Random 15 Championship 2013/14: Round 2

[The Orange One]

I put the conditions into the R15 generator (vanilla R15, Stockwell start, Oval and the Northern line Claphams closed). It gave me Kennington, Borough, Southwark, Bermondsey and Canada Water (among other things). Could be a fun challenge.

[Rhys1995]

Sounds alright!

[Going Underground]

Post challenge meet up?

[A2]

Post challenge meet up?

I'd assumed the normal pub unless directed otherwise

[tractakid]

When I was speaking to tangy a while back he was thinking Angel in the Fields again, due to our success at being able to use the dart board.

[tangy]

Post challenge meet up: Angel in the Fields, Thayer Street, Marylebone, as we have good success at securing the dartboard at this venue.

[hopeful traveller]

tangy
tractakid
The Orange One (maybe)
GU
DrainBrain
A2
Nozzacook
greatkingrat
Rhys1995 (TMOTT)
The Raven
hopeful traveller (RB)

[tangy]

Here is the full results from round 2 of the Random 15 Championship 2013/14. Held on the 9th November 2013.

We had 12 challengers in 9 teams who had to visit the following stations:

--Stockwell (meet up)
--North Acton
--Whitechapel
--Parsons Green
--Charing Cross
--Canada Water
--Leicester Square
--Tottenham Court Road
--North Greenwich
--Ravenscourt Park
--West Brompton
--Lambeth North
--Stamford Brook
--Holland Park
--Ladbroke Grove

The team's finishing position is as below in descending order:

9th: The Orange One finishing at Ravenscourt Park in 03:52:55 (2 points)
8th: Tangy finishing at Aldgate East in 03:19:30 (3 points)
7th: Andrew Baker and Ashley Moore finishing at Whitechapel in 03:06:27 (4 points)
6th: Team Rhys finishing at Aldgate East in 02:51:30 (5 points)
5th: Nick Gardner finishing at Whitechapel in 02:50:26 (6 points)
4th: Glen Bryant finishing at North Greenwich in 02:43:22 (7 points)
2nd=: Andrew Chilcraft finishing at Whitechapel in 02:34:48 (10 points)
2nd=: Kevin Brown and Damain Cook finishing at Whitechapel in 02:34:48 (10 points)
1st: Peter Smyth finishing at Whitechapel in 02:31:20 (12 points)

Therefore the league table now looks like this:

1st: Peter Smyth: 24 points
2nd=: Kevin Brown: 20 points
2nd=: Damian Cook: 20 points
4th: Andrew Chilcraft: 16 points
5th: Nick Gardner: 14 points
6th: Glen Bryant: 12 points
7th: Tangy: 11 points
8th=: Rhys Jackson: 9 points
8th=: Rhys Benjamin: 9 points
10th: Andrew Baker: 7 points
11th: Ashley Moore: 4 points
12th: The Orange One: 2 points

Thanks to everyone who took part in this round and I look forward to inviting you all to the next round in January (which WON'T be the 11th).

Tangy.
The BERC.

[Going Underground]

With only 2 ways out of Stockwell the first question was Brixton in the hat? As not and the fact that 2 stations in close proximity to the only premier league game in London the initial gambit was to go one stop to Vauxhall and luckily just managed to make a NR train to Putney for the run to East Putney...
From there is seemed fairly straightforward;

Earls Court Stamford Brook Hammersmith Ladbroke Grove Wood Lane/White City North Acton TCR Waterloo E & C London Bridge West Ham Whitechapel

Quite a dull set and an easy puzzle to solve really once you ha decided the opening play there weren't many options for the remainder

[tangy]

I had roughly the same idea about heading to the Wimbledon branch first, but had a different idea on how to get there, but the problem was, the trains were definitely NOT on my side.

Northbound from Stockwell and off at Vauxhall to get SWT down to Clapham Junction, nice timing for the 1246 NLL up to West Brompton, however for reasons totally unknown it left 4 minutes late even though the signal was cleared! Saw a Wimbleware (C stock) pull away as my 378 arrived at West Brompton, but didn't expect the next one to be 10 minutes away!

