| Challenge History & Other World Record Holders Here is a combined list of profiles of characters that I know about that have attempted it over the years, along with entries from official Guinness World Record books that record official record breaking attempts.
The first time we know of the record being attempted was in 1959 on June 13th, when an R.J.Lewis and D.R.Longley attempted the whole network. They went on to form a group known as 'The London Underground Rovers' which continued until 1976. They were recognised at the time by the Guinness Book of Records as the official organising body for the challenge. This was not the same body as the London Underground Railways Society - who did though take over this roll in the late 1970's Interestingly, The London Underground Rovers recognized two classes of record: Class 'A' being "public transport only", and Class 'B' being "open" whereby private lifts & motorcycles could be used! Guinness only published the Class "A" record. Also, the rules concerning 'same rails' did not apply at
this time. i.e. you could 'do' a tube station that was served by a British
Rail train even if it did not use the same tracks (e.g New Cross &
New Cross Gate becomes a lot easier to do!) Also, your train did not have
to stop if the station was closed, as long as the station was open at
some time on the day of the attempt (e.g. Blake Hall when it existed was
closed on the first train of the day from Ongar which many challengers
used to take). 1960's
By 1961 there were 268 stations on the tube map. The Epping to Ongar branch had to be done, unlike today, and there was also Aldwych which is now closed. The Victoria line did not exist, nor did the two stations at Heathrow Airport. There was no Jubilee line at all, with the branch up to Stanmore then being part of the Bakerloo line.
It may have also been that you only had to do things like Edgware Road, Paddington and Hammersmith once - certainly before Hammersmith was rebuilt integrating it with today's present bus station, there used to be a subway linking together what are now two separate stations. So I've counted them as being separate, and I make it 268 ! During this time, there were five 'double sites' (i.e. same-name stations that were counted as 2 different stations): Ealing Broadway, Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Paddington and Edgware Road. 268 plus 5 makes 273 stations required for the record. Before Aylesbury dropped off the Underground map there were 4 more stations making 277. This is important to note because it can be confusing when the Guinness Records (listed below) sometimes refer to there being 273 stations, and at other times 277. There is a complete list of all the underground stations openings and closures at the bottom of the page here.
The service between Amersham and Aylesbury was officially withdrawn from London Underground operation (and therefore no longer part of the challenge) on the 10th September 1961, making it 4 less stations that you had to do. Who: Christopher Niekirk Note - This was a class 'B' attempt, as they made use of a motorcycle, hence the fast time!
Bill is the earliest reference on the internet that I can find out about someone making the attempt, and he found this webpage of mine and filled me in with the details of what happened. Bill was one of a team of five students from Chislehurst and Sidcup Boys' Grammar School who attempted it in July 1965. They started on the 0459 from Upminster and ended at Russell Square at 2213. (I make that 17 hours and 14 minutes) They worked under the rules of what Bill recalls was the 'London Underground Rovers Society', a society of whom he's never heard since, so it might of been the London Underground Railway Society. They had to use public transport only, but also they physically stood on at least one platform of each station! They had to do both Edgware Road stations, and both Shepherd's Bush, but Paddington and Hammersmith counted as 'one' back then. It didn't have to be an LT platform, either - at New Cross Gate they arrived by BR from London Bridge and left on foot for New Cross. They failed because of a confusion in the rules then for what counted as public transport, and they used a a taxi between Amersham and Chesham which meant that the attempt was void. Bill recalls that the "Pain in the arse" station to do back then was Aldwych. They also had a ' very attractive' reporter from the Daily Mail joining them somewhere on the Metropolitan Line, and there being a few lines in the paper the next day. Bill summarises by commenting that In retrospect, their schedule was well planned, but other preparations and research were inadequate. The whole concept had a much more amateurish approach than he thinks is currently the case. Bill has his own webpages at www.billnot.com Who: J.P.Chambers & M.P.
Atkinson Who: A.J.T Holmes & C.J.N Holmes Who: Alan Jenkins Who: A.Mortimer, JP.Herting, D.Corke & G.Elliot Who: Leslie Burwood Who: Anthony Durkin & Peter Griffiths Who: Leslie Burwood 1970's
Colin emailed me and told me about one attempt that he and his friends made in the spring of 1970. The Victoria line was only partially complete - as the part between Brixton and Victoria itself was not in place. But they did have to do the part between Moorgate and Finsbury Park on the Northern Line. You can see his own personal website here. Colin also very kindly pointed me in the direction of the one photo that he & his team had taken of themselves that day at Mill Hill East station. Bear in mind this is now over 30 years old! Click on the photo for a full size version at Colin's website.
