When the doors close!!!

[joy54]

I am planning to finish my Tube Challenge at Heathrow but with the new timetable coming in alot of options have been running through my mind. One was getting Piccadilly to H123, Heathrow Express to HT4 and then the Piccadilly line from there.

But the issue is when do I stop the stopwatch? When the doors close at HT4 or when the train arrives at H123? Has this ever been a problem before?

[Soup Dragon]

The rules are a bit of a contradiction.

Rule 1 states "To `visit' a station, the challenger must arrive and/or depart by an underground train in normal public service"

whereas Rule 7 states "The clock must start the moment the doors close on the first train taken by the challengers, it must stop the moment the challengers set foot on the platform at the last station."

I think a similar question has been raised in the past, along the lines of arriving at Amersham and then getting a bus to Chesham as your last station, in this case do you stop the watch when the doors close at Chesham or when the train arrives at Chalfont & Latimer?

I think for a ruling on this you would need to ask Guinness. One potential problem could be if you stop your watch and then the doors open again, what would you do then?

[moley]

I would argue that you just cannot do it!

The challenge vist every station by tube. You've visited the station by the time your get to the platform and you've used alternative public transport to do so.

I would suggest that you have to arrive at you last station by tube. In the same way that you depart your first station by tube.

[dudey]

I thought the interpretation on this was always that if you were arriving at your final station on the challenge by method other than the tube (or a train on the tube lines etc.), then you would still have to make a journey from that station by tube. So that would mean stopping your watch when you step on the platform at the next station.

Any other interpretation would seem to be a warped one to me.

As for Heathrow in particular, my thinking is that this new timetabling has made it a less attractive finishing point than other places.

[Starkey7]

I agree with everything that Dudey has said, except for the very last sentence.

[moley]

I thought the interpretation on this was always that if you were arriving at your final station on the challenge by method other than the tube (or a train on the tube lines etc.), then you would still have to make a journey from that station by tube. So that would mean stopping your watch when you step on the platform at the next station.

Any other interpretation would seem to be a warped one to me.

As for Heathrow in particular, my thinking is that this new timetabling has made it a less attractive finishing point than other places.

This was basically what I was trying to say - but put in a more practical way!

[jbom1]

For what it's worth, I agree that if the final (268th) station is arrived at by means other than Underground train (and, for pedants, excluding Guiness-compliant alternatives such as track-sharing non-Underground train or Underground replacement bus), then the time should be recorded on arrival at the next station.

I think this is similar to an all lines challenge, where the last line is only considered to have been travelled upon when one arrives at a station on it, not at the moment the train is boarded.

[tpfkar]

I can confirm that I have asked Guinness a similar question, and the equivalent reply is that you must arrive at your last station by tube, so it would be on doors opening at the next station, even if you've already been there.

[joy54]

Thanks for all the replies, that sort of puts that idea out of the window as the combined time between going from H123 onto the HEX to HT4, then back on the Piccadilly and then the journey time between HT4 and H123 is longer than the 8 minute wait at HT4. The best place to probably start is HT4 as then you avoid a waiting time anywhere as it goes straight through H123, but that extra time is lost going up to Amersham at the end which takes about an extra 10 minutes, combined with the fact your left with only a service every 30 minutes

[hwolge]

So, let's hope Guinness acknowledges that the configuration is new (and harder) when HT5 comes on-line, otherwise the provisional record from Dec 29th will be really hard to beat...

Even I don't think Wood Lane is significant enough for Guinness to rule that as a new configuration.

[joy54]

I did try to discuss that issue with them on the telephone about a week ago but they said that they would make a ruling nearer the time and confirmed to me the changing on the Piccadilly time didn't warrant a ruling yet (which I didn't really think would just wanted to check).

[palkanetoijala31]

If the waiting time at Heathrow T4 is causing everybody some problems has anyone actually considered running through to T123 then departing from there the waiting wone be so bad as it is at terminal 4 with 2 trains coming in

[Starkey7]

Across the south runway?

[Soup Dragon]

Across the south runway?

I think what Starkey is saying is that there is no pedestrian route between Terminal 4 and Terminals 1,2,3, unless you consider sprinting across the south runway a viable option?

[dudey]

Across the south runway?

I think what Starkey is saying is that there is no pedestrian route between Terminal 4 and Terminals 1,2,3, unless you consider sprinting across the south runway a viable option?

well the south runway has been closed for the last few days....

anyway, i have no idea if it's a viable option, but there is the heathrow express...