24 Hours of London - redux

[90sWereBetter]

Last year, I posted plans for an insane trip where, taking advantage of the new Night Tube, I would attempt to do 24 straight hours of traveling around London during the first or second weekend in December. As I've wanted to experience the night bus network as well, this sounded perfectly rational in my mind. I would leave Ipswich some time on Friday morning, get into London just after midday, and just travel wherever. However, a combination of issues (mainly my workload at uni being far too great to justify doing it December) meant I didn't do the trip as planned, instead doing a conventional 12 hour trip between 06:40 and 18:40 on Saturday 12th December.

But, now that I've cleared most of my uni work apart from my dissertation, I feel ready to give it another go. I'll be leaving Ipswich on Friday 15th January some time during the morning, and just enjoy the madness of it all until some time during January 16th. I've got plans to clear all the north-westerly branches of the Metropolitan line during these 24 hours, which beforehand would have been far too time consuming to do in a usual trip, given my liking for changing modes of transport as often as possible. I've heard there's a special train between Watford and Rickmansworth which runs at around 20:50 on weekday evenings, and uses the infamous North Curve. Does anyone know if this service still runs?

Also, other than the 1tph Thameslink service, which other railway services run after midnight? It's slightly annoying that the Night Tube isn't an actuality yet, but hey ho.

I still need to procure a portable phone charger, but I've considered everything else (music, footwear, food, and toilet breaks) and I feel up for the challenge. I know I can definitely make it through to the restart of tube services in the morning, whether I can make it through the rest of the 16th so I can go home at a reasonable time in the afternoon, remains to be seen. :P

Any other recommendations, other than I'm a fool and should be locked up for my own safety?

 

[telstarbox]

Although not 24 hours, one of the last trains out of Charing Cross is the 0030 to Gillingham which calls at Lewisham at 0045.

From Lewisham you could then get the last bus 75 at 0100 to Croydon (and pick up a train from there), or 24-hour bus 108 which uniquely runs via the Blackwall Tunnel to Stratford.

There are also hourly trains through the night from Victoria to Three Bridges (calling at Clapham Junction and East Croydon), and trains out of Waterloo until 0105 (to Eastleigh).

If it's cold then two pairs of socks will keep you warm if you have to wait outdoors anywhere - you can always take one pair off - and many McDonald's are 24 hours on Friday night-Saturday morning, not just in the centre.

 

[DarloRich]

I'm a fool and should be locked up for my own safety?

this!

I would be cautious and aware of your surroundings as the night bus can attract all manner of people. Especially drunk studes

 

[deltic]

Semi fast services operate between London and Reading during the night -West Drayton being last travelcard station. I would be careful in planning night bus trips - services range from the incredibly frequent every 7/8 mins to running every 30 minutes which can leave you hanging round in some semi deserted suburb if you are not careful. You can however do some long distance trips you cant do in the day - eg N9 to Heathrow and N3 to Bromley

 

[telstarbox]

Make sure you do a trip report

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Night buses are now very frequent - and quite entertaining - if you have the right "laissez faire" attitude.

 

[90sWereBetter]

Tickets are now booked. Taking advantage of Greater Anglia's £5 singles promotion, I'm leaving Ipswich on the 11:09 to Liverpool Street this Friday, and I'll be returning some time after midday on Saturday.

I'm currently working out a plan for the night bus portion of the trip. I'm probably gonna try and do a N9/140/18 triangle through West London, before heading east for the N86 and N25, before trying the holy grail of night buses, the N29. I also want to try and be at a tube station for the first tube of the day, if that's possible.

Amersham and Chesham will be done Saturday morning. I'll probably try and get Epping and the whole of the Heathrow loop done as well, try and clear some Tube extremities. I reckon the Uxbridge branch will have to wait for another trip though, can't exhaust the tube.

 

[urpert]

Although not 24 hours, one of the last trains out of Charing Cross is the 0030 to Gillingham which calls at Lewisham at 0045.

From Lewisham you could then get the last bus 75 at 0100 to Croydon (and pick up a train from there), or 24-hour bus 108 which uniquely runs via the Blackwall Tunnel to Stratford.

There are also hourly trains through the night from Victoria to Three Bridges (calling at Clapham Junction and East Croydon), and trains out of Waterloo until 0105 (to Eastleigh).

