Random 15 Championship 2014/15: Round 3

[DrainBrain]

No I coming to London via
Truro
[...etc...]
And finally Victoria CS.

And there's me complaining about an extra half hour.

[tangy]

South West Trains: Major work in Wimbledon area, suburban services reduced.

Heads up to anyone coming up to London via Wimbledon:

When checking train times for Saturday I found the services were scheduled to take about half an hour longer than usual from Portsmouth/Guildford to Waterloo. This probably applies to any train that would normally pass through the Wimbledon area.

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/wimble ... ering.aspx

As it happens, I'm thinking of coming up on Friday and staying over so that it's easier to get to parkrun.

Long distance trains will be diverted after Byfleet to run via Staines and Richmond to Clapham Junction and Waterloo. Suburban services reduced to make slots for them on what is essentially a two track railway.

There is no service Clapham Junction- Surbiton/Kingston via Wimbledon and nothing on the Chessington branch. Dorking via Worcester Park will terminate at Raynes Park, Shepperton to run to Kingston then reverse to run to Waterloo via Richmond. Woking (all stops), Hampton Court and Guildford via Cobham terminate at Surbiton (these latter ones replaced by buses on Sunday mornings).

Every weekend in January and the 1st week of February.

[Going Underground]

Indeed some disruption in my area, I am having to catch 0716 from Ashford which takes over 40mins to get to Vauxhall so I can get up to Ally Pally in time.....

[The Raven]

Looks like its going to be a chilly one! Max 7'C in London

Anyone brave enough to go out in shorts?

[palkanetoijala31]

Looks like its going to be a chilly one! Max 7'C in London

Anyone brave enough to go out in shorts?

me

[Going Underground]

Looks like its going to be a chilly one! Max 7'C in London

Anyone brave enough to go out in shorts?

me

Me and Mr Chilcraft I imagine

[nozzacook]

Possibly.

[DrainBrain]

Unfortunately I've had to change my plans - partly because of a cold and partly for other reasons - and now can't attend at all.

No parkrun no R15 no darts and no Sunday tube challenging that I was planning.

Have a good one all.

Attendance register:
Tangy
GU
The Orange One (possible +1)
greatkingrat
DrainBrain
A2
mrredrunner100 (possible +2)
Nozza + Nozza Jnr.
tractakid
palkanetoijala31
The Raven
hopeful traveller (possible +1)

[tractakid]

Unfortunately I've had to change my plans - partly because of a cold and partly for other reasons - and now can't attend at all.

No parkrun no R15 no darts and no Sunday tube challenging that I was planning.

Have a good one all.

Attendance register:
Tangy
GU
The Orange One (possible +1)
greatkingrat
DrainBrain
A2
mrredrunner100 (possible +2)
Nozza + Nozza Jnr.
tractakid
palkanetoijala31
The Raven
hopeful traveller (possible +1)

Sorry to hear this Nick, hopefully we'll see you next round!

[Going Underground]

Unfortunately I've had to change my plans - partly because of a cold and partly for other reasons - and now can't attend at all.

No parkrun no R15 no darts and no Sunday tube challenging that I was planning.

Have a good one all.

Attendance register:
Tangy
GU
The Orange One (possible +1)
greatkingrat
DrainBrain
A2
mrredrunner100 (possible +2)
Nozza + Nozza Jnr.
tractakid
palkanetoijala31
The Raven
hopeful traveller (possible +1)

Sorry to hear this Nick, hopefully we'll see you next round!

Echo what Andrew said...

[The Orange One]

Unfortunately I've had to change my plans - partly because of a cold and partly for other reasons - and now can't attend at all.

No parkrun no R15 no darts and no Sunday tube challenging that I was planning.

Have a good one all.

Attendance register:
Tangy
GU
The Orange One (possible +1)
greatkingrat
DrainBrain
A2
mrredrunner100 (possible +2)
Nozza + Nozza Jnr.
tractakid
palkanetoijala31
The Raven
hopeful traveller (possible +1)

Sorry to hear this Nick, hopefully we'll see you next round!

