Random 15 Championship 2025/26: Round 4

[hopeful traveller]

An awful, awful afternoon with a “net” last place, losing out only to Kev’s 36-minute time penalty (and henceforth he shall be known as Esteban Ocon).

I left my weekend campaigning at 11am to find there was no Piccadilly Line from Rayners Lane and no Metropolitan Line south of Wembley Park! So after making it to Edgware Road via the Jubilee and Circle lines, there was then no Wimbleware! So in the end I got to Putney Bridge at 12:28.

Of course, Tangy threw a curveball into proceedings by drawing Olympia as the very last station! So as we all piled onto the District Line to go northbound out came the phones to look at connections and timetables - this is the modern world, after all! The departure boards at Olympia (the online ones), it turns out, were lying. At West Brompton a Southern service to Watford Junction pulled it. I briefly considered getting on it, but I believed (incorrectly) that I would not make the connection and (incorrectly) the wait at Olympia would not be worth it.

Of those that stayed on the train to Earl’s Court, four of us decamped to the Westbound, with no Olympia due inbound any time soon, to enact Plan B and go to Hammersmith (Met). As we arrived at Hammersmith (Dist/Picc) we ran out of the station (Fulham FC knowledge coming in handy here as James W had to hover to work out where he was going and I didn’t) and Tangy decided the traffic was moving slowly enough to pelt across the road. Tangy had told me of his plan and I didn’t think I could match him at the best of times. I followed suit, albeit a bit more cautiously, and arrived at Hammersmith Met to see a train departing and 10 minutes until the next one. I briefly considered getting on a bus, but in the end decided to go back to Hammersmith Met and sit and wait.

To Wood Lane, run down the road (which is better this way around, even if it is short) and into the Central Line to Holland Park. Back to Shepherd’s Bush, and with 17 minutes to the next Olympia train (and the next LOROL train too close for comfort to make the connection comfortably) I walk/jog to Olympia to leave with James W and SnuzieZuzie at 1344 - a full 40 minutes later than if I had done it via West Brompton - to Earl’s Court, where James W and I (at least) swapped to an Upminster train. I could not decide on my next move so James W saw me at least three times as I kept changing my mind walking up and down the train for the relevant door position!

After that inauspicious start things did start to pick up with a 0-minute double back at Blackfriars, a 1-minute wait at Embankment, a 0-minute at Charing Cross, and a 1-minute at Kennington to give me Stockwell and a 1-minute despite missing a train, before getting to Oxford Circus and the luck ran out. A 5-minute wait for the Bakerloo Line northbound before a 3-minute wait at Regent’s Park on the return leg. I then missed another train at Oxford Circus and, although I had to wait 2 minutes, the next train crawled up through the line, evidently having caught up the one I’d missed. At Finsbury Park I was greeted with an awful 5-minute wait for a Cockfosters service - the frequency of the service clearly awful as the platform was already crowded - and a 3-minute return at Manor House too.

I swap back to the Victoria at Finsbury Park to avoid having to do two consecutive changes further down the line, and at Euston some uncooperative tourists stand on both sides of the escalator and cause me to miss a High Barnet train - gah! - so I get on the next one to Edgware and swap at Camden Town. At Kentish Town, I was intending to get a Thameslink, but having seen a 0-minute I was not prepared to risk it and potentially lose another 15 minutes, so swapped back to the Southbound, change at Camden Town AGAIN for the Bank branch (come on TfL, when are you going to separate the two branches permanently?) and get myself down to London Bridge.

To top it off my Jubilee Line train then waits in the platform for 5 minutes due to a “track retrieval” at Wet Spam, eventually finishing at Canary Wharf. James W’s time proved to be 30 minutes quicker than mine so I have no excuses, despite the delays - I was a hopeless traveller today.

[miklcct]

Another bad day and bad planning for me.

There was no choice but to start going eastbound at Putney Bridge (1) via Parsons Green (2). There was a Southern train pulling in when we reached West Brompton and some of us change there, then I made my first bad decision: I didn't wait for 12 minutes for the District at Olympia and continued to Shepherd's Bush, hoping to tick off some stations before the second train from Olympia 27 minutes away. Then I made another mistake of going to Holland Park (3) and back. I met another challenger on the train back from Holland Park to Shepherd's Bush (I can't remember his name), and he ran another way from Shepherd's Bush. We met again on the train from Olympia (4) with Tangy as well, which was for Upminster, and Earl's Court was the last place I saw any of us during the challenge, where Tangy got off for an Edgware Road train and the other guy stayed on, and I still had to go back to Hammersmith (H&C via D&P) (5). The Olympia - Upminster train ended up a few minutes later than I initially saw.

The double back to Holland Park was totally pointless because I had to go to zone 1 from Hammersmith (H&C) which I could easily take off by switching to the Central line at Shepherd's Bush, and it turned out afterwards that the one I met at Holland Park became the winner because he actually reached Hammersmith (H&C) while I travelled direct back to Olympia, and only because of the delay he made it to the train to Upminster (otherwise it would be 25 minutes to the next train), so he could stay on the Olympia - Upminster train straight to zone 1 to tick off St. James's Park and Blackfriars.