If it's cold then two pairs of socks will keep you warm if you have to wait outdoors anywhere - you can always take one pair off - and many McDonald's are 24 hours on Friday night-Saturday morning, not just in the centre.

The 0037 Victoria - Gillingham is another pretty late departure - could get it as far as Bromley South and pick up the (24-hour) 119 to Croydon.

 

[Statto95]

Well done fella. Very best of luck, record all the stations you change at. I'll be interested to hear all about it.

 

[90sWereBetter]

There's a hitch in my plans to do Amersham and Chesham. I was planning to get the Metropolitan all the way up to the former, and then pick up the bus that Arriva The Shires run between the the two towns so I can do the Chesham branch. Apparently, the thieving blaggards want £4 for a single journey, which lasts barely 10 minutes.

So yeah, I'm gonna have to replan that, or knock it on the head and do the Uxbridge branch instead. I'm getting the Watford branch done on Friday evening, hopefully doing the famed Rickmansworth north curve.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Well, I returned home safely an hour ago. As much as I enjoyed Friday evening and the night bus network, I'm definitely not doing a 24 hour run again. I'm finished, mentally and physically.

Trip report might follow in a few days time.

 

[Kite159]

You were brave doing it in the depths of winter!

 

[90sWereBetter]

You were brave doing it in the depths of winter!

To be honest, I think the cold weather actually helped me stay awake and alert for much of the trip.

Looking back in hindsight, I should have brought the trip to a close after I caught Go-Ahead London's PVL170 (X707EGK) on the 270 between Putney Bridge and Tooting Broadway on the Saturday morning. I reached the 24 hour mark (measured from the moment I got on the X5 bus from my house in Ipswich on Friday morning) during that journey, and it would have been a fitting way to cap off a brilliant trip, getting a ride on possibly the oldest bus still in TFL service (and quite by chance too!). After this journey, I started nodding off on the Northern line, which scared the hell out of me, and made the last couple of hours fairly unpleasant. But no, I had to be dogmatic and go home in the afternoon.

 

[90sWereBetter]

Right, it's time to finally get a trip report out. I'm going to do this in sections due to the sheer length of this trip.

So my day started around 8am on Friday 15th, but I officially didn't begin the trip until 10:30, where I boarded Ipswich Buses DAF/Lowlander 100 (PN52XBM) on the X5 from my student house to Tower Ramparts. My 24 hours would be clocked from the moment I got on said bus. I then picked up First's Enviro 200 44517 (YX09ACY) on the 53 to the railway station. My plan was to catch the 11:09 to Liverpool Street...which was already running five minutes late by the time I arrived at the station. A bad omen for the rest of the trip, I feared. During my time waiting, it lost a few more minutes, and then a pair of Freightliner 86s turned up crawling down the centre track between platforms with a bunch of empty wagons. I assumed it would wait for the 11:09 to go ahead of it...which precisely didn't happen. It was sent out down through Stoke Tunnel ahead of my train, which finally arrived at the platform a minute or so later. I settled down in MK3 12099 for the slightly delayed journey. Apparently, we passed the 86s somewhere between Colchester and Witham, but I don't remember seeing it from the windows. Anyway, after a slightly protracted journey, I arrived at Liverpool Street around 12:25, and headed down one of the Central line entrances which are only open on weekdays. From there, I got a superb connection to Stratford, on 92 stock carriage 91011.

I spent a bit of time at Stratford bus station wondering where I should head of to. The sheer length of my planned trip was already proving daunting. I always make a point of trying to catch as many Stagecoach Tridents as possible when I'm in London, for three reasons. Firstly, they've been in service in East London as long as I can remember, secondly they've been incredibly well looked after (you wouldn't believe these are 11-13 year old buses from the interiors), and thirdly the cull is expected to happen in the next few months, with routes changing hands and new buses expected. East London's gonna be a weird place when these finally disappear from the roads in the next year or so. I therefore waited until Stagecoach's 18240 (LX04FYG) showed up on the 104, a route that officially should be all-Enviro 400. This was a nice, if somewhat busy journey to Upton Park tube station. From here, I decided to take a long route to Romford, in order to finally clear the Romford Branch Line. However, the first District line train to show up was only going as far as Barking. With the next train indictators being horribly basic at this station, I decided it best to keep travelling, and picked this train up. D Stock carriage 7537 took me as far as Barking.

