My First Ever FNC Attempt - 28/04/2023

[RJSRdg]

Presumably the soutnbound Met struggles with the same number of cancellations...

[Alan White]

Congratulations, Laurence & Adam. What a great achievement, seemingly with not as much preparation as there might have been

The northbound DMIs at Preston Road and Northwick Park are always one train off: the train at the top of the list is the one which has just left! That's why your Uxbridge train was "second". In fact, the section between Wembley Park and Harrow is often incorrect: trains randomly appear, disappear, and are duplicated. Annoying, as one never knows whether running from Kenton is necessary.

The northbound DMI at North Harrow doesn't show anything useful until the train is just a few minutes away. Apps are more useful to know how quickly one needs to run.

I also learned during my recent successful attempts that "Check front of train" north of North Harrow usually means a Chiltern train (which of course is valid to use north of Rickmansworth).

I'm hoping on my next attempt to get closer to your time than my previous. I'm waiting until the timetable changes on 21st May to see how that affects things. And for my left foot to recover from the injury it received on my last attempt

Good luck on your next...

[GillagePeople]

Congratulations, Laurence & Adam. What a great achievement, seemingly with not as much preparation as there might have been

The northbound DMIs at Preston Road and Northwick Park are always one train off: the train at the top of the list is the one which has just left! That's why your Uxbridge train was "second". In fact, the section between Wembley Park and Harrow is often incorrect: trains randomly appear, disappear, and are duplicated. Annoying, as one never knows whether running from Kenton is necessary.

The northbound DMI at North Harrow doesn't show anything useful until the train is just a few minutes away. Apps are more useful to know how quickly one needs to run.

I also learned during my recent successful attempts that "Check front of train" north of North Harrow usually means a Chiltern train (which of course is valid to use north of Rickmansworth).

I'm hoping on my next attempt to get closer to your time than my previous. I'm waiting until the timetable changes on 21st May to see how that affects things. And for my left foot to recover from the injury it received on my last attempt

Good luck on your next...

Thanks for the kind words. Yep there were check front of trains that were Chilterns that we will use next time if that's quicker. Makes me want another run because there's so much "obvious" time on the table. Trains being awful round Harrow makes me happier I've moved away.

Good luck on your attempt on the new timetable.

[GillagePeople]

As someone who lives and works in Harrow I can confirm the Northbound Met is hopeless these days. The indicator boards at Northwick Park and West Harrow (Westbound) are never correct, there is ALWAYS a red signal for an Uxbridge train at Harrow on the Hill, and there’s almost always cancellations. According to TfL data only 85% of Met trains run at all these days, which is an appalling set of numbers.

Just to prove my own point, this is my current Met Line journey compared to timetable:

I boarded train 474 (Chesham, All Stations) at Finchley Road, which is 1 minute late, at 23:26.

402 (Uxbridge All Stations, ex Aldgate 2308) appears to have been cancelled.
432 (Watford All Stations, ex Baker St 2327) appears to have been cancelled.

The next train on the indicator board is Uxbridge (All Stations)… 11 minutes behind it! That’s 406 ex Baker St 2331.

Behind it it’s “Amersham 15 mins, Uxbridge 18 mins”, so the Watford’s missing again!

Yep Harrow born and raised and it's absolutely woeful. Beyond a joke

[cycysputnik]

How's the video for this coming?

[GillagePeople]

How's the video for this coming?

Ahhh it is coming. Honestly for about the first month I just didn't want to go back to it because it was such a long, hard day. But in June the second hand fun came on strong and I now look back on my day fondly while I sit bored at work. Sadly I've just been very busy this month with a few different things (primarily my job), but it willll come soon. I'll set myself a hard deadline for end of July because otherwise I'm just taking the Mickey.

[hopeful traveller]

As someone who lives and works in Harrow I can confirm the Northbound Met is hopeless these days. The indicator boards at Northwick Park and West Harrow (Westbound) are never correct, there is ALWAYS a red signal for an Uxbridge train at Harrow on the Hill, and there’s almost always cancellations. According to TfL data only 85% of Met trains run at all these days, which is an appalling set of numbers.

Just to prove my own point, this is my current Met Line journey compared to timetable:

I boarded train 474 (Chesham, All Stations) at Finchley Road, which is 1 minute late, at 23:26.

402 (Uxbridge All Stations, ex Aldgate 2308) appears to have been cancelled.
432 (Watford All Stations, ex Baker St 2327) appears to have been cancelled.

The next train on the indicator board is Uxbridge (All Stations)… 11 minutes behind it! That’s 406 ex Baker St 2331.

Behind it it’s “Amersham 15 mins, Uxbridge 18 mins”, so the Watford’s missing again!

Bob raised the shocking performance of the Met Line in the House today - more than 1 in 7 were cancelled in 2022-23 and given the service patterns north of Harrow this is pretty shocking. Then, just to hammer the point home, “minor delays” on the Met Line apparently means no Uxbridge trains for at least 30 mins!

[RJSRdg]

Apart from an unexplained signal check just south of RIckmansworth that set me back 10 minutes, the Met ran like a dream when I did my FNC.

The Northern Line, not so much....

[cycysputnik]

Did you get your video edited together?

[GillagePeople]

Did you get your video edited together?

No still haven't but as an apology for that, and as a taster, I've uploaded a clip from it we filmed at Acton Town the night before Hope it's better than nothing

https://youtu.be/xJOt2BW1YS8

Good example in the gap in knowledge between me and Adam!

[Iain]

Looking forward to seeing the whole thing