Ivo
Established Member
Seen as no thread seems to exist about it (apart from the pre-Challenge thread, which has now been consigned to the history books), I have decided to make one! There were roughly 20 competitors in all, which is quite impressive from my experience, with aspirations of 40 stations floating around. There was also the slight issue of LM strikes at hand.
I teamed up with Neil AH and the well-known Tube Challenger Andi James and set out for Stourbridge, where they were to sample the 139 for the first time, and then onto Moor Street where we would meet sonic2009 and form a 4-man team. Sonic showed up late; we met him in the Queensway tunnel at 12:02! :roll: We went on to Stechford, mimicking my first two journeys from 2010, only for the 323 back to BHM to be delayed by two minutes. And then 5. And then 8. And then 12. We finally got back to BHM with no valid plan and a potential score of just 35. Sonic hastily declared that we had to run to Moor Street and have a reshuffle of our plans; this resulted in me struggling for breath for half an hour! Running whilst carrying a heavy backpack and things in my hands (there was not enough warning to put them away! really tires me out... Thus, it was down to Dorridge.
Back from Dorridge, we went as far as Smethwick GB, and retreated to the low level platform. The question here was the gamble of changing at Tipton or playing it safe and doing so at Dudley Port; either way, this next journey would put us back on schedule. Arriving at the latter, the Walsall-bound train was two minutes late, so we stayed on. And then it was back round as far as Hamstead, where we all briefly split up (Sonic went shopping; Neil and Andi checked the local chippy!) and then set off for Aston - meeting Drsatan and AsylumXL en route - for the tightest connection I had envisioned - a +3. Piece of cake, even when Sonic started messing around in the lift!
Then it was up to Sutton Coldfield and back to New Street, where a new idea was concocted (on the grounds of getting to Moor Street earlier at the end) - we would go down to Whitlocks End. Under the first plan, we would have lost points, but having lost Small Heath and Tyseley to the rejig it seemed sensible. Arriving at Shirley, a few guys got on that we had not noticed at that time (presumably off the 49 bus) that Andi then noticed getting off at Whitlocks End! Thus began a chase through the 150 until a certain Mojo was caught; Yorkie (who was with him) then showed us all his Alnmouth rant. Seven of us then returned to Moor Street...
...where the Tube team (minus their record holder) revealed a ridiculous score of 44! Apparently buses do work... I later suggested we challenge them to a Zone 1 Challenge; if they beat us on our turf, we should return the favour!
On to Pizza Express, but not the one near the Bullring like last year, where I had the least (£8.10's worth), when the average was roughly £17! How no-one seemed to know (especially with £10 meal vouchers and no desserts)... Afterwards, we split into two; eight stayed at Pizza Express (possibly for dessert), and eight of us (including the Tube Challengers) went off for the Midland Metro. We boarded at St Paul's (after a fine dash from Adham to hold the 126 bus!) and stayed on to The Hawthorns, where Neil and Andi would be leaving us. The rest of us went on to Wolvo, where Adham left us and then the remaining five would split into two groups, with three on the Pendo to London (where AsylumXL presumably met Mojo et al) and Sonic and myself on the 170 from Shrewsbury, to ensure the +12 connection at New Street was valid, just in case. Said connection was almost missed when the 170 showed up late and stayed at Wolvo for a while!
At New Street, the 220 was also late. To give my exact quote, "We will have to depend on good old XC reliability - or lack thereof." It prevailed. This journey would become my first First Class experience in a Voyager, which is surprisingly comfortable actually, where we met the train driver's wife, an apparent HST fan and former Deputy Head of a secondary school, who gave me some tips for me when I qualify. Sonic showed me the EA-made Rail Simulator, which I was surprised to learn had a representation of the S&D to Templecombe!
Later, at Bristol TM, the 220 was 22 minutes late - my joint record for that particular journey. That left me a +4 for the last train of the night to Bath, which was standing only (as per usual), and then bed.
How our ultimate score of 37 (improved by two after that SCF calamity) was seven down on the best is beyond me...
I teamed up with Neil AH and the well-known Tube Challenger Andi James and set out for Stourbridge, where they were to sample the 139 for the first time, and then onto Moor Street where we would meet sonic2009 and form a 4-man team. Sonic showed up late; we met him in the Queensway tunnel at 12:02! :roll: We went on to Stechford, mimicking my first two journeys from 2010, only for the 323 back to BHM to be delayed by two minutes. And then 5. And then 8. And then 12. We finally got back to BHM with no valid plan and a potential score of just 35. Sonic hastily declared that we had to run to Moor Street and have a reshuffle of our plans; this resulted in me struggling for breath for half an hour! Running whilst carrying a heavy backpack and things in my hands (there was not enough warning to put them away! really tires me out... Thus, it was down to Dorridge.
Back from Dorridge, we went as far as Smethwick GB, and retreated to the low level platform. The question here was the gamble of changing at Tipton or playing it safe and doing so at Dudley Port; either way, this next journey would put us back on schedule. Arriving at the latter, the Walsall-bound train was two minutes late, so we stayed on. And then it was back round as far as Hamstead, where we all briefly split up (Sonic went shopping; Neil and Andi checked the local chippy!) and then set off for Aston - meeting Drsatan and AsylumXL en route - for the tightest connection I had envisioned - a +3. Piece of cake, even when Sonic started messing around in the lift!
Then it was up to Sutton Coldfield and back to New Street, where a new idea was concocted (on the grounds of getting to Moor Street earlier at the end) - we would go down to Whitlocks End. Under the first plan, we would have lost points, but having lost Small Heath and Tyseley to the rejig it seemed sensible. Arriving at Shirley, a few guys got on that we had not noticed at that time (presumably off the 49 bus) that Andi then noticed getting off at Whitlocks End! Thus began a chase through the 150 until a certain Mojo was caught; Yorkie (who was with him) then showed us all his Alnmouth rant. Seven of us then returned to Moor Street...
...where the Tube team (minus their record holder) revealed a ridiculous score of 44! Apparently buses do work... I later suggested we challenge them to a Zone 1 Challenge; if they beat us on our turf, we should return the favour!
On to Pizza Express, but not the one near the Bullring like last year, where I had the least (£8.10's worth), when the average was roughly £17! How no-one seemed to know (especially with £10 meal vouchers and no desserts)... Afterwards, we split into two; eight stayed at Pizza Express (possibly for dessert), and eight of us (including the Tube Challengers) went off for the Midland Metro. We boarded at St Paul's (after a fine dash from Adham to hold the 126 bus!) and stayed on to The Hawthorns, where Neil and Andi would be leaving us. The rest of us went on to Wolvo, where Adham left us and then the remaining five would split into two groups, with three on the Pendo to London (where AsylumXL presumably met Mojo et al) and Sonic and myself on the 170 from Shrewsbury, to ensure the +12 connection at New Street was valid, just in case. Said connection was almost missed when the 170 showed up late and stayed at Wolvo for a while!
At New Street, the 220 was also late. To give my exact quote, "We will have to depend on good old XC reliability - or lack thereof." It prevailed. This journey would become my first First Class experience in a Voyager, which is surprisingly comfortable actually, where we met the train driver's wife, an apparent HST fan and former Deputy Head of a secondary school, who gave me some tips for me when I qualify. Sonic showed me the EA-made Rail Simulator, which I was surprised to learn had a representation of the S&D to Templecombe!
Later, at Bristol TM, the 220 was 22 minutes late - my joint record for that particular journey. That left me a +4 for the last train of the night to Bath, which was standing only (as per usual), and then bed.
How our ultimate score of 37 (improved by two after that SCF calamity) was seven down on the best is beyond me...
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