As it turned out, I would have only had to wait a minute for the next service going further afield. Another D stock unit showed up, and I boarded carriage 17048. I got this as far as Dagenham Heathway. My plan was to pick up the 175 all the way to Romford, because Stagecoach Tridents, obviously. However, as I came out of the station, I spied a Trident heading southbound on the route towards the Ford works. This was a Trident I wanted to catch, as this was 17762 (LX03BUU). For the unknowing, this was the Trident that was nearly blown up in the failed July 21st terror attacks in 2005. 10 and a half years since its London career was almost brought to a premature end, here it is pottling around an area of London which, let us be diplomatic here, has seen better days. Not willing to wait 25 minutes for it to go to the Ford Works and back to Heathway (my phone was recording a toasty -1 degrees at this point, in the mid-afternoon and all!). I decided the best plan would be to catch the next southbound 175, get off a few stops before the Ford Works, and then catch 17762. The next southbound 175 was being operated by Stagecoach 17748 (LY52ZFG), numerically the oldest Trident left with Stagecoach London! Fantastic stuff. I got this down to a very desolate bus stop on a road called Norwich Road, about two stops from the Ford works, and waited five minutes for 17762 to show up going the other way. I think the driver was rather surprised to see this young berk with two bags and horribly bad hair get on his bus at this stop. I was the only passenger until we reached Heathway. Again, for a near 13 year old bus, it was immaculate inside. We pressed on at a good speed to Romford, arriving around 14:30.

My plan was then to get the Romford shuttle to Upminster, and then try and pick up another D stock for a long journey back into the city, given these are living on borrowed time. However, the second part of this plan had to be scrapped, due to my bladder deciding otherwise. Yes, I could have used the little boy's room on 321413, but given that I had never used the Romford branch before, I decided it would be better to hold on until Upminster, and then use the toilet on a c2C 357. So after a short, and rather dull journey where the only interest to be gained was the ancient seat moquette on this 321, and the BTCC 2015 review magazine I'd brought along for reading, I arrived at Upminster to pick up 357316, one of their newly refurbed 357s. My next moves were to get this to West Ham, get a tube to Whitechapel, and then pick up a 254 to a destination somewhere in North London. As it was around the time that schools would be finishing in East London, I didn't want to hang around in the area for much longer. On the 357 though, I had a bit of a fright. I wanted to have a short musical interlude, so I got my iPod Classic out...to discover the screen was frozen! I could scroll up or down, but I could do nothing else. If I can't listen to music during this epic, I've had it! As it turned out though, 30 seconds worth of Googling the problem resolved my issues straight away. Panic adverted! I can still listen to my Arctic Monkeys and Kate Nash songs during this trip, thank heavens.

I got a very good interchange at West Ham onto S-stock carriage 21308, a Hammersmith and City line service. During this, I took the musical interlude that had eluded me a few minutes earlier. I got this to Whitechapel, where I took the opportunity of using the old station building for the last time prior to its closure for refurbishment the next day. It was here that I wasted 15 minutes trying to find where the 254 now stopped, as due to the carnage that is the Aldgate cycling highway, the 254 now no longer goes down Whitechapel High Street. Of course, yours truly went entirely the wrong way, having to navigate the street market all the way down to a bus stop, and then had to retrace my steps back. When I eventually caught Arriva London''s VLW133 (LJ03MHF), I was worn out and a bit peeved. And then I had the wobble I had hoped I would avoid. "Why I am doing this trip?" "Why am I such a lunatic?" "You could have had a decent night's sleep tonight" "You could have gone out with friends to the student bar, have a nice social evening" "Instead you're being an idiot, it's bloody freezing, you're on your own, and you've still got probably another day to go". All of these were going through my head as the Volvo B7 (these buses, in contrast to the Stagecoach Tridents, are really on their last legs) wheezed up towards Hackney. My mood, which less than an hour earlier had been upbeat, was rather more miserable as I got off at Hackney Central around 16:00.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[PeterY]

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report 90sWereBetter. I don't think I'd have the stomach for 24 hours but it'd be a challenge. If I were to attempt it, I'd do it with a friend especially the night buses.

When I treat myself to a London travel card, starting in Watford, I usually start at 9.30 and get back about 6 by then I've had enough.

 

[Kristofferson]

Sounds suitably nuts, but I'm enjoying the read!

I think those of us who are only sporadic bashers (see, I avoided the term "norm!") have occasional "what am I doing here" feelings when out on a trip, because you feel like you SHOULD be doing something else.. but then you remember it's very much OK to enjoy trains or buses as part of life's rich tapestry!