Echo what Andrew said...

Ditto that.

[hopeful traveller]

Unfortunately I've had to change my plans - partly because of a cold and partly for other reasons - and now can't attend at all.

No parkrun no R15 no darts and no Sunday tube challenging that I was planning.

Have a good one all.

Sorry to hear this Nick, hopefully we'll see you next round!

Echo what Andrew said...

Ditto that.

Again, ditto.

+1 not coming, so it's just me.


Attendance register:
Tangy
GU
The Orange One (possible +1)
greatkingrat
DrainBrain
A2
mrredrunner100 (possible +2)
Nozza + Nozza Jnr.
tractakid
palkanetoijala31
The Raven
hopeful traveller (possible +1)

[hopeful traveller]

So, I'll kick off the writeups.

Thinking that it may be possible to do City Thameslink later on, I hung behind everyone else when opening the envelopes, in the hope that a Chancery Lane or a St. Paul's came out, but I saw St. Pancras and West Hampstead Thameslink on the list and scrapped that idea and went Northbound, running the length of the platform with everyone else when we realised the train stopped further down! Got out at West Hampstead Thameslink and ran to the Overground, and waited four minutes for a train to Kentish Town West.

Like Kev and Nozza and Jnr, I did the turnaround at Kentish Town West (7 minutes!!) and then we finally separated as I bailed at West Hampstead for the Jubilee Line to take out Swiss Cottage. Whilst this was a good change, the next one at Baker Street wasn't, and I had to wait no less than 8 minutes for a H&C/Circle train. Edgware Road was on the list (Cir/Dis/H&C) - and my option for switching to the Bakerloo was Paddington, not Edgware Road (I think it's shorter). Decent change, and went all the way up the Bakerloo Line (taking out Kensal Green) to Willesden Junction, where I had to wait no less than 12 whole minutes for a train to Clapham - 12 minutes!!

Now, I like Fulham. And I like Fulham fans. But what I don't like is them buggering up the Wimbledon branch. The indicator board at West Brompton said Earl's Court, but thankfully the train that did pull in was going to Barking, so I got on that to Sloane Square, and then I made a rather silly mistake of not doubling back and changing at South Ken, but running to Knightsbridge, which is a killer. A long haul up the Piccadilly Line through Covent Garden and Holborn, eventually arriving at Manor House, before turning around, although the returning train sat in the platform with a green light on with no explanation for three or four minutes. Finsbury Park was a #SexyChange, before I got to Highbury and Islington and realised I have two ways in which to do the next section. I got the first train, which was ELL, which took out Canonbury, and I changed at Whitechapel to see a District Line pulling out. What came in next? Yes, a Circle Line train!

Through Bromley-by-Bow, and into West Ham, which was another super change, before another fabulous change at Bermondsey, and a standard three minutes at Canada Water for a train to finish off at Brockley.

[The Orange One]

Round 3 of the Championship was more along the lines of "Overground with a splash of Thameslink". I was with a friend this time, and he has asthma, so was not expecting to be fast, but it came out quite well.

Starting at City Thameslink, where having experience with this station I (along with Tangy) realised a 4 car train would stop at the northern end of the platform, and went up there to wait for it. Then we headed northbound (I think everyone did this) to West Hampstead Thameslink (not everyone went this far) via St. Pancras. Then we went over to the Jubilee station (only us and tractakid did this - Adham came along as well, but did not make the same train). Made the train on the platform, went to Swiss Cottage (where tractakid continued southbound) to walk to South Hampstead, knowing the next train was leaving in 9 minutes, ample time to get there.

Took the 1303 to Kensal Green, where we missed a southbound Bakerloo simply due to the agonisingly slow speed at which the Overground opened its doors. 6 minutes for a London Overground to Queen's Park, where we got on a train from the depot down to Edgware Road. Took the lift to street level, then half jogged over to Edgware Road Circle, where we found a Wimbledon train waiting to leave (took around 5 minutes to go though).

