My third successful completion, with improved time.
Posted: 08 Sep 2023, 09:34
Started Heathrow T4 05:02:57, finished Amersham at 23:26:50 for a time of 18:23:53, 31m21s faster than my previous best and only 35 seconds slower than the current best time listed here. As that places all three top scores at 18:23:ss it seems that the only variation is the timeliness of Met 411 to Amersham.
The weather was hot - we were in the middle of a heat wave but this may be the only week I can fit around other commitments before the leaf fall timetable. The heat didn't cause any problems for me or the trains.
I used the same route as my previous two successes, with only minor tweaks.
After a good run from Heathrow, at Olympia I caught the 06:10:30 thanks to the driver re-opening the just closing doors; I gave him a wave as thanks. As expected, catching this didn't make any difference to subsequent timings but one has to try as catching a late running train further on could help.
At Hammersmith I ran for a Richmond train I knew I was unlikely to catch and sure enough it had long gone. Then a voice behind me said "Are you doing the Tube Challenge?" I regret that I soon forgot the name of my fellow challenger - it might have begun with G - but it was good to discuss the challenge and to travel together for a short while until our routes diverged at Richmond. Like me, G? was trying to improve his personal best; I hope that, like me, he was successful.
At Turnham Green on return from Richmond, and as expected, I missed the Ealing Broadway train by seconds. G? had decided to run from Gunnersbury to Chiswick Park to catch that and was obviously successful because he wasn't on the platform at Chiswick Park when I passed.
At North Ealing I had a long wait for a w/b Pic. The Uxbridge branch of the Pic seems to be running very poorly at the moment. The day before, I waited ages at Rayners Lane for an e/b, during which two scheduled trains simply didn't run.
When the Pic did arrive it was going only to Rayners Lane so this gave me the reason to try a reverse at West Harrow - the only real change I made since my last success. This reverse took 16 minutes and wasn't as quick as I'd hoped because the n/b Met was, as often happens, delayed by a terminating Pic moving to the siding. The Met took 7 minutes to get from West Harrow to Rayners Lane, a journey timetabled for just 2.5 minutes. However, despite the delay this reverse didn't cost any time and did save the diversion and walk to North Harrow later in the day.
The reverse at Epping was a dream and dropped me right on a shuttle at Woodford. By Stratford I was 22 minutes behind schedule but had West Harrow in hand so all was looking good and a series of fortuitous connections - including a late running n/b to Mill Hill East - made me increasingly hopeful that today would be a good day.
I was on an Upminster train from Sloane Square and would have had to wait 12 minutes for a c2c from Fenchurch Street so I debated my policy of changing at Tower Hill but I didn't want to find myself in a gap of c2c up trains at Upminster and couldn't get a signal on my phone. I decided to stay on the District and later discovered that I had the information already in my notes; doh! And I had a quick reverse at Upminster.
By Regents Park I was 15 minutes ahead of schedule with the West Harrow reverse still in hand. The train from Regents Park was going only to Stonebridge Park but I knew a H&W was a few minutes behind. Even better, at Queens Park a LO train was waiting and it left first. I've never had such a good run up to H&W.
By Watford I was 30 minutes ahead of schedule and this is where the second delay of today occurred. Train 472 was missing and it wasn't there to take me straight out again. However, train 443 was late arriving so it's probable that I wouldn't have made 472 anyway. 443 left Watford on time at 22:08 and I caught all the expected trains to Chesham and Amersham.
Aside from a better Piccadilly line and an optimal reverse at Watford, I doubt this route can be improved either in planning or execution. If I do the challenge again then I'll try a different route.
The weather was hot - we were in the middle of a heat wave but this may be the only week I can fit around other commitments before the leaf fall timetable. The heat didn't cause any problems for me or the trains.
I used the same route as my previous two successes, with only minor tweaks.
After a good run from Heathrow, at Olympia I caught the 06:10:30 thanks to the driver re-opening the just closing doors; I gave him a wave as thanks. As expected, catching this didn't make any difference to subsequent timings but one has to try as catching a late running train further on could help.
At Hammersmith I ran for a Richmond train I knew I was unlikely to catch and sure enough it had long gone. Then a voice behind me said "Are you doing the Tube Challenge?" I regret that I soon forgot the name of my fellow challenger - it might have begun with G - but it was good to discuss the challenge and to travel together for a short while until our routes diverged at Richmond. Like me, G? was trying to improve his personal best; I hope that, like me, he was successful.
At Turnham Green on return from Richmond, and as expected, I missed the Ealing Broadway train by seconds. G? had decided to run from Gunnersbury to Chiswick Park to catch that and was obviously successful because he wasn't on the platform at Chiswick Park when I passed.
At North Ealing I had a long wait for a w/b Pic. The Uxbridge branch of the Pic seems to be running very poorly at the moment. The day before, I waited ages at Rayners Lane for an e/b, during which two scheduled trains simply didn't run.
When the Pic did arrive it was going only to Rayners Lane so this gave me the reason to try a reverse at West Harrow - the only real change I made since my last success. This reverse took 16 minutes and wasn't as quick as I'd hoped because the n/b Met was, as often happens, delayed by a terminating Pic moving to the siding. The Met took 7 minutes to get from West Harrow to Rayners Lane, a journey timetabled for just 2.5 minutes. However, despite the delay this reverse didn't cost any time and did save the diversion and walk to North Harrow later in the day.
The reverse at Epping was a dream and dropped me right on a shuttle at Woodford. By Stratford I was 22 minutes behind schedule but had West Harrow in hand so all was looking good and a series of fortuitous connections - including a late running n/b to Mill Hill East - made me increasingly hopeful that today would be a good day.
I was on an Upminster train from Sloane Square and would have had to wait 12 minutes for a c2c from Fenchurch Street so I debated my policy of changing at Tower Hill but I didn't want to find myself in a gap of c2c up trains at Upminster and couldn't get a signal on my phone. I decided to stay on the District and later discovered that I had the information already in my notes; doh! And I had a quick reverse at Upminster.
By Regents Park I was 15 minutes ahead of schedule with the West Harrow reverse still in hand. The train from Regents Park was going only to Stonebridge Park but I knew a H&W was a few minutes behind. Even better, at Queens Park a LO train was waiting and it left first. I've never had such a good run up to H&W.
By Watford I was 30 minutes ahead of schedule and this is where the second delay of today occurred. Train 472 was missing and it wasn't there to take me straight out again. However, train 443 was late arriving so it's probable that I wouldn't have made 472 anyway. 443 left Watford on time at 22:08 and I caught all the expected trains to Chesham and Amersham.
Aside from a better Piccadilly line and an optimal reverse at Watford, I doubt this route can be improved either in planning or execution. If I do the challenge again then I'll try a different route.