Turned round at Parsons Green and onto ECT down to the Picc, nice change onwards to Hammersmith, only to wait there around 10 minutes for the District line to take me to Stamford Brook! No chance of a quick double back here as the eastbound train was just leaving, only to see a further two westbound trains roll through one behind the other!

Doubled back to Hammersmith, ran over the H&C platforms only to see one drive away. FFS, another 5 minutes lost! Thankfully once onto the deep level lines at Holland Park things started to improve with good connections at North Acton, Tottenham Court Road and Lambeth North. The latter one particulary pleasing as I thought I missed it as the doors closed in my face, but the driver reopened the doors for me to jump on to head back north.

Back to Waterloo and onwards to North Greenwich on the JLE, where I decided to double back to Canada Water for the ELL up to Whitechapel. The double back at North Greenwich was great, as the next train out was from the bay, one piece of track I hadn't done! Though the next train screens at North Greenwich said the next westbound train was from platform 1 (the through platform) even though the train in the bay was leaving first...

As I arrived at Whitechapel on the ELL, I had to keep the watch running in order to visit the station "legally" on a LU train, hence my finish at Aldgate East.

[tractakid]

Well, I did exactly the same thing as Kev and Noz, but only after I got on the wrong train for my intentions at Vauxhall. I intended to go to Waterloo, assumed others were too and blindly followed. Probably a lucky mistake in the end as that would probably have been slower! The route from Putney came naturally.

[Rhys1995]

#TeamRhys's day, how did it go?

Well after we started at 12:31 we all shot off heading for the northbound Victoria Line platforms, where my partner in crime fell over in the ticket hall. Ouch. After we reached the northbound platforms we opted for Victoria to take out the west section of the stations. Upon arriving on the Circle and District Line platforms we were greeted with loads of Chelsea fans, and also a 4m wait for a Richmond train. Damn. So then we eventually got on the Richmond train, however when arriving at EC we decided to get off as a Wimbleware train was 1m away. Game on, so we hit Parsons Green and surprise surprise we saw DrainBrain! We both DBed to EC hoping for a decent connection, with DrainBrain taking the District Line while we risked a Piccadilly Line service to Hammersmith, hoping miraculously we could jump in front of him. This proved unsuccessful as we ended up on the same train, and the over the PA at Hammersmith we heard the most informal of lines; 'For services to Richmond, Get off this train!' Referring to our 73 stock, which we found pretty funny. After rolling into Stamford Brook we saw everybody else albeit tangy, well this one was obvious as you saw us too! after that our challenge dulled a bit getting average connections between stations. Ee eventually finished at Aldgate East (officially). The only other notable thing coming from this round was me calling Rhys a macaroon at Elephant and Castle, which is now his new nickname

Our final route was as follows...

Stockwell Victoria Earl's Court Parsons Green Earl's Court Hammersmith Stamford Brook EC (again) High Street Kensington (we were on a D78 from Olympia) Notting Hill Gate North Acton White City Wood Lane (where we lost 5m due to a train departing as we hit White City!) Baker Street Oxford Circus Tottenham Court Road Waterloo, couldn't escape if I wanted to Elephant and Castle London Bridge North Greenwich Canada Water Whitechapel (ELL) Aldgate East

[The Orange One]

Time to explain my most awful time I think

Tractakid said it was probably for the best he followed Kev and Nozza. I can confirm this! Even without making the later mistakes... here follows a tale of how NOT to do it. The mistakes are in bold. Route was:

Stockwell Vauxhall Waterloo Elephant and Castle Canada Water West Ham Monument Bank Tottenham Court Road Embankment Earls Court Parsons Green Notting Hill Gate Holland Park Ladbroke Grove Wood Lane White City North Acton White City Stamford Brook Ravenscourt Park.

And it was EXACTLY that.

