Random 15 Championship 2024/25: Round 5

[Lunaticonthegrass]

Query regarding Ravenscourt Park:

Will pass through on a non-stop Piccadilly line train be allowed?

[tangy]

Query regarding Ravenscourt Park:

Will pass through on a non-stop Piccadilly line train be allowed?

Yes, pass through accepted as Piccadilly line trains are not scheduled to stop there.

[Lunaticonthegrass]

That's not the answer I was expecting, but I don't object.

[RJSRdg]

I plan on attending too.

Here's a (quickly done) map of what London looks like now:
https://ibb.co/ynYc7R3w
Don't look too closely: there are a couple of vestigial interchanges and missing gridlines...

It's an LU-only round but I did the rail & tube map anyway.


Edit: might have to dip out early and not come to the pub, depending on how long it takes

Not quite, as you haven't severed the Elizabeth Line at Liverpool Street.


Which raises a point of interest - is it acceptable to go through a banned station on foot, but just not be on a train there?

For example, is it permissible to get off the Overground/NR at Liverpool Street, and run the length of the Elizabeth Line platforms to Moorgate?

Some Tube stations incorporate pedestrian subways under busy roads - is it acceptable to use those? (Though in those cases, it is not necessary to go through a barrier).

[tangy]

Which raises a point of interest - is it acceptable to go through a banned station on foot, but just not be on a train there?

For example, is it permissible to get off the Overground/NR at Liverpool Street, and run the length of the Elizabeth Line platforms to Moorgate?

Some Tube stations incorporate pedestrian subways under busy roads - is it acceptable to use those? (Though in those cases, it is not necessary to go through a barrier).

It is not permitted to be on the fare paying side of any banned station even if just running through it and not boarding or alighting a train.

You can however run through the ticket hall of a banned station as long as you stay the street side of the barriers.

[miklcct]

Attending: miklcct

[miklcct]

I plan on attending too.

Here's a (quickly done) map of what London looks like now:
https://ibb.co/ynYc7R3w
Don't look too closely: there are a couple of vestigial interchanges and missing gridlines...

It's an LU-only round but I did the rail & tube map anyway.


Edit: might have to dip out early and not come to the pub, depending on how long it takes

Not quite, as you haven't severed the Elizabeth Line at Liverpool Street.


Which raises a point of interest - is it acceptable to go through a banned station on foot, but just not be on a train there?

For example, is it permissible to get off the Overground/NR at Liverpool Street, and run the length of the Elizabeth Line platforms to Moorgate?

Some Tube stations incorporate pedestrian subways under busy roads - is it acceptable to use those? (Though in those cases, it is not necessary to go through a barrier).

This is the fixed version removing Liverpool Street Elizabeth line as well.

[ANDY_JS]

Attending.

[tangy]

A reminder of the rules from the September 2014 challenge:

Should you find yourself accidentally having to visit a banned station (due to the previous station being suddenly closed, or you simply forget in the heat of the moment) are you allowed to backtrack via the SAME route to an unbanned station and re-route from there. The penalty will come in the form of an increase to your overall time due to you having to double back and re-route.

[Lunaticonthegrass]

On the train to Marylebone. This time I've remembered my darts!

[penguin]

What's the pub?

[Oggm]

What's the pub?

The Blue Posts, Newman Street; as previously

[RJSRdg]

At St James's Park, I missed the first train while I was still getting the envelope open. Tangy and I boarded the second train and we travelled west to South Kensington, where I disembarked and went down the stairs to the Piccadilly Line (to find Kev and A2 in the corridor in front of me), while Tangy travelled on. At Hyde Park Corner, I doubled back to SK, whilst Kev and A2 exited the station and I didn't see them again.
I "ran" round the corner from SK to bus stop T ("ran" being a subjective word as I was protecting both my knee and my ankle). Although the indicator said a number 14 bus was "due", it was several minutes before it arrived, and it then crawled through South West London towards Fulham Broadway, only to be stopped outside Chelsea Football Club to "regulate the service" (why not regulate the service at the station instead?). Rather than wait, I hopped off and "ran" to the station. I boarded a southbound train, only to be reunited with Tangy. We went down to Parsons Green and back together. Tangy ran off, I walked round the corner and found a #21 bus ahead heading towards West Kensington. As I upped my pace towards the bus, the left indicator turned off and the right one came on, so I slowed down realising I'd missed it. However a young lady stood on the pavement near the door of the bus saw me and knocked for the driver to reopen it. After thanking her, I got on and headed up to West Ken, where I had a short wait for a train to Hammersmith D&P. Over the road to the other Hammersmith, where the "information" board said the next train would be from Platform 2. I boarded, the train sat there for some time, then the train in Platform 1 departed instead! About that moment, I spotted Tangy and chatted to him for a while, whilst the train in Platform 3 departed! I realised that Tangy had been to the same stations I had, apart from HPK, so despite my delays with the #14 bus, I was a station up....
Eventually another train arrived in 1, and most of the passengers transferred across to it, including me (and, it later transpired, Tangy). Fortunately this time I was now on the right train. At Goldhawk Road, Tangy passed me and this was the last I saw of any competitiors during the Challenge.
I carried on up to Baker Street, caught the Jubilee up to Swiss Cottage and back to Baker Strert again, where I causght another Eastbound subsurface. I deliberated whether to do the interchange between Euston Square and the Northern Line at Euston, but in deference to my knee and ankle, I opted instead to make the simpler change at KXSP. Up the Northern to Archway, back down to Camden Town and up to Chalk Farm.

