"Ian Rivett" wrote in message
Visiting stations I think is quite clear - the train has to stop and
"visit" the station. Therefore the use of fast trains from Acton Town
to Hammersmith and from Finchley Road to Moor Park are definately not
allowed.

Indeed. Though under this "new" idea, they would count, as it just involved
covering sections of track.

For the record, my attempt did not set out to break any records, but
merely achieve the trip. I never intended to visit Aldwych, Shoreditch
or Olympia, as it was on a Saturday and at that time there was no
regular service to either of the stations. I had to abandon North
Weald to Ongar, as my train from Hainault ran two minutes late and
missed a connecting train at Woodford that connected with the 40 minute
Ongar service at Epping.

Ongar - yes, I've heard there was once a station there :-)

I also *had* to get to Upminster before 23:15
in order to catch the last train back to my home in Edgware, which is
where I started, so could not afford the time to wait for the next
Ongar train.

Obviously not hardcore enough, then! Die-hard tube challengers tend to stay
in a B+B (or with a nearby friend) in Amersham the night before (Nita
Hurley's is the tube challenger's B+B of choice, it seems), and then either
arrange a lift or stay in Upminster the following night.

What the journey did tell me was that Edgware was not the best place to
start and for many years, I think, Ongar was considered to be the best.
I don't think I have ever seen a route which does not have Upminster
as the final destination.

Well, the current world record started at Amersham and finished at Upminster
(although that's recently been beaten, albeit by 5 seconds, though GWR
haven't yet made this one official), but a recent attempt would have done it
in about 18h 10m, finishing at Heathrow, if it wasn't for a power cut at
Earls Court, meaning that they couldn't make the connection to Olympia, and
change onto the District Line to cover West Kensington as well. Hunt around
the forums on tubechallenge.com for more info.

Still, to this day I have never tried to do it agian and I never will.
The route is key and I don't go much on records that are set by just a
few seconds better than the previous attempt. Get the route right and
you can carve off more than a few seconds.

Indeed. Sam and Steve (who recently beat the world record by just 5
seconds) know that they were lucky, but luck plays a big part in whether or
not a route works on that particular day at all, like you say. It can be
absolutely spot on in theory, but a whole host of things can completely mess
things up.

Of course, delays, signal
failures and one unders will screw up your attempt. So pick a day
when these sorts of problems don't happen!! (As if....!!).

Indeed.

--
"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."