First question was, of course, is Brixton in there? No. So northbound it was, intending to go east as soon as possible. Ran up the stairs at Vauxhall intending to take a bus to Lambeth North. None coming soon, so onto SWT towards Waterloo. The really horrible thing was I almost jumped aboard a Clapham Junction train, which would actually have cut my time down - but off to Waterloo, where the train waited for 3 minutes outside waiting for a platform. I used this time to walk the length of the train, seeing absolutely nobody and beginning to rethink my decision, but it was too late.

Dash through Waterloo to the Bakerloo, which I took to Elephant and Castle, where there was a 15 minute wait for the Northern. I thought, "15 minutes? A bus to Canada Water takes 15 minutes on a good day," so that is what I did. It took me 18 minutes. Don't try this at home.

Hopping on the Jubilee at Canada Water, I went to West Ham. 5 minute wait for the District down to Monument, run to Bank where a Central was just pulling out. 3 minute wait and then to Tottenham Court Road, where I met a load of other challengers. Leaving at Embankment I headed west on the District to Earls Court, where the train on the other platform was an Olympia. As Olympia trains are immediately followed by southbound Wimblewares (this I learnt on a previous Zone 1), this was a good thing, and as I boarded the Wimbleware a woman came onto the platform with a suitcase asking whether it was the Olympia train. It was very funny.

Doubled back at Parsons Green onto a Wimbleware, which I took to Notting Hill Gate. Loudly declaring that this train was not going to Victoria while waiting at Earls Court, half the people on the carriage got off. Changed for the Central at NHG to Holland Park. Took the bus to Ladbroke Grave. Went down to Wood Lane. Ran to White City, just missed a train. Took the next one to North Acton. 1 minute doubleback to White City. Ran to Wood Lane, just missed a train. "The next westbound train will arrive in 8 minutes!" No thank you. Took a bus to Stamford Brook and then a final 8 minute wait for the eastbound District to Ravenscourt Park.

[DrainBrain]

I wasn't aware of the NR train to Putney so my route started:

Stockwell Victoria Earl's Court Parsons Green Earl's Court

After that it was the same as GU and nozza.

I got to the platform at Victoria... where I saw Team Rhys... then went along the platform to where there were fewer people. Change at Earl's Court then down to Parsons Green... where I saw Team Rhys... We headed back to Earl's Court together where the Rhyses opted for the Piccadilly while I went for District to Stamford Brook... where I saw Team Rhys... and pretty much everyone else. Then things started to go wrong.

My tube app told me either carriage 2 or 5 for the Hammersmith exit. Not knowing Hammersmith at all, I opted for carriage 2 (I should have just followed the experienced people). At Hammersmith there is an exit staircase by carriage 2, but (a) it's at the wrong end of the station and (b) it was closed. This put me a train down leaving Hammersmith on the H&C. After doubling back at Ladbroke Grove and then North Acton, the eastbound Central line train I was on got delayed outside White City because the train in front had 'become defective'. I secretly, and evilly, hoped that others were on that train, but I don't think they were.

On to TCR and some slick changes got me quickly to E&C where the Northern line train was shown as 14 minutes away! I was about to head back up the Bakerloo when the board changed and miraculously a train was only 1 minute away. Change at London Bridge... where I saw Team Rhys... and decided to take the JLE through to West Ham. Finally back to Whitechapel... where I saw Team Rhys... they got on the train that I got off (though I didn't know whether they had finished at that time).

Not the most exciting set of stations. It seemed like there were relatively few route options, and my four double-backs early on (Parsons Green, Stamford Brook, Ladbroke Grove, North Acton) were kind of tedious. Still, overall, a fun day.

[The Raven]

My route was the same as Kev and Nozza's until Lambeth North where I went for a gamble with the Waterloo & City. Unfortunatly missed one by seconds! Then had to deal with the Lord Mayors Show in the way between Bank and Cannons Street. If that hadn't been a problem I may have got to North Greenwich before the others got to Whitchapel. Sometimes you just have to go for it!

My route:
Stockwell Vauxhall Putney Putney Bridge Earl's Court Stamford Brook Hammersmith Hammersmith Ladbrook Grove Wood Street Whity City North Acton TCR Waterloo Lambeth North Waterloo Bank Cannons Street Whitechapel Canada Water North Greenwich