Full Network Challenge - 272 stations - Successful First Attempt

[RJSRdg]

With regards to the Travelcard, the cost of a TfL day Travelcard is £29, which is the same as the contactless daily cap so from that perspective it won't make any difference to the cost of doing an FNC.

However I think the TfL day Travelcard might be staying. What's under threat is the Day Travelcards you can buy from NR stations outside the Travelcard Zones, which include return fares to London as well as the Travelcard. In future, anyone travelling into London, going round and coming back will need to buy a return to London and then either get a TfL Travelcard or use Oyster/Contactless when they get there, which will be more expensive than now.

Two comments:
Your first point: mine didn't cost £29, it cost £21.50 (purchased from the Chiltern Railways website). This was a z1-6 Day Travelcard loaded onto a Smartcard. (I could have bought a z1-9 one for, I think, £27.70 but Chiltern's website stated that, whilst valid, it would not work the barriers on the Chesham or Watford branches 'for technical reasons'. In fact I didn't need to use the barriers on these branches so could have bought the z1-9 TC, but my Contactless £2.20 plus the £21.50 z1-6 card was cheaper).

My apologies - I've just looked at the one I used for my FNC back in June and it was indeed £27.70. I purchased it at Chesham and it got me in through the barriers there. I also popped out briefly at Rickmansworth but other than that didn't pass through another barrier until North Harrow,

[RJSRdg]

Well, that's knocked it right out of the park! Almost an hour faster than the previous fastest time (and over 2 1/2 hours faster than the Guinness World Record!). Well done!

I think I was only just over half-an-hour under the current GWR, not 2 1/2 hours under.

Actually I didn't set out to do a record time - only a completion. Having been successful, having gained experience and being able to see how I could improve my route significantly I am keen to have another go ... but I have to confess that I found it a pretty exhausting experience.

Very, very impressed with your time. Outstanding performance.

Re your theoretical minimum, which is very interesting, I hope you have another go because it would be interesting to read the report. I suspect that the fastest possible, and least risk (of missing the last train) option is probably starting at T4 and ending at Amersham or Chesham and I would probably do that (instead of starting at Chesham as I did for my FNC) if trying again. The snag is having to commit to an expensive hotel or two, when there is a significant risk of a completion not being possible due to any of the many reasons that might close part of the network. I don't mind the cost but I'd find the disappointment hard to deal with. My daughter lives in Tooting so I might see if I can do some planning around staying with her. I live some way from London so any attempt is a significant logistical commitment for me.

Good luck if you do go again. Sub-18 would be pretty impressive.

Yes, I clearly wasn't awake when I read your post as I think I must have misread 19:27 as 17:27!!!

I started at Chesham last time and would do so again for two reasons - (1) trains on the Amersham and Chesham branches are half hourly, whereas trains to T5 are every 10 minutes, so if you are finishing in Chesham and just miss your last train, you lose half an hour, if you miss a T5 train you only lose 10 minutes.
(2) As I live in Reading, it's much easier to get home from Heathrow than from Chesham! There are also various other options for getting home via Paddington, Ealing Broadway, or Richmond if it all goes wrong near the end.

[Alan White]

> Re: toilets. I've found this list from last year
Oh well unearthed; that's very useful. As you say, already out of date (e.g. Ealing Broadway no longer on pfm4 but on the mezzanine between pfms and gateline) but very useful nonetheless.

The recent-ish date also helps to indicate that TfL still has some sort of commitment to toilets. As many of them seem to be closed long-term for various reasons I was beginning to think that TfL was just going to let them all die off.

[Bubble]

Re: toilets. I've found this list from last year which is more up to date than the toilet map, and gives opening times. Though I've already found errors - loos at Finchley Road were still open at midnight when I checked recently.

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/enhanced-cus ... mation.pdf

That’s the one I used.

[Bubble]

With regards to the Travelcard, the cost of a TfL day Travelcard is £29, which is the same as the contactless daily cap so from that perspective it won't make any difference to the cost of doing an FNC.

However I think the TfL day Travelcard might be staying. What's under threat is the Day Travelcards you can buy from NR stations outside the Travelcard Zones, which include return fares to London as well as the Travelcard. In future, anyone travelling into London, going round and coming back will need to buy a return to London and then either get a TfL Travelcard or use Oyster/Contactless when they get there, which will be more expensive than now.

Two comments:
Your first point: mine didn't cost £29, it cost £21.50 (purchased from the Chiltern Railways website). This was a z1-6 Day Travelcard loaded onto a Smartcard. (I could have bought a z1-9 one for, I think, £27.70 but Chiltern's website stated that, whilst valid, it would not work the barriers on the Chesham or Watford branches 'for technical reasons'. In fact I didn't need to use the barriers on these branches so could have bought the z1-9 TC, but my Contactless £2.20 plus the £21.50 z1-6 card was cheaper).

My apologies - I've just looked at the one I used for my FNC back in June and it was indeed £27.70. I purchased it at Chesham and it got me in through the barriers there. I also popped out briefly at Rickmansworth but other than that didn't pass through another barrier until North Harrow,

That’s very interesting. I didn’t think of purchasing the ticket at Chesham. Was yours a paper ticket, then? I wanted the fastest-possible approach so was keen to use a SmartCard. I was anxious to have my ticketing sorted out in advance, hence the z1-6 SmartCard approach and contactless for Chesham to North Harrow. It’s £4 cheaper than your way too! Actually I didn’t tap my contactless credit card at all other than IN at Chesham and OUT at NH. I am not a Londoner so am not a regular tube user, so I don’t know if I should have tapped at Amersham and Watford. In any event I was charged £2.20 and was happy with that.

[Iain]

Congrats on your time

Great to see that the 7:52 Ken O works as I was going to scout it this week, as I have a route idea that uses it.

[Bubble]

Thanks, Ian,

I was delighted to complete but will go again at some point to get a better time. I learned a lot and can see several places where I could easily improve ... provided the network is fully operating, of course.

The 0752 KO-HSK is definitely running and, to my surprise, there were a few other passengers. It was not indicated on the station's display boards and it didn't arrive until shortly before 0752, so I was anxious, but sure enough it turned up and left on time.

Good luck with your research and your challenge.

[Iain]

Thanks - I would have gone out a few weeks ago but the Bakerloo line was partially out of action