Another successful completion, and an unofficial world record

[Alan White]

Saturday 29 March 2025 was my fifth successful completion: I started at Chesham 06:00:44 and finished at Heathrow T5 23:46:51 for a time of 17:46:07, thus beating the current GWR by forty-one seconds.

With nine attempts and four successful completions to my name, my objectives for this attempt were fourfold:
- to try a different route for variety and, hopefully, efficiency
- to try a Saturday to remove the Olympia restrictions
- to beat my personal best
- to have a fun day out (this phrase copyright Derry Lin)

I've never tried the Labyrinth route partly because I believe that some of the challenge is working out one's own route and partly because I think it's inefficient in a few places, particularly the transfer from the Central line to Walthamstow and the need for the Circle line at Aldgate. However, the route I used today was a slightly tweaked version of the Labyrinth.

I stayed at the Premier Inn at Rickmansworth and took the 05:30 to Chesham then started the challenge when it left at 06:00. At Amersham, the northbound train inexplicably arrived at platform 1 rather than the booked platform 2. This could have caused me to miss the tight connection to the southbound train but, again inexplicably, train 413 was still in the siding long after it should have been at platform 3. Eventually it arrived and left three minutes late at 06:25. This was a bit concerning but all worked out and the change at Moor Park was fine despite this delay.

The 30-second reverse at Watford fails at least as often as it works but today all was well and, with two possible delays of up to forty-five minutes out of the way I settled down to what now was shaping up to be a good day.

The Bakerloo line, which I'd never done southbound during a challenge and hoped might be better than the usual tedious slog north, proved to be a tedious slog south and I was eight minutes behind at Elephant & Castle.

One of the negatives of Saturdays is that some services are less frequent, and my arrival at West Ham fell into a long gap in c2c trains so I had to take the District to Upminster where I missed by seconds the return c2c. On the bright side, I ended up on an H&C from West Ham and the timing was such that I saved the walk to Aldgate - though not the time of course - by continuing to Liverpool Street then taking the Circle through Aldgate.

By Sloane Square I was twenty-two minutes behind my schedule but the Stockwell/Kennington area rarely fails to give back some time and by Morden I was only four minutes behind.

I left Wimbledon on an Edgware Road train so I had a decision to make: do I continue to Edgware Road then back to Earl's Court via Hammersmith, or go to Olympia and leave the Edgware Road loop until much later in the day? I couldn't see on the apps that the Olympia train had actually left HSK so I elected to stay on to Edgware Road. There's also a psychological point here: much better to not have to divert on the homeward section.

At Olympia, the trains to and from were busy and the platform at Olympia was crowded. When you're used to having the service almost to yourself at 6am this came as a surprise. I don't know if there was something on at Olympia or if this is an example of the "build it and they will come" principle. Perhaps TfL needs to look at the weekday service provision here.

At Shepherd's Bush I discovered that there's no down escalator until late August so the usually empty and quick stairs were a crowded and slow way down. From there I found myself on a Hainault train which should drop me right on a shuttle but we waited for several minutes just outside Hainault and the departure time for the shuttle had passed and the doors had closed by the time I ran over the bridge. Luckily the driver saw me arriving and re-opened the doors. I waved thanks to him.

Heading back west from Epping, I had another decision: how to get to Walthamstow? As mentioned, this is one aspect of the Labyrinth route I'm not keen on. On all previous attempts I've simply reversed at Walthamstow and crossed to/from the Piccadilly line at Finsbury Park because the frequency of the Victoria line makes up for the extra distance, but this technique doesn't fit well into the Labyrinth route. I decided to take the Overground from Leytonstone High Road as this tends to be more reliable than the buses which often get held up in traffic. Had I known that the 17:33 from Leytonstone High Road would itself be held up by a late-running freight train then I might have made a different decision.

On a train to High Barnet, I was pleased when the driver announced we were now terminating at Mill Hill East: what a lucky break!

After T4 I arrived at Heathrow Central at 23:28 to find that the next train to T5 was eleven minutes away with another close behind it. I must have just missed one, which was a shame as otherwise this trip would have been nearer seventeen and a half hours.

So did I meet my objectives? Most definitely: Olympia on a weekday severely restricts route options, and the most recent WTT change even removed one morning train; I beat my personal best by thirty-seven minutes; and I had a great day out.

Despite being twenty-four minutes behind at one point, and later making that up, I'm not sure this time can be improved much. I'll give it another go later in the year though. It's always a fun day.

Until I looked at the Top Times when back home the following day I had no idea that I now hold the unofficial world record, even if it is only by forty-one seconds.

Please could tangy or tubeguru update the Top Times page; feel free to remove my previous entries if you like. Many thanks.

[tubeguru]

Will you be contacting Guinness, or were you not doing all the ridiculous stuff required?

[Alan White]

I was not doing all the ridiculous stuff required

I do this for fun and a sense of personal achievement.

[biscuitman247]

Congratulations! And a great write up. I knew it was just a matter of time before someone came along and beat us but I'm not sure I have the energy to do it all again for the sake of a few seconds... Time will tell!

I do think the overground is probably the best solution in the walthamstow area - unless you are prepared to run the whole thing... Which we weren't!

[tubeguru]

Congratulations! And a great write up. I knew it was just a matter of time before someone came along and beat us but I'm not sure I have the energy to do it all again for the sake of a few seconds... Time will tell!

I do think the overground is probably the best solution in the walthamstow area - unless you are prepared to run the whole thing... Which we weren't!

Well so far as most of the world is concerned, you're still officially the fastest ...

[tubeguru]

Please could tangy or tubeguru update the Top Times page; feel free to remove my previous entries if you like. Many thanks.

It's up to you if you really want me to remove the old ones, but it's nice to keep them there for posterity.

[Alan White]

Well so far as most of the world is concerned, you're still officially the fastest ...

Absolutely. I think someone who's prepared to jump through GWR's hoops deserves some sort of record regardless of the tube

[Alan White]

It's up to you if you really want me to remove the old ones, but it's nice to keep them there for posterity.

Either way is fine with me. If you want my full set then there's one missing: 18:47:52 on 14/08/24. See my report at viewtopic.php?t=3861

[tubeguru]

Added.

[key_cauliflower3135]

Hey Alan,

Congrats on the successful completion and the new world record! I'd never tried starting from Chesham before but theoretically this would always have been faster than starting from Heathrow and working backwards like I did to achieve the 17:51. Glad it worked out for you and you had a fun day out!

I won't be running for a while because I don't live in London anymore, but hopefully the time keeps getting pushed towards 17:xx:xx!
Derry