wimbledon to start the Tramlink challenge. This was mostly as a recce for an intended SLAM attempt sometime. Another omen: a tram pulled away as I got to the bottom of the stairs. 7 minutes until the next one, but that's not affecting my time, so no biggie.

A decent change in central Croydon got me on a tram out to Beckenham Junction. And here my brain just stops working. Obviously, I can just get off one tram and on the other. It's 5 yards away! Except there's very few people on the other tram and I saw that the blind at the front was completely down, and some people are getting on the tram I just got off. What do the boards say? There seems to be only one board for the platform I came in on: this tram leaves again in 7 minutes. I get back on it... the other tram pulls away. I'm am not having a good day!

So I go check out the trains at the NR station. There's one to Crystal Palace in about 8 minutes. I could give up and go directly there because I want to recce Crystal Palace to Penge West later. I get on the train and wait. The train leaves... and I have a change of heart at Birkbeck and decide to get off (naturally, I'm at the wrong end of the platform) and walk down to Elmers End.

Back to Sandilands then down to the middle-of-nowhere that is known as New Addington. Yay, completion.

Tramlink. 18/06/15. Time: 1:58:36

After that I did go and recce Crystal Palace to Penge West and later Lewisham to Woolwich Arsenal.

To cap things off I got back to Waterloo just in time for the 20:00 to Guildford, only for the guard to announce that the train has a fault that the driver is attempting to fix. Five minutes later and this fault needs an engineer. Everyone gets off. I don't bother with the 20:15 - it'll be full of everyone from the 20:00. I go and have a coffee and get the 20:30, which actually runs to schedule.

[RJSRdg]

When I saw you'd been in London on Thursday, I wondered if we might have unwittingly passed each other somewhere (I was even beginning to get worried in case you'd found the FNC timing sheets I left on a Central Line train!) but if we did it was on the same line in opposite directions (I did Morden Road - Wimbledon - NHG - Central Line) rather than in person.

[DrainBrain]

Was in London yesterday and managed a completion of the Roads, Streets and Lanes challenge.

Finishing time was a digitally pleasing but unimpressive 4:14:14.

I started at Rayners Lane and when we got to Harrow-on-the-Hill the train was held in the station for a short while - this had also happened at HotH on the way out before I began the challenge.

At Euston Square we had to wait while something was retrieved from the track.

At Seven Sisters on the way out to Blackhorse Road the train was held at a red light.

At Seven Sisters on the way back from Blackhorse Road the train was held at a red light. OK, this is getting silly now.

Took in a Bank to Cannon Street run before heading out to Bow Road. Back to Mile End and I want to go to Hanger Lane directly. A West Ruislip train closes its doors and whisks away just as the doors on my train start to open. Ah, such fun.

Did the Royal Oak to Warwick Avenue run for the first time, which is actually quite nice.

First train at Edgware Road (Cir/Dis) is going to Earl's Court. Not ideal, but I get on it. It gets held at a red signal at Bayswater. I don't have much luck on this section of track.

Eventually get to my final train at Leicester Square. The train gets held to regulate the service. We get to Euston, one stop to go. The train gets held to regulate the service. Again? Really? Yep. And finally I'm at Mornington Crescent.

And after that I went to the Crystal Maze, which is just the most awesome thing!