Back down to KXSP, changed on to the Picc down to Leicester Square and then Northern to Charing Cross (LU). I had intended to catch a train from the NR station to Waterloo East and pick up the Jubilee Line at Southwark, but had forgotten that Charing X was closed. After some deliberations, I walked to Embankment and caught an Eastbound train to Monument. Down to Elephant & Castle, up to Lambeth North, back to E&C and an 8 minute wait for a northbound train to London Bridge, where I changed to the Jubilee for Bermondsey and Canning Town. Final time 3:43:28, but could have been better.

[miklcct]

I had an extremely poor performance in this race, there were multiple long waits at the beginning of my route, the bus ran exceptionally slow, and SWR failed me at the critical part.

After I opened the envelope and marked all the 15 stations on the map (which took me about 4 minutes), I decided to go west first. Therefore I went down to the platform at St. James's Park (1), but I missed a train. I waited for 7 minutes for the next one!!! (The normal headway is 2.5 minutes)

I did a double back between South Kensington and Hyde Park Corner (2), and I waited for 5 minutes at West Kensington, and another 5 minutes at Hyde Park Corner for the train back!!!!!!

I travelled on the Piccadilly straight to Hammersmith (3), did another double back to Goldhawk Road (4), and back onto the District to West Kensington (5). At that time I was already about 15 minutes behind the main pack. I got out the station and took a bus to bypass a banned station, but the bus was extremely slow!!! It took 15 and a half minutes to travel 1.7 km from West Kensington Station to Fulham Town Hall, with an average speed of less than 7 km/h!!!!! (My experience in London Buses is that they normally average 12-19 km/h in urban areas)

I got back on the District line southbound, travelling through Parsons Green (6), intending to change at Putney for a Waterloo train, which normally have a frequent service. However, there was engineering work on the line west of Barnes and the train time would be 1 minute and 29 minutes by the time I would arrive East Putney!! I then checked Wimbledon, which also has a frequent service, but there was a signal failure so only very few trains continued to Waterloo!!!

SWR completely failed me and, if I turned back at Parson Green, it would mean that I had to take the same slow bus which took 15 minutes to travel 1.7 km back, and I didn't want to take that bus again, and it would be hard for me to reach Lambeth North from the west when Waterloo (LU) was banned. I continued to Wimbledon to see what would happen, if there would be a delayed train, but there wasn't. The next train to Waterloo was 20 minutes away.

By then I had to abandon my idea of going Waterloo by train for ground level to Lambeth North, and took a tram out to Morden Road for the Northern line, South Wimbledon back to Elephant & Castle, then exit at Lambeth North (7) instead. This detour possibly cost me another 20+ minutes compared to a direct train from Putney if one was available.

I reentered at Southwark but although most connections were perfect afterwards, I had already lost too much. I was caught out at when entering Southwark that Waterloo East was closed (my plan was to return back there and took the train to Charing Cross). I went through Bermondsey (8) to Canada Water (9), double back to London Bridge instead, and took the Thameslink to Blackfriars, then District to Embankment. Afterwards it was a simple route via Charing Cross (10), Leicester Square (11) to Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street, Swiss Cottage (12) and back to Baker Street (as the Jubilee line is fast), got out at Euston Square (13) to Euston for the final Northern line stations of Chalk Farm (14) and Archway (15), finishing at 4 hours, 9 minutes and 38 seconds for the last place.

[penguin]

Before I even left home, I'd decided that heading westbound from St James's Park was the best shout, and luckily there was a train going in each direction immediately from the get-go so I hopped on before I even opened the envelope. I found myself on the same train as a few other people, but by South Ken it was just me, Rob and Archie. Our routes were virtually identical the whole way round - for all intents and purposes, we may as well have been a team.

From South Ken we got the 14 and trundled slowly to Parson's Green and then got the tube back to Fulham, where we picked up a 28 to West Ken. Then to Hammersmith D&P, cross to the H&C station, double back at Goldhawk Road to get back on a Picc train towards Hyde Park Corner. Getting off there, we absolutely pegged it for a 74 to take us two stops down Park Lane. At Marble Arch, I ended up on the train in front of Rob and Archie - the only train where our routes differed, as we ended up on the same train at Bond Street.

Up to Swiss Cottage and doubled back to Baker Street, where we ran between just about every subsurface platform twice to get the first train. Off at Euston Sq to Euston then up to Archway, doubling back, back up to Chalk Farm, back again through Camden, then down to King's X St P. Picc to Leicester Square, at which point Archie left us (I think he had places to be). Then through Charing X to Embankment, which I thought was the point where Rob and I would finally diverge, as I didn't fancy running along the North bank and he didn't fancy running along the footbridge. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find that we ended up on the same 76 at Waterloo.

From Lower Marsh a quick run to Lambeth North then changing at Elephant & Castle and London Bridge to pass through Bermondsey for a Canada Water finish in 03h11'10" for Rob and me.