 

[55013]

Some interesting stuff there, fair play to you.
Rather you than me, though - I hate buses.
321413 is rather nice, though

 

[90sWereBetter]

Part 2

So, as I explained, I was now at Hackney Central and not in the best of moods. I decided I should try and head over to the Northern City Line and get a 313 towards Moorgate, on the basis that the train should be fairly quiet in contrast to the northbound services. I picked up London Overground's 378228 for the short journey to Highbury and Islington, where I had a six minute wait for the next Moorgate service. The train, formed of 313045 and another unit, was much busier than I had expected, yet I was still able to get a seat. Unfortunately, my mood was still unrelenting. Upon arrival at Moorgate, I made my way down to the Northern Line platforms, and picked up a southbound service to London Bridge, which was so busy that I forgot to make a note of the carriage number.

What I wanted to do next was to catch a 381 towards Canada Water, as the route often has Abellio London's utterly shagged Tridents running on it. However, the first 381 to arrive was a bog standard Enviro 400, which I let go of. With a 10 minute wait for the next 381 in cold, and slowly darkening conditions, I realised I could infact get a hydrogen bus on the RV1 to Tower Gateway from this stop. I had yet to catch one of these, as the RV1 serves many touristy areas, and to be blunt, I don't like tourists. So I made a mental note to try for the 381 later in the trip, and instead picked up Tower Transit's LJ13JZo for the short journey to Tower Gateway. I kept expecting an engine to cut in as like the hybrid buses and Borismasters, so the hum and whine of the motors and other equipment on this bus was interesting, to say the least. At Tower Gateway, I was able to get a good transfer onto DLR unit 66. This took me to Westferry, whereupon I changed to the Lewisham service just behind this train. DLR unit 118 whisked me through the Isle of Dogs at the peak of the rush hour. I was lucky to get a seat, given the sheer volume of passengers that boarded at Canary Wharf. I took a musical interlude from here until the Lewisham terminus.

At Lewisham, I had wanted to check where the 108 picked up from, as I was planning to catch the last service from Charing Cross to Lewisham after midnight, later in the trip. However, I had to nix this idea, as the area around Lewisham station is a total mess at the moment. Roadworks and barriers absolutely everywhere. I also didn't fancy waiting around for ages after midnight in this area of London, to be frank. I eventually found an operational bus stop for buses heading back towards Central London, and I picked up an absolutely rammed Go Ahead London WVL403 (LX11CWG) on the 21. I caught this up to New Cross Gate, whereupon I changed back to the London Overground. 378140 was my chariot up to Penge West. Here, I got a fantastic connection to the 176 bus route. Arriva London VLA37 (LJ53BBX) arrived about 10 seconds after I got to the bus stop. This was a lovely bus, warm and with a good turn of speed. It was on this bus that my mood changed back to that of optimism. "I'm gonna enjoy the next couple of hours, the good times are coming" I told myself. My next aim was to slowly make my way up to Baker Street, and then clear the Watford branch of the Metropolitan line.

I alighted from the 176 at East Dulwich, and waited for a Southern service to London Bridge. It was coming up to about 19:00 at this point. The evening peak had passed, and things were already quietening down at this point. There was just me, a young blonde lady, and an elderly gentlemen waiting on the northbound platform for Southern's 455827. This whisked me back to London Bridge pronto. I was going to head down to the Jubilee line platforms, when I passed the bus station. There was a queue of 521 Red Arrows waiting for custom. Knowing this was a rare opportunity for me (I very rarely go to London on a weekday, and the 521 only runs Monday-Friday), I decided to take a slightly elongated route to Waterloo. Go Ahead London's MEC14 (BD09ZPU) was the next bus on the stand, and after a slight problem with the Oyster readers not working, we set off. This journey was notable for a very near miss at St Pauls, where a Metroline President on the 4 nearly sideswipped us as we went down New Change onto Cheapside. Cue much use of the horns!

