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I didn't use an A stock on my completion Last one I caught was on the Olympic Bottle challenge... I was surprised to say the least.

Back on topic. Looking at Twitter, it appears that one of the two teams out yesterday managed to complete in a time of 19:29:13, despite some problems.

Well done!

(If you would like to confirm the names of those in the successful team, I'll add you to the list of completers)

The exact same time that Myles got! Congrats on the completion.

Hi all,

can confirm that yes we did manage to complete despite a shocking start.
Full write up will follow one I've recovered!

Successful team were:
Jason Shoesmith
Jamie Lochhead
Jamie McLouglin

Jason

Good luck to you all! Follow me on Twitter and I'll follow you back for the updates then; @TMOTTOfficial

um, rhys? its all finished. they did it yesterday...

OK, here goes. The completion that almost never even started!

Sat at Hatton Cross awaiting t 04:59 to Heathrow, when they announced that the Piccadilly was suspended between Hounslow East and Heathrow as engineering works had over-run, and advised all passengers waiting to go and get a bus! After 10 months of planning apparently the look on my face was not pretty!

However, after a quick chat with the extremely helpful guy in the control room, who told us that the only issue was that one of the overnight workers had failed to sign out and they couldn’t send a train through until they had contacted him to be sure he was not on the line. So we waited and 10 minutes late, the first train pulled in. This was followed by a 12 minute wait at 123 and an 8 minute wait at T5, and we finally left Heathrow 20 minutes behind schedule. Given that we were due to catch the 06:15 from Olympia, doing the maths created a bit of a panic and was this to be over again? A hold up at Acton Town meant we finally arrived at Barons Court at 06:25. We decided to go for broke and made the 06:32 with about 30 seconds to spare. Too close for comfort and now all our timings were out for the rest of the day!

So, decision was made to ignore the times and just follow the route and see what happened. We lost time at various places, doors shutting on an overground at Richmond as we ran for it; 5, yes 5, Piccadilly trains going through Chiswick Park before a District finally turned up; by the time we got back into town we were almost 45 mins down on the schedule.

Grabbed the last direct train to MHE, which caught us up a bit, but being so far down, when a 384 bus turned up as we got to the bus stop at High Barnet, we just got on and saved ourselves a 3.7k run. Heading down from Cockfosters we heard about the 1 under at Knightsbridge but it didn’t hold us up luckily. A timely W15 bus halved the required run between the Victoria and Central lines, and we got round the loop without more than a 5 minute wait at all.

The Piccadilly was fully open by the time we headed back that way, and quickly doubling back to West Kensington from Earl’s Court (we were supposed to take it out first thing), put us just in time for a Wimbleware.

More time lost as we just missed a Circle to Aldgate and had to wait nearly 15 minutes, then a sliding doors situation that went the wrong way at Aldgate East (if only the traffic lights hadn’t gone green at that very second) and we were 1hr 15 down on schedule. If we kept losing time at this rate we were not going to finish. This coupled with the motivation sapping crawl that is the district to Upminster really took its toll. Luckily we then had quite a good run, staying between 1hr 15 and 1 hr 30 down for the next few hours, helped by a only a 5 minute wait for a c2c at Upminster, and a 2 minute turnaround at Harrow & Wealdstone.

It almost came crashing down late on when some complete idiot accidentally pushed the emergency alarm at West Harrow when taking a photo. I would have shouted at the moron, but I would have look ed really stupid shouting in the mirror!!!! Could I have possibly been the creator of ymy own downfall??? Why are those buttons so flippin big? I think i clipped it with my elbow but cannot be sure. One embarrassing interchange with the disgruntled driver later (it seems these alarms are set off A LOT) we got to Rayners Lane to be relieved that it hadn’t meant we missed a connection.

However, a red signal on the very dark Piccadilly, led to yet another set of doors closing in our face and a 12 minute wait. Luckily we put on a good sprint West Ruislip to Ickenham and made the earlier train. We were then on either the 23:05 or 23:20 out of Watford – we were definitely going to finish!!!!!

However, pulling out of Croxley at 23:04 and then seeing a passing train put paid to a sprint finish. So we had to endure a 27 minute wait at Amersham at around midnight before finally arriving at Chesham at 00:40, a fraction under 19½ hours after we started. A very slow time, but it was a completion nevertheless. Not bad for a first attempt!

We immediately said we’d never do it again. However, our route was timed at 17:49, and just maybe if the Pic had been working first thing..............................................................???????

We’ll never know unless we try again will we???

What happened to the other team?

Won't catch up with them until work on Monday, however they didn't attempt the Olympia run with us in the morning, opting to stay on at Barons Court.

They managed 268/270 on the last train to Chesham at 01:19.

Not sure which other station they missed out, possibly Amersham.

A thrilling report to read! I feel your pain at Chiswick Park. Both times I have arrived there to wait a stinking long time for a District. Its fantastic that you achieved a completion considering the circumstances.

Ahhh, Chiswick Park and Moor Park, my least favourite stations!

Good report, though.

Ah yes, the good old District at CP