At that time I was already doomed because I knew I was so far behind. If I followed the crowd getting off the Southern train at Olympia, I would have done Earl's Court - Hammersmith - Shepherd's Bush Market - Shepherd's Bush then Central line to zone 1 20 minutes earlier. And I still had no idea where I should go afterwards after Baker Street and Regent's Park (6).

I continued via Charing Cross (7), putting the northern stations afterwards. I was thinking to go to Elephant & Castle for Oval, down to Stockwell back to Victoria to tick off the two Z1 District line stations, but I made a last minute decision to get off at Embankment for a double back to Blackfriars (8). However on the way back via St. James's Park (9) to Victoria, there was a suspected trap & drag on departure from Temple. The train e-braked once it started and stopped for minutes, with the driver asking if there was anything trapped. Then a station staff came and checked that it was safe to depart. As a result the following stations became very crowded and when I got off at Victoria I had to squeeze through the crowds to access the Victoria line.

I went down to Stockwell and up via Oval (10) to London Bridge, changed to the Jubilee line via Bermondsey (11) to Canary Wharf (12), changed to the Elizabeth line to Farringdon, Thameslink to Kentish Town (13), ran into a Northern line train as its doors were closing, only to find out it was a Bank branch train, switched again at Camden Town for a Charing Cross branch train via Mornington Crescent (14) to Euston, and finally the Victoria line to Finsbury Park for a finish at Manor House (15), 3:00:26 in total at the 8th place.

It turned out that my route was mostly the same as the 2nd place apart from the beginning, where he switched to the District at Olympia from the Southern train I was on, using the Central line to zone 1 as mentioned above; and he took the Elizabeth line all the way to Tottenham Court Road to change to Kentish Town (via Mornington Crescent) so he could care less which branch he would return to Euston.

[Going Underground]

Having gone solo for once due to signalling issues on SWR I had to start my watch sat on stationary train outside Twickenham I eventually departed Putney Bridge at 1316 and A2 having kindly send me the stations at least I had some time to route plan !
Ken Oly went really well, having arrived at Earls Court with what should have been just under a minute turned out to be 3 mins so all good.
Then 2 mins to get over to for a Mildmay to West Brompton..
Obviously I knew there was no chance of getting on the podium but was fairly pleased overall with the route and time.....

Highlight of the day - Neil's double 2 at The Blue Posts

So having just missed a medal in The Nordic Combined and having made an absolute mess of the Tramlink still no medals with 1 event left..

[Capelblue]

A day which appeared to start calamitously at Putney Bridge as Ian was one of those delayed getting there, fortunately Tangy delayed the start, then as the draw was happening the alarm went off and the do not enter signs displayed, luckily only for a minute or so. Tangy pulled out the final station (KO) as the watches started at 12:40 and we all headed north through Parsons Green. Looking at the timings for Olympia there was a train we could catch from West Brompton, and the District line train back was 2 minutes before the first scheduled one to Olympia from Earl's Court, so we piled onto the Southern train at WB and quickly got to Olympia, though then had a 13 minute wait for the district line train to head out. We decided to stay on to HSK rather than change at Earl's Court, and that was the last we saw of anyone for the rest of the day. It was a mistake. We got to High Street Kensington to find a 9 minute wait for the next northbound train, so we ran out of the station and managed to catch a 28 bus to Notting Hill Gate, but it still took 12 minutes so we could have waited for the train. Onto the Central line, through Holland Park to White City, a quick run to Wood Lane, and down to Hammersmith (H&C). The traffic there was luckily static, so straight across the road, onto the District line all the way to Westminster (ticking off St James's Park). Onto the Jubilee line, through Bermondsey and a double back at Canary Wharf, change at London Bridge to the Northern Line, and down to Oval, double back to Kennington and onto a CX branch train to Embankment, where we raced onto the sub-surface for a double back to Blackfriars, back to Embankment, onto the Bakerloo, through Charing Cross for another double back at Regent's Park. Onto the Vic at Oxford Circus, and then to the circus that was Warren Street.

We got to the platform to find a High Barnet train due in 2 minutes. A train appeared in the tunnel after about 30 seconds, but it was to Edgware, the HB train was still showing as 1 minute away so we let it go, the HB train then disappeared from the board to be replaced by an Edgware train, this train came in but turned out to be going to HB so we got on, a total of 9 minutes wasted here. Through Mornington Crescent to Kentish Town, another double back to Euston, onto the Vic to Finsbury Park and then 2 minutes up the Piccadilly line to Manor House to complete in a time of 3:08:06.

Tangy calls us Team Ian, today we should have been Team Double Back as we did five ! (in a total wait time of 8 minutes, so pretty good). Our mistakes were not changing at Earl's Court to go to Hammersmith, and not running from Regent's Park to Warren Street, those cost us probably 15-20 minutes which would have improved our performance greatly.

