NWM Challenge 27 Mar stories

[Mojo]

Post them up here! Mine to follow shortly.

Also if you are the two mystery people who met us at the start but never appeared at the end please reveal yourselves! We are very mystified...

 

[transportphoto]

Oh No they didn't do 'a runner'?!

Thanks for the day excellent all round (shame I sat on a 150 for most of it) however the 350 and a 390 through themselves in & before hand we were on 139001 for 6 mins (my back did ache!).

Third place ain't bad for first challenge hey?

 

[Mojo]

My first challenge which I actually won as well! 37 stations, although I think could have got 2 more if we'd have risked a connection at Walsall and also if we'd run Bordesley to Moor Street.

Also very pleased that this was the only challenge so far that the original plan was stuck to!

 

[asylumxl]

We made really good time. I got to see places and stations i'd never seen.

The driver who thrashed it to New Street was a legend! Never has a 323 been driven with such speed.

Also, today I learnt Welsh trains smell like dogfood and are held together with duct tape.

A very educational day indeed for me.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

I was afraid that 323 was going to go sailing through New Street for a moment.

Final Standings
1. Mojo; ChrisTheRef; AsylumXL 37
2. Ivo 36
3. TransportPhoto, Bournevillan 32
4. 37401; VirginTrainFreak 23
5. Mystery People! DSQ

Just a polite request that people don't post exact route details as we still have 'NWM Challenge II' coming up over Easter!

Thanks for a great day folks, my second win

 

[Broken Viking]

Hail all!
Just a quick apology for not showing up when I said that I might in the original compo thread. As ye all might know (I'm sure I posted it in the original thread) I was in Helsinki last week due to a BAL-SAGOTH Ritual that was happening there, so it was always going to be a bit hit and miss for me, alas.

I've not had the time to go online since I got back (Not helped by a trip to A&E due to suffering a minor accident last night! hock and I have to admit I completely forgot about the challenge - Otherwise Id've posted a last minute update to say I wouldn't be there.

Farewell for now...And fingers crossed; I might still make other challenges later this year!
>> Death <<

 

[Ivo]

This was my first ever PTE (or anything even remotely similar!) Challenge and, as per usual, I have fallen flat somewhere between the last hurdle and the finish. I had a faster time but one less station! And if I continued to Longbridge at a certain point (Mojo knows this) I would have had enough stations, but a slower time! Worse was that Lichfield TV issue; I reached New Street at 12:37 only to see a Lichfield train running two minutes late pulling out! If I hadn't dawdled and wandered into WHSmith, I could have caught it and pulled out an extra station or two, thus winning!

I always seem to come second in things like this. Can't I come third? And not have the misery of being that close? Or at least have a score of, say, 4 less? Worse, I have found a way to increase my score by one point and cut ten minutes off my time! I am absolutely disgusted with this result. I even threw a "hissy fit" [actual quote] at Moor Street when Mojo said his team had scored 37. Yes, he knows Birmingham better than me (by far). But I could easily have won! And with a little optimism (and a non-dawdle at New Street) I could have scored 40! Argh!

All right, rant over. Now some actual notes. Somehow, Mojo et al and I managed to choose the same first journey, which involved a walk to New Street. But I got off the 350 in question before they did, and then I saw no-one again until Moor Street. All of my times, bar one [-3], were [-1], [0] or [+1] minutes, which is really boring! And I even went 47 minutes without scoring courtesy of something called a "bus". I was inundated with 323s; had a couple of 150s, the above 350 and a 153/170 combination.

Afterwards, we went to Pizza Express and spent almost £100 between six of us! I eventually left on the 21:12 to Bristol TM, but not before a photo opportunity with Mojo at B'ham Int (in which he unsurprisingly but also [probably!] unwittingly proved how poor I am at photography at present! ).

When planning my route, I had the figure of 36 as a target. I wanted to beat it, but I couldn't. Now I know a way to do so, which involves only a minor modification (admittedly to that shared journey with Mojo et al). If I follow exactly the same route for NWM II though, the score will still be 36... no Bordesley boost, so I'll still lose by one point :mad:

Well done to Mojo, ChrisTheRef and AsylumXL on their victory [he says, grudgingly! ]. Come London though, I'll show you want I can really do...! (I can be very competitive sometimes. Also, I have proven that I can't use cutlery very well...!)

EDIT: Time for some controversy. Can I claim that you all cheated with that 323 issue?

EDIT: Ah, yes; the new avatar. Good job Mojo

 

[37401]

Top day, I had no plan but still glad of what I pulled off spent a good 40 mins working out how to get to the other side of the TMD at Bescot to grab a good for of the growlers and also trying not to fall in the dirty p*** filled water, ran to tysley to see if it was open to get a shot of their locos, parry people mover was just awful earthquakes are more comfy than that

top day out oh and virgintrainfreak......

Calm down and have a bloomin happy meal

also I have been appointed tea lady/tart with a cart by asylumxl lol

 

[asylumxl]

also I have been appointed tea lady/tart with a cart by asylumxl lol

Nooooo. By Chris and I.

Who's applying to the ORR?

 

[LM Class 323]

I was afraid that 323 was going to go sailing through New Street for a moment.

Final Standings
1. Mojo; ChrisTheRef; AsylumXL 37
2. Ivo 36
3. TransportPhoto, Bournevillan 32
4. 37401; VirginTrainFreak 23
5. Mystery People! DSQ

Just a polite request that people don't post exact route details as we still have 'NWM Challenge II' coming up over Easter!

Thanks for a great day folks, my second win

lol 323's have got good accelraton and thats why they go fast

 

[37401]

Nooooo. By Chris and I.

Who's applying to the ORR?

Application sent off, under meals served on board a put happy meals can't see why it won't go ahead hahaha

 

[asylumxl]

As for rolling stock, I'm thinking 142s in multiples, converted into McDonalds resteraunts.

It will creates many jobs and improve the UK economy.

 

[37401]

And our executive service can be hauled by a single 08 shunter on load 5 Mk 3s, with the RFO converted into a "Maccy Ds"

 

[asylumxl]

So no news on our mystery guests?

 

[37401]

No idea, I think they just vanished, you would think they would post here saying hi or explaining why they failed big time

 

[Ivo]

No idea, I think they just vanished, you would think they would post here saying hi or explaining why they failed big time

Maybe they're too embarrassed by their score to bother? Or maybe they're just lurkers. D'oh.

 

[asylumxl]

Maybe they're too embarrassed by their score to bother? Or maybe they're just lurkers. D'oh.

Maybe they're still waiting at Moor Street

 

[VirginTrainFreak]

Top day, I had no plan but still glad of what I pulled off spent a good 40 mins working out how to get to the other side of the TMD at Bescot to grab a good for of the growlers and also trying not to fall in the dirty p*** filled water, ran to tysley to see if it was open to get a shot of their locos, parry people mover was just awful earthquakes are more comfy than that

top day out oh and virgintrainfreak......

Calm down and have a bloomin happy meal

also I have been appointed tea lady/tart with a cart by asylumxl lol

lol i cant mackie d is closed =[ lol

 

[37401]

lol i cant mackie d is closed =[ lol

Opens really early
Closes really late
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Maybe they're still waiting at Moor Street

I believe so,I can see them there thinking "HA we win, almost a week on and noones shown up" and in a stewie griffin moment "Victory is mine!"