Went to Earl's Court, had a bit of confusion on the westbounds over which would leave first, but chose correctly, then to Victoria (via Sloane Square) and a 25 second "sexy change", Green Park, King's Cross St. Pancras on the Piccadilly (via Covent Garden and Holborn), Camden Town, Kentish Town. Walked up the escalators to street level for the run to Kentish Town West. Contrary to popular belief, I did not make my friend run this - it was a kind of half run, half walk, but all that happened was some connection time was eaten up and the Overground pulled in as we reached the platform.

East to Highbury and Islington, then three perfect cross platforms in a row at Finsbury Park, Manor House and then Finsbury Park again to get back to Highbury, where we boarded an ELL down to Whitechapel (via Canonbury). We got on an S Stock labelled "District Line to Barking". I was hoping for "Circle Line to Barking", and it turns out this was actually a Circle Line to Barking labelled as a District Line to Barking. We met Glen at Mile End, who had transferred off a Central Line train which pulled in at the same time as us. I thought he was lucky, because I never get a good change at Mile End. Then it was through Bromley-by-Bow to West Ham, Jubilee to Bermondsey and back to Canada Water, where we had a 4 minute wait for the ELL to Brockley.

[tractakid]

Interestingly the first train we all took is not showing on realtimetrains as a standard call. Does anyone know if National Rail Enquiries was showing it as a departure?

Anyway, decided that it was a bad idea to bail at Kentish Town for West as it would still need West Hampstead Thameslink to do. The next question was what to do at West Hampstead... I could have gone in one of three directions, towards KTW, Towards Kensal Green or towards Swiss Cottage. Ran to the NLL station, didn't like the departure times (I was feeling heading west, which was 6 minutes I believe), so I headed south, based partly on the fact the Watford DC from South Hampstead was looking fairly decent as an option. Further puzzling at the map, I decided not to bail at Swiss Cottage, and head round via Edgware Road and Kensal Green to KTW. This immediately looked like a mistake as I just missed the 10 minute frequency departure west of Baker Street, doors closing as I descended the stairs to the platform. As Edgware Road (CDH&C) has more eastbound departures, I decided to run back down to the deep level and catch the Bakerloo to Edgware Road (B). Just missed the lift, so I trudged up the stairs, and over to the other one. I just missed the train that would have made the manoeuvre worth it. Double whammy as this means I now had to do the Paddington run as well! Lots of extra energy spent and I was feeling a tad annoyed.

Sam and Aaron were on the Bakerloo line train I caught at Paddington, and I said to them that I basically needed every change from now on to be smooth in order to have a chance.

Which is pretty much what happened. Super overground connection at Willesden, blatantly ignoring the 'do not run' signs.., all the way to Canonbury where it was only a couple of minutes for an ELL to Highbury. Changes at Finsbury, Manor House were good, and it didn't matter that my door estimates weren't perfect. I still wasn't feeling great as I feared I was going in the wrong direction for Covent Garden, but it appears that it is temporarily fully open. I was delighted when we stopped there and the doors opened, as I had planned to double back at both Leicester Square and Holborn!

Again, good connections at South Kensington, Westminster, and West Ham. All the changes were approximately 1 minute or less waiting. The only less good connection was at Whitechapel. I had just missed a New Cross terminator, and the next one was a 5 car train to Clapham Junction. Caught that to Surrey Quays, and then waited a couple more minutes for the Brockley train. Finished there. Straight onto a Southern to London Bridge, where at the barriers I realised I had lost my ticket. The last place I would have needed it was way back at Paddington, so I gave up after searching wallet, bag and pockets. I am thankful that there was an excess fare window at the point where I realised I had lost it as I could buy a new one with no quibbles.

Was slightly surprised to see nobody in the Champion, so I headed to the Bricklayers to see if you were all there instead. Turns out I was first back to the pub, and I managed to occupy the empty dartboard at the Bricklayers.