After a short delay caused by a big queue of taxis disgorging their passengers, we made it to Waterloo. I changed to the Bakerloo line, riding in carriage 4567. The seats on this carriage looked pretty much original, from the amount of wear apparent. I got a seat, which I gave up for an elderly woman at Oxford Circus. Good deed for the day done, I guess. At Baker Street, I reconsidered my Watford aspirations. My plan had been to get a train to Watford, get one back to Harrow-On-The-Hill, pick a 140 all the way to Heathrow, and then clear the Terminal 4 loop and Terminal 5, before heading back into town in time for the night buses to start. However, it was pushing quarter past 8 by the time I made it to the Metropolitan line platforms. I decided to cut the Watford part and just get a Metropolitan to Harrow. I had only ever caught Chiltern Railways to Harrow, so it would have been new track anyway. I got in S-Stock carriage 22080, which was forming a very rare service (to my knowledge: an Uxbridge semi-fast. And then the problems began. I got on with three minutes to go until departure...and nothing happened. Then the Amersham service in the adjacent platform departed before us. Then, we received word that someone was trespassing on the tracks near Dollis Hill. Oh joy. We finally departed about 10 minutes late, and a tortuously slow journey followed, stopping at pretty much every signal. Then, the driver got on the intercom to inform us that the service was suspended on the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines north of Willesden Green, and that this train would terminate at Finchley Road. Bang went my Heathrow plan. The driver did manage to raise a good chuckle from us passengers when he ended his message with "Don't shoot the messenger".

So, we were turfed out at Finchley Road. Although the Heathrow plan was dead until at least Saturday morning, I still wanted to catch a Metroline President. I knew Willesden was a Metroline stronghold, so I picked up the next northbound Jubilee line train, got in carriage 96898, and got off at Willesden Green. I headed over to the bus stop opposite the station, knowing my best shot at a Metroline President was the 260. And one was due...in 12 minutes time. Bugger. Although conditions had improved (my phone was now recording a sweltering 1 degrees), it was still an unpleasant wait, made worse by a crying little brat in a pram waiting at the bus stop with his father for the 266. :roll: Metroline's VP511 (LK53LYG) finally arrived just after 21:00. Another very nice bus ride followed, during which I took the opportunity to eat my "dinner" (two home-made ham sandwiches, a packet of Walkers ready salted, a Frosties bar, all washed down with water and PowerAde ). I caught this all the way to North Acton, whereupon I considered my options. I wanted to head towards Westbourne Park, to catch either a 28, 31, or 328, as these routes are pretty lively. That's what I decided to do, but first I took a diversion to Ealing Broadway, on Central line carriage 93410. With it nearly being 22:00, I knew it would probably be best if I took a toilet break now, as I really didn't fancy using a public toilet in the early hours of Saturday. My toilet break was taken on First Great Western's 165120, where I also took the opportunity to beef up my clothing. Extra socks and T-shirts were the order. A short musical interlude later, I was at Paddington.

TO BE CONTINUED>

 

[Kristofferson]

Crazy trip, I admire your commitment to see it through!

 

[Segedunum]

Absolutely insane trip but for some reason i'd probably do it myself! Less emphasis on the buses but i'd start early and finish early (something like 5am-5am) probably just to maximise my time on the rails and clear off a ton of requirements.

My longest day has been 5am to 11pm though and I will admit to being suitably dazed by the time I left the train in the evening!

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[90sWereBetter]

Absolutely insane trip but for some reason i'd probably do it myself! Less emphasis on the buses but i'd start early and finish early (something like 5am-5am) probably just to maximise my time on the rails and clear off a ton of requirements.

My longest day has been 5am to 11pm though and I will admit to being suitably dazed by the time I left the train in the evening!

Looking forward to reading more.

Yeah, before this trip, my longest had been 14 hours, so I pretty much doubled my longest day.

Glad to see people enjoying the write-up, I'll try and get the other two parts up tomorrow.

 

[Kite159]

Sounds like an interesting day so far

 

[Techniquest]

I've very much enjoyed the read so far, I must say. Looking forward to the next part

Even us hardcore bashers have "What the hell am I doing?" moments. Sometimes they pass quickly, sometimes it takes a while. So I certainly know the feeling, there are good bits of Norm Land, but the appeal never lasts long!

Tridents with Stagecoach, oh my that's enough to set me off on a trip down Nostalgia Avenue. I remember when they used to be almost everywhere, so I agree it'll be a strange place without them. President bashing, ooh very nice, I had one recently albeit for a short journey in Scotland. I think at one point a few years back they were doing the N9 to Heathrow, such a run would be interesting!

Well done on making it through the trip, an all-nighter around London is hard going but totally worth it. Until the sun comes up then you realise the time and how tired you are!