We could have been far worse though, we re-wrote our route on the District line from Hammersmith to Westminster, originally we were planning to go to Archway, GOBLIN to Harringay Green Lanes, down to H&I, Windrush to Canada Water, and finish at Oval, I think we would have been spectacularly last if we'd done that !

Thanks as always to Tangy for organising, I must say I really like the live draw element.

[Lunaticonthegrass]

We had quite a lot of pre-challenge action today, with several of us barely making the start time and one not at all. As it was a live bucket draw, it was decided to move the start time back to 12:40. There was also a moment at about 12:35 where people were not being let into the station due to an unspecified emergency, but this didn't last long and we were able to enter Putney Bridge station as planned at 12:40.

I had considered what to do shoud the dreaded Olympia get drawn, and the first train north from Putney Bridge after 12:30 should give a 3 minute connection at Earl's Court. But the later start, and the District line being its usual varied self, completely scrapped that plan. Like everyone else, I headed north out of PUTNEY BRIDGE and through PARSONS GREEN. I did consider jumping onto the Southern train at West Brompton, but Google Maps gave a 13 minute wait for an Olympia train once there, which didn't sound great. My plan was to head to the westbound District platforms at Earl's Court, see how long it was for the next Olympia service, and either wait it out or head to Hammersmith. However, there was an Edgware Road train in the adjacent platform when I arrived at Earl's Court, so I jumped on that to head to Holland Park.

This train then turned into a HSK terminator, so it was a 3 minute wait there for a Circle line train. Central line out of NHG through HOLLAND PARK to Shepherd's Bush, then run to Goldhawk Road. (A longer run than White City to Wood Lane but it cuts the corner off.) Just missed a train here and had 4 minutes for the next one. Then down to HAMMERSMITH (H&C) and run as best as I can to Olympia. I was expecting a train to leave at 13:19, so was elated to find it still waiting in the platform when I arrived about a minute after that. Even better - it was bound for Upminster! I spotted Tangy, Andrew C and Michael on the train, but kept away from them as I guessed that I was a train up on them all and didn't want to give it away. The train left less than a minute after I set foot on it, so I had a perfect KENSINGTON (OLYMPIA) by mostly blind luck.

I then had to decide if I wanted to finish at Manor House or Canary Wharf. I chose the second option because the Picc was very delayed just before the challenge started and I wanted to put off having to ride it. So I had to figure out how to tackle the southern set of stations to finish on a northbound Bakerloo. The two routes I devised were:

St. James' Park Victoria Stockwell London Bridge Canary Wharf London Bridge Bank Cannon Street Embankment

and

Canon Street Bank London Bridge Canary Wharf London Bridge Oval Kennington Waterloo

Both routes had the same number of stations and the same number of connections. I eventually chose the first option because I knew the connections a bit better and because taking the Victoria line is always a good idea. In the pub, Ian M told me that he went

Westminster Canary Wharf London Bridge Oval Kennington Embankment Blackfriars Embankment

Which I think is better than what I did. But nevermind.

My door position app told me that there was an exit at the western end of the platform at ST. JAMES' PARK. This was closed when I arrived, putting me at the wrong end on the platform and causing me to miss a doubleback. Rhys B told me in the pub that that entrance is only open in peak hours. Made a right mess of door positions at Victoria, probably causing me to miss another train. But then great connections at Stockwell and London Bridge, as I passed through OVAL and BERMONDSEY, and another good connection at CANARY WHARF. I then ditched the idea of going via Bank and instead ran from Southwark to BLACKFRIARS. Sub-surface to Embankment then Bakerloo through CHARING CROSS to REGENT'S PARK.

Out here and ran to Warren Street. Made sure to check the platform indicators here to see if I needed to change branches at Camden Town, and I was surprised to see that all trains were destined for Walthamstow Central. Then I realised that I was an idiot and had gone to the wrong platform. Back up the escalator and across to the Northern Line. Fortunately I don't think I missed a train. The first train was billed as an Edgware train, so I got on it, planning to change after 3 stations, and knocked out MORNINGTON CRESCENT. I was then pleasently surprised when we pulled into the High Barnet platform at Camden Town. I later found out that the display boards at Warren Street were telling lies all afternoon. So no change needed and I soon reached KENTISH TOWN.

Wondering how best to get across to the Piccadilly line, not fancying the long double-back I simply ran to Caledonian Road. I was tired and not running quickly but the end was in sight. Just missed a lift down at Caladonian Road, and the other lift was out of action, so I ran down the stairs. (I think the sign said 134 steps, but I can't remember for sure, and that won't be the actual number anyway.) Really pleased to see a train pulling in as I reach the platform and I head north to finish at MANOR HOUSE.

Putney Bridge Earl's Court NHG Shepherd's Bush (run) Goldhawk Road Hammersmith (H&C) (run) Olmypia St. James' Park Victoria Stockwell London Bridge Canary Wharf Southwark (run) Blackfriars Embankment Regent's Park (run) Warren Street Kentish Town (run) Caledonian Road Manor House

Somehow I managed to dodge any major delays all afternoon. My longest wait was 4 minutes (Goldhawk Road) and I had waits of 1 minute or less practically everywhere else.