First FNC attempt and completion with help from the Mildmay Line 31/10/25

[Yorkies]

Date 31st October 2025
Challengers Dave and Edward (aged 14)
Start Chesham 0516
Finish Richmond 0021
Time 19:05
Stations visited 272
(Kensington Olympia on the Mildmay line)


I’ve wanted to attempt the tube challenge for years and, now my eldest son is 14 (and just a big a tube fan as me), the time was right.
After months of consecutive weekend closures, we knew we had to attempt a weekday out of school time. Even half term was full of closures but one day, Friday Oct 31st was possible. As we were driving down from York, we decided that a ‘completion’ was the main aim, which meant 271 legit stations and a trip on the Mildmay line through Kensington Olympia, briefly touching the platform.

The route we took was standard labyrinth, partly as we thought it would be a useful template to start with which we could modify on subsequent attempts. My plan got us into T5 at 2320 so we could afford to get 50 mins behind and still get through T4 and complete.

As it was, the day was challenging. At one point, around 11.30 am, the circle, district and H+C lines were all suspended, metropolitan suspended east of Baker Street, Piccadilly suspended west of Rayners Lane, Nine Elms branch suspended, C2C stopped, and Croydon Tram link closed! Luckily we threaded our way past the closures and just one late night Richmond branch failure which forced us to do Heathrow before Richmond, prevented us getting a time of around 18:40.

The day was in three parts. We were 40 minutes down before we had barely started, nearly an hour behind by 0900 where we stayed until lunchtime. Then a legendary 7 hours where every train was ready waiting for us caught us up over 40 mins, until the last 3 hours or so lost us another 50 minutes. A few bits of good luck at the beginning and end of the day and I believe that around 18 hours would be achievable.

Anyway, onto the challenge. We stayed overnight in Twickenham and left at 4am driving the 35 miles to Chesham. The excitement as we stood in the dark, all alone, was building and, right on time, the 0516 silently sidled onto the platform and departed. Amersham and then onto Rickmansworth, we got off for a 10 minute wait for the train I was most looking forward to – the 0608 North Curve to Watford. But disaster. The train never showed and it was another 12 minute wait to take the longer route to Moor Park and then back to Watford. Then a cancellation at Watford (perhaps because the north curve train had been diverted) meant we were 30 minutes down and it wasn’t even 7 oclock yet.

Down to North Harrow, a straightforward mile run to Rayners lane, round the Ealings, turn around at White City and back up to West Ruslip and a run to Ickenham kept us on track. We then had to endure the metropolitan line to Uxbridge and back to Preston Road as the Picadilly line was suspended there and the Met was on a fallen leaf timetable. After an eternity of waits and red signals and what seemed like 5 minutes at each station, we rolled into Preston Road50 minutes down, although the hot sausage rolls at the entrance to Northwick Park Station cheered us up a bit.
At Kenton, a Lioness line train to H+W and then a full length Bakerloo line kept to time as did the Northern / Jubilee through Southwark to West Ham where we arrived at 11am.

We then debated whether to get C2C or District first and, thank goodness, we chose C2C first, as a quick turnaround at Upminster got us through Dagenham 10 minutes before a passenger on the track shut the District Line east of Barking for the next couple of hours. Out the correct entrance to sprint Aldgate to Aldgate East (one of my favourite stations we visited, buried beneath the shiny high rises of the city).
Circle line at this stage was just starting to run again and a packed train got us to the Sloane square switch around at which point the nine elms branch re-opened in the nick of time and we reached Morden still 50 minutes down.

Then our luck began to change, a quick switch back to South Wimbledon, a sprint to Wimbledon where the doors shut right behind us, the same happened at West Brompton and Shepherds Bush for our trip to Epping. There had been a brief Central Line suspension and the timetables by now were all getting out of sync. Miraculously, Hainault where we were expecting a long enough wait to pop to the supermarket had no more than a couple of minutes wait for the shuttle, the Epping train was waiting at Woodford and, at Epping, the train pulled in and then pulled straight back out again to Snaresbrook at 1640!

It was now getting dark and was starting to rain and I was dreading the 2.2 mile run from Snarebrook but it was fine and we were onto a Victoria line train within 20 minutes. Up to Edgware via Goodge Street before a slightly painful gentle uphill run to Canons Park. Very limited Circle, H+C timetable meant a horribly packed train to Moorgate but by now we were only 25 minutes behind.
Now we entered the most stressful, nervous part of the challenge. Up until now, we hadn’t seen a single bus pass us and had run every connection. We knew we would struggle to do another 2 mile run to Cockfosters in the rain so all our hopes were pinned on the 20:39, 384 bus from High Barnet to Cockfosters. If everything went right we would make it with 4 minutes to spare. Using the wi-fi at the stations, my son tracked the Mill Hill East train on the Charing Cross branch of the northern line whilst we tackled the Bank side. It was dead level with us but we knew it had to stop at Mornington Crescent so we just had to get ahead of it. We stopped just short of Camden Town for a couple of minutes but, sure enough it slotted behind us and, at Archway, it came in 40 seconds after our train departed. Into MHE, 4 minute wait and then back to Finchley Central as the High Barnet train was drawing in, we got to High Barnet at 20.35. First off the train, a sprint across the chaotic car park and the bus arrived exactly on time. I could have cried! There was no one else on the bus, and the driver wasn’t hanging around so the journey took just 9 minutes and running down the short staircase at Cockfosters, we heard the familiar beeping of doors and we dived onto the train as the doors shut.

It was now 2050, we were only 20 minutes behind and for the first time in ages I could relax. Big mistake! The next 3 hours didn’t go entirely to plan.
The piccadilly line train was the slowest of the day. Until Bounds Green, we stopped between every station for at least 3 minutes. We finally got to Earls Court (if only we’d done the Barons Court switchback now) and got a train to Edgware Road. The only big mistake we made of the day was running around Edgware Road trying to find the H+C platforms and then, when we reached the platform, there was a train waiting each way and in the 10 seconds it took to work out which was which, our train closed its doors and departed leaving us to wait on a cold, wet platform for 15 minutes.

Eventually the short ride to Hammersmith and the walk to the District line, we got a train for West Kensington. But when we got out, the exit was barred due to a power failure in the ticket hall and we had to get back on the same train another station to Earls court.
Then the killer news, the Richmond branch was suspended due to a breakdown at Gunnersbury. Even if it got up and running within 30 minutes, we wouldn’t be able to get in and out and get to T4 by midnight. It was now 22:30 and we realised the only way of completing was to do Heathrow first. So a district line train to Acton Town to tick off the non-piccadilly line stations and change onto a T4 train.

This was now the only part of the day I didn’t really enjoy. The Heathrow train was deserted the stations at Heathrow were deserted and it felt like being in a concrete bunker. A five minute pause at T4, a 10 minute wait at 2,3 and another 5 minute wait at T5 meant we were in Heathrow for 30 minutes during which time, we didn’t see another person. A final trip back to Turnham Green to get the thankfully re-running Richmond train got us in at 00:21. Not a ground-breaking time but after all the challenges faced, we had completed (albeit with some help from the Mildmay) at first attempt. Now to start the planning for the next attempt.

[al]

Great write up and well done for getting to the end!

[tubeguru]

Shall I add the time to the list of completions?

[Yorkies]

Thanks Al, we'll be back for an improved time.

Tube Guru, thanks, that would be great to have our time in the list of completions although it does have a 'Mildmay asterisk'

[tubeguru]

I'll note that on the list.