Chasing a phone on the Northern Line..[now found]

[Trevelyan]

Hello there, perhaps somebody here has some advice or answers that could help me to physically reunite with my phone..

Last night I got off the tube at Oval, went to tap out and realised my phone wasn't on me. To skip ahead, it appears that the phone is, as of writing, still on the tube. I suspect that it fell down the back of the seat, or under it perhaps, and now that I have enabled tracking on it, it appears to still be following (a) northern line route, when above ground.

I submitted a lost property claim but this assumes that it would be found. That it has not already been found, yet is on a train still, suggests that it is in a hard to find place.

I know where I was sitting (albeit not which carriage), have a record of some of the stations it has been at certain times and a suspicion as to which train number it is on (although I managed to catch that last night, went through the empty carriages and found nothing. This was prior to realising it may have gone under a seat).

1. One idea is to go to Morden, wait there and keep tracking the phone to work out which arrival it should be on. Whilst it has power..
2. I could update the lost property claim but that seems to be reactive, rather than a pro-active hunt
3. Would it be possible to find out from TFL (who and how?) which train it should be on and, therefore, where I should be when to board and search for it?
4. Do train numbers follow the same route through a day (e.g. High Barnet to Morden) or is their destination decided as and when they return back down the line from each end?

It is a bit of a long shot and time-dependent thing, so I'm open to ideas!

Also, am I correct in thinking physically it could have gone under a seat? I have a vague recollection that I may have perched on the edge at one point and felt the seat go clunk..

Thanks all!

 

[Adoarable]

The Northern line timetable is available here. You'll want to use pages 24 to 79 to find which train it's on. Pay attention to the train number at the top of the column - this stays the same throughout the day so you should be able to use this to figure out where the train is going to be. I might be wrong but I think this number is also displayed on an LED screen on the front of the train.

If there's minor disruption, your train may be turned around early mid-journey. I'm not sure about this but hopefully when it reverses it will wait until its next booked working so as to get back onto the timetable.
If there's severe disruption, or a problem with that particular train, it may get sent back to the depot early or put onto a different timetable.

Also be aware that not all trains run all day - some don't run at all, for maintenance or for being spare cover; others run during the morning and evening peaks only.

Good luck!

 

[Dstock7080]

The Northern line timetable is available here. You'll want to use pages 24 to 79 to find which train it's on.

That timetable is not in operation while the Bank blockade is on.
TTN2/22 refers

 

[MotCO]

Two thoughts on this.

• Can you remember where your carriage was in relation to the exit at your station to try to identify the carriage?
• Because of the loop at Kennington, the trains can turn round and change direction, so you may need to look in the carriage diametrically opposite to where you thought the carriage was.

 

[Trevelyan]

Another question: would the carriages have changed since end of service yesterday?

Adoarable; thanks for the link but Dstock7080 seems correct, as that train has been running this morning.

Edit: the service was 033 yesterday until close of play, where it ended up going to bed at High Barnet and I've seen it at that end of the line this morning, and back down in Morden since..

 

[DanNCL]

It will be found eventually, as if not found by yourself or a cleaner it'll be found in the depot the next time the train has to have the seats lifted for maintenance.

As the train could have turned (potentially several times) since the phone was lost, it may not be in the carriage you think it's in. For example, if you were in carriage 2 when you lost the phone, you'll additionally want to check carriage 5 (Northern line trains have 6 carriages in total).

An option to find out where the train is today would be to quote the carriage number on this thread and ask what workings it's on today. There isn't any guarantee that anyone will be able to answer but it has to be worth a go.

Going to Morden may not be the best option as there's no guarantee the train will actually go to Morden - it could be working services to Battersea, Kennington or Moorgate instead.

Because of the loop at Kennington, the trains can turn round and change direction, so you may need to look in the carriage diametrically opposite to where you thought the carriage was.

Indeed the loop at Kennington could work in the OPs favour here, as if they manage to stay on for a ride around the loop that's effectively 10 minutes with no other passengers on the train to look for the phone.

 

[pelli]

Assuming the phone still has power and you can check the phone location live (I believe both android and apple phones can be tracked live using some sort of "Find my device" functionality) from a second portable internet-enabled device, you could consider catching the phone while it's out north on the non-tunnel sections:

According to the TfL "Bicycles on public transport" map the line is mostly out in the open north of Golders Green (Edgware branch) and of Finchley Central (High Barnet branch), both of which are around 13 minutes from the end of the line. So from the time the phone comes out into the open, so you know which branch it's on, you have around 13 minutes + a turnaround + 13 minutes before the phone goes back into the tunnel. The goal is to get to a southbound platform out in the open where you can confirm with the live location tracking which exact train the phone is on, before you board the train and search (and/or note down the carriage number).

If you knew no trains would turn short, you could just wait outside the barriers at Camden town for the location fix, and then hop on the tube to Golders Green/Finchley Central which takes 10/15 minutes. However, at the moment the live data shows that some trains branch off from Finchley Central to Mill Hill East and turn there, so under these conditions your best bet would be to wait at Finchley Central for the phone to emerge from the tunnel and tell you its location, and if it's the other branch you can hop on bus 13/460 which takes you to Golders Green in 15-20 minutes depending on traffic.

Once you're on the correct train, if you're still out in the open you can also remote activate the phone's ring function, but that's best done at a terminus where you will have time to check through the whole train and nobody else can hear the ring, find the phone, and walk off with it without you noticing.

 

[Dstock7080]

Two thoughts on this.

• Because of the loop at Kennington, the trains can turn round and change direction, so you may need to look in the carriage diametrically opposite to where you thought the carriage was.

Indeed the loop at Kennington could work in the OPs favour here, as if they manage to stay on for a ride around the loop that's effectively 10 minutes with no other passengers on the train to look for the phone.

The Kennington loop is not being used during the Bank blockade works.

 

[DavyCrocket]

Hi, if you are able to post here with a time and location of the phone and two times (day 15 minutes apart) I will be able to assist with a train and you can contact customer services. Or if you know the time of the train you were on. Also, send a text message to the phone with alternative contact.

Not wanting to be a bearer of bad news, it’s sometimes not possible to retrieve items for quite some time, due to technical difficulties or cost.

 

[MattRat]

What OP needs is manpower. Maybe contact someone like Geoff Marshall and turn it into an 'easter egg hunt' style video. 'Winner' gets some merch or something.

 

[Mojo]

If you post in this thread times it’s at a few consecutive stations (so we can work out which direction it’s travelling) someone could get the lead car number of the train it’s on.

 

[frediculous]

What we did in the end (I'm a friend of OP) was ping the location of the phone a few times on the open northern section of the line.

From that we used the API to find the arrivals for the next station and got the train ID. From that, I could tell OP what time to get to Morden in his lunch break to pick it up (closest terminus). He was all set to pick up the phone but someone intercepted at Leicester Square and rang him instead.

 

[mrredrunner100]

If tracking is still on, i'd suggest going to an open station and wait for it to appear as train numbers change throughout the day and overnight depending on what's happening on the line.

Next time, ask a member of staff who can track that specific train down at the time as it's recent

 

[rebmcr]

If tracking is still on, i'd suggest going to an open station and wait for it to appear as train numbers change throughout the day and overnight depending on what's happening on the line.

Next time, ask a member of staff who can track that specific train down at the time as it's recent

The four-day-old comment directly above yours already confirmed that the phone was intercepted and the owner contacted.