First Challenge!

Zone 1, Alphabet, All Lines - discuss them here
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torchiken
Zone 1
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Joined: 20 Jun 2017, 16:40

First Challenge!

Post by torchiken »

Hi and thanks for accepting me into the forum!
I've recently found out about this (sport?) of Tube Challenging and while I won't have time to plan a FNC before the summer I decided to do a Zone 1 Challenge instead. So I quickly whipped up a route and I was wondering if anyone could help me improve it slightly? I've read back a bit lot and found that not everyone is inclined to give help but I don't want to be spoonfed, just tips to help improve my route.

THE ROUTE:
Vauxhall :arrow: Victoria :arrow: Sloane Square :arrow: Aldgate:arrow: Aldgate East :arrow: Paddington H&C :arrow: Paddington B :arrow: Waterloo :arrow: Southwark :arrow: Waterloo :arrow: Elephant & Castle :arrow: Euston :arrow: TCR :arrow: Queensway :arrow: Bayswater :arrow: Earl's Court :arrow: Russell Square :arrow: Holborn :arrow: St. Paul's FINISH

I know some of the double backs at Sloane Square, Southwark and Russell Square aren't ideal.
The time I calculated with a combination of Journey Planner and the interchange times Excel spreadsheet was 03:14:00 but I feel that that is longer than it will actually take with running above ground and within the stations. I'm planning on doing this next Thursday or Friday and I might do an All Lines/Mouse/Bottle as well. Write-ups to come soon!
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by Tube Geek »

Afraid I can't help as that is the exact same route I currently have!
Personal Best - 264 Stations in 19 hours 37 minutes.

COYR
RJSRdg
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by RJSRdg »

There's a spreadsheet of interchange times?
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
torchiken
Zone 1
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by torchiken »

RJSRdg wrote: 24 Jun 2017, 20:27 There's a spreadsheet of interchange times?
Yeah I just Googled it and it was an FOI Request in 2011 (The spreadsheets are at the bottom) . It has LU, LO and DLR changes as well as National Rail ones. It also tells you the time from the gate to the platform but the times are the slowest it will take so when using it to plan just know that when you do it you'll probably do it faster
RJSRdg
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by RJSRdg »

As an Information Rights Case Worker myself, thanks for reminding me of work on my day off ;-)

Looks like that could be useful data though!
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
Elsie
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by Elsie »

Good luck on your challenge!

Your door positions are going to be key but you can't always get the one you want. For example, on my last Z1 challenge I was changing at Russell Sq for the same double back you're doing. I was spot on to run up the stairs, turn right, over both tracks and onto the SB platform as a train was coming in. Didn't manage to get the door that I wanted which put me out of place back at Holborn .... which delayed me getting to the Central Line and just (as the doors were closing!) made it aboard but again, I was out of position for Liverpool St. You just have to take the rough with the smooth 😊

Never tried the Southwark dbl back so don't know what that's like but the others, such as changing Aldgate-Aldgate East, Paddington-Paddington and Queensway-Bayswater appear to be common ones.

My feeling is the people that get the best times are those that can come up with the really fast run changes such as Farringdon-Chancery Lane or Russell Sq-Goodge St but seeing as I'll never be one of them, I'll be happy when I beat 3hrs for Z1. I would've done this on June 2nd had it not been for 1 just (literally) misses train at Vauxhall & my final train sitting outside Westminster, my final stop, for about 90 seconds. Gutted!

Take care. Have fun. Be safe. Please post a report! We'd love to hear how you get on!
Elsie
RJSRdg
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by RJSRdg »

Southwark's an awkward one as although it looks as though it should be a simple connectin there's effectively a 'wall' with passageways through it at widely spaced intervals so there are several doors you can try, but if you get the wrong one, you can be a long way from the nearest passageway.

That said, I'm not sure a doubleback at Southwark is needed for a Zone 1.
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
torchiken
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by torchiken »

RJSRdg wrote: 25 Jun 2017, 20:59 That said, I'm not sure a doubleback at Southwark is needed for a Zone 1.
Yeah I wasn't sure about it either, and I added it in later because I forgot about Southwark. It's kinda awkward but I didn't want to do much of the Jubilee line because I'm visiting all the other stations on other lines and it'd mean I'd have to rejig my whole route. Beforehand I'm going to check out how to get the door positions right.
RJSRdg
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by RJSRdg »

Well, I hope you do better than any of my attempts at Zone 1 - in Tube Olympics last year I had the misfortune to be caught up with no fewer than FIVE separate broken down trains!
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
torchiken
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by torchiken »

RJSRdg wrote: 26 Jun 2017, 23:48 Well, I hope you do better than any of my attempts at Zone 1 - in Tube Olympics last year I had the misfortune to be caught up with no fewer than FIVE separate broken down trains!
Although that sounds very unexpected to happen to me on Friday, I won't speak so soon yet! Thanks for the good luck wishes!
RJSRdg
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by RJSRdg »

I wasn't expecting them either...

Maybe I'll try that route again sometime (or a variation on it) as something closer to (or better still below) three hours ought to be possible.
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
torchiken
Zone 1
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Joined: 20 Jun 2017, 16:40

Re: First Challenge!

Post by torchiken »

So I finally did it! Despite some delays here and there, we managed to complete the Zone 1 Challenge in 3:13:51 which was faster than my predicted time, but it could have been a lot faster if it weren't for the delays.

We started at Vauxhall at 10:04:36 and took the Victoria line up to Victoria. When we arrived at Victoria to our dismay we found out that the Circle line was delayed going anti-clockwise, the direction we needed to take it in... Doubling back to Sloane Square on the District line and then going onwards to Aldgate East, we were hoping that we could run from Aldgate East to Aldgate, rather than Aldgate to Aldgate East. Although we had to wait a bit for the District line trains, it didn't set us back much.

Just before the split from the Circle line to Aldgate East, our train decided to have a bit of a break and out of the window, we could see Aldgate tantalisingly close to our great frustration. After getting on a Circle line train at Aldgate (Paddington-bound), we hadn't lost that much time, only about 5 minutes behind schedule. It all seemed okay until it decided to terminate at Moorgate, throwing yet another spanner in the works. After waiting for another Circle line train that waited for a few minutes before leaving we were finally back on track, albeit late.

After a slick change at Paddington, we boarded the Bakerloo line only 11 minutes behind and our double back to Southwark at Waterloo was especially fast due to trains being right there when we arrived and by the time we got on the Northern line at Elephant & Castle we were only 8 minutes behind, slowly catching up.

We took the Northern line up to Euston, then down to TCR and the taking the Central line from there to Queensway. We were back on schedule after catching the District line from Bayswater to Earl's Court, however, the Piccadilly let us down from Earl's Court to Russell Square frequently slowing down and then speeding up, and staying at Knightsbridge for a couple minutes for no reason in particular. Oh well, we finished at St. Paul's at 13:18:27 to give a time of 3: 13:51.

I'm disappointed that we didn't manage to get sub 3 hours but I guess we were just unlucky that time. I'll try again after the summer.
Elsie
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by Elsie »

That's a decent route and a good time, esp for your first go! Well done :)
Elsie
RJSRdg
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Re: First Challenge!

Post by RJSRdg »

Quite. My philosophy on the smaller challenges is to try to get as many long journeys in as you can as generally speaking I find you lose less time repeating stations than having to make extra changes. Or maybe playing the London Game frequently as a boy has instilled in me a pathological fear of changing trains!
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
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