tufnellpark wrote: ↑18 Nov 2018, 11:47xcooler and Mr Orange headed up to Tangyland from Liverpool Street.
Meanwhile, in Tangyland... actually it's probably better to start at the very beginning.
Frantic opening of envelopes at
Paddington (B/C/D) led to everyone running down one of the two staircases onto the Circle/District platforms. After a few minutes and no trains, most people headed to the westbound platform where a District line eventually turned up to whisk us to Notting Hill Gate (except for those who decided to run Bayswater to Queensway because, um, they could?). Quick change at NHG onto an Ealing Broadway service all the way out to
West Acton via
Shepherd's Bush - three stations down already, can't be too bad, right?
Unright.
Back to Wood Lane, reach the platform to find we've just missed a Circle, wait 5 minutes for the H&C down to
Hammersmith (H&C). Across the road and on the next District westbound, it was an Ealing Broadway, get out at Turnham Green, wait 5 minutes for the District down to Richmond via
Kew Gardens, where ensued the wait for the delayed SWR reduced service back into town. Over to Clapham Junction, across to Vauxhall and down to the Tube. At
Vauxhall, I made a quick decision to follow xcooler123 onto a southbound train, then changed at Stockwell to head up the Bank branch into town. Electing to team up with him at this point, London Bridge and Canary Wharf were deliberated, but the lure of easy connections at Bank and Poplar was strong, so we went via those two to
All Saints. Passing through All Saints, we met tufnellpark and we continued together to Bow Church, ran over to Bow Road and waited for a westbound train into town to reach
Mile End. Here endeth the first envelope, wasn't that bad in the end...
Frantically opening envelope two, we make a split second decision to stay on the train and continue down to Whitechapel, where the choice between Walthamstow Central and Peckham Rye had to be made. Choosing the more northern of the two and eschewing the run to Bethnal Green (NR), we instead opt for the ELL up to Dalston Junction, where we ran the 0.7 miles to Hackney Downs (yay), arriving to find absolute chaos on the Lea Valley lines. Waiting (because what can you do?) for a train that might never materialise, we were eventually blessed with a nonstop service to
Walthamstow Central - result!
In the depths of Tangyland, we just missed a Victoria line train, but one was departing a minute later, so quickly down to Finsbury Park, where we ran to the surface to find a Moorgate service pulling in - result again! So via
Drayton Park to Highbury and Islington, across to board yet another arriving train down to
Euston. We have 4 minutes to reach the Overground, but we have a clear run up to the barriers so make it easily - and then tractakid reached the Overground about a minute after us just as the doors closed behind him! Up to Willesden Junction via
Queen's Park (tractakid meant to get out at QPW but forgot), over to the Overground, 7 minute wait to head over to West Hampstead - but while we wait for the train, I have an idea...
Looking up train times, with long connections at both West Hampstead and Cricklewood coming up we make the choice to cut the corner, so alight at Brondesbury for the 189 bus towards
Cricklewood. Progress up Shoot Up Hill is slower than expected, so David makes the call to bail at Skardu Road with just under 5 minutes and 700m to go and we run. David reaches the train and I'm halfway up the ramp to the platforms where I hear the door alarms go - yelling at him to hold, I make it onto the train and collapse on the floor, then remember we have to get off at the next stop… here we go again. Out at West Hampstead and across to the Overground, slower than usual, and yet another door alarms episode where I stumble onto the train – thankfully no more proper runs!
Round to Willesden Junction, 8 minute wait for the Clapham Junction train and slowly down the West London Line to Clapham Junction. With four minutes change time and 50 minutes left on the clock it’s over the bridge to platform 15 and a Southern service through
Wandsworth Common… if we can get there! We’re sat down on the train and discover there’s a fault with the doors, which the driver tries to fix… please don’t break now! Thankfully, he appears to solve the problem and it’s down to Wandsworth Common and then on to Balham… where the train doors don’t open. More worryingly, after a few seconds all doors throughout the train lit up as “Door Not In Use” – but they did finally open and let us out onto the platform. Down to the Northern Line, quickly onto a train to Clapham North, walked across to Clapham High Street and a 6 minute wait for the final train through to
Peckham Rye for a final time of 05:45:30.
TL;DR
Paddington (B/C/D)
Notting Hill Gate (District)
West Acton (Central)
White City (Central)
Wood Lane (run)
Hammersmith (H&C) (H&C)
Hammersmith (D/P) (run)
Turnham Green (District)
Richmond (District)
Clapham Junction (SWR)
Vauxhall (NR) (SWR)
Vauxhall (LU) (run)
Stockwell (Victoria)
Bank (Northern)
Westferry (DLR)
Poplar (DLR)
Bow Church (DLR)
Bow Road (run)
Mile End (H&C)
Mile End
Whitechapel (H&C)
Dalston Junction (Overground)
Hackney Downs (run)
Walthamstow Central (Overground)
Finsbury Park (Victoria)
Highbury and Islington (Great Northern)
Euston (LU) (Victoria)
Euston (NR) (run)
Willesden Junction (Overground)
Brondesbury (Overground)
Skardu Road (189 bus)
Cricklewood (run)
West Hampstead Thameslink (Thameslink)
West Hampstead (LO) (run)
Willesden Junction (Overground)
Clapham Junction (Overground)
Balham (NR) (Southern)
Balham (LU) (run)
Clapham North (Northern)
Clapham High Street (walk)
Peckham Rye in 05:45:30.