Who: Peter Altman, Marilyn Nathan &
Ralph Cramer
The Brixton - Victoria part of the Victoria Line opened on 23rd July 1971, added two more stations (Brixton and Vauxhall) with Pimlico following slightly later, opening on the 14th September 1972, added three news stations in total. Colm Mulvaney Many people see Robert Robinson (below), as the 'Master' of the challenge, but the first consistent challenger and the person who some see as the real master of it all is Colm. He worked for LU at the time then, and is now still a driver, working on the Central Line.. Many in the mid to late 1970's, plus at least one official record-breaking attempt in 1981 [See below]
The Moorgate to Finsbury Park stretch of the Northern line slowly closed during the mid-1970's. By 4th October 1975, it had entirely shut taking out 2 stations (Drayton Park and Essex Road) from the map. And although it re-opened in 1976, it was then part of British Rail and not London Underground and so did not have to be done as part of any attempts.
1980's
Who: Bob Robinson,
David Herring, Paul Eddington & Finn Gleeson Who: John Trafford & Stephen Trafford Who: Bob Robinson & Finn Gleeson Who: Jon Brown, Robert Anderson &
Alex Chin-A-Fat Who: Nicholas Mitchell & Ian Robins
Blake Hall on the Epping to Ongar branch of the Central Line was closed on the 31st October 1981, with the rest of the Epping - Ongar line being reduced to peak hours only at this point making it slightly more tricky for challengers to timetable this into their route! An all day service was brought back briefly in 1990, but had gone again by 1993. Who: Colm Mulvany & Seth
Vlardis (Seth did not do ALL stations though) Who: Nicholas Mitchell
The service on the Bakerloo Line between Watford Junction and Harrow and Wealdstone officially ended on the 24th September 1982, making six less stations in total that you had to do.
Robert is often seen as 'The Master' of the challenge, and I think has held the record for the longest period of cumulative time. Bob made 51 attempts between late 1979 and 2000. Only on 5 of those times did he fail to make it round the entire system. On 8 of these time he got/held the record. Robert also held the record when the network was at 270 stations for a long time of 18 hours, 18 minutes and 9 seconds. This was pre the Jubilee Line Extension. He also took his two sons with him on some attempts, Peter and Timothy Robinson who are to Bobs knowledge at 8 and 10 years old the youngest to do it. Robert has now unofficially 'retired', but rumour has it that he's planning one more crack in March 2004 in aid of the Mayors Charity of Bracknell. Bobs charity attempts over the years have raised much money which has been used to build school libraries, a disabled bus, and a new scouts headquarters.
Heathrow Terminal 4 was opened on Saturday the 12th April 1986, so Bob's attempt below followed two days later on the Monday - the first possible date that he would have been able to attempt it! He must have had that one planned for a while. He then shaved 10 minutes off of his own time three months later. Also, at around the same time, on the 7th April 1986, the service to Kensington Olympia became a regular one instead of only running during peak hours or when there was an exhibition on. This made is slightly easier to plan an attempt as you could now 'do it' at any time of the day. Who: Robert (Bob) Robinson, Peter
Robinson, John Garde, Timothy Clark Who: Robert (Bob) Robinson, Peter Robinson, Timothy
Robinson, Timothy Clark, Richard Harris
Richard and his friends made 8 attempts between 1987 and 1989 including one on the 29th January 1988 which was covered by Capital Radio. One of their evening news presenters followed them around all day and presented the recording on their 'The Way It Is' programme shortly after. Richard's quickest time was when Aldwych and Epping to Ongar had closed, and they came close to, but did not beat Bob Robinsons then record time, of 18 hours 41 minutes. Richard recalls that Bob later beat his own time by 23 minutes.
1990's
Ben was 13 back in 1990 when he successfully travelled round all the stations by himself. Just one, in which he used private transport (he got him mum to pick him up in her car!) to get between some of the terminals. Ben did it in 16 hours, 56 minutes and 59 seconds - but this of course used private transport.
Mornington Crescent was closed on the Northern Line on the 23rd October 1992, and did not re-open again until the 27th April 1998 - almost six years later! It did not count as a station that had to be done for the challenge during this time. John Smith John emailed me telling me about a charity attempt back in 1993 that they made, when there was still confusion about the use of public & private transport between stations. Just one, on Comic Relief day in 1993. They started at Upminster and ended at Chesham and did it in 18 hours + minutes. Unfortunately they used private cars in many places to get between stations, and they got back after having done it to find a letter from Guinness saying that they'd changed the rules, and that private cars were no longer allowed to be used, therefore invalidating the attempt!
Aldwych station closed for good on September 30th 1994. On the same day, the Epping to Ongar branch was also finally closed, bringing down the total number of stations to ... Also, the East London Line closed for major refurbishment and repairs on the 25th March 1995, and was replaced by a permanent bus service (nice bright orange buses, I seem to recall). It didn't open again for exactly three years - on the 25th March 1998. So any attempts during this time obviously didn't have to do the East London Line. Who: Robert (Bob) Robinson, Tom
McLaughlin
The Jubilee line was opened in stages during the latter part of 1999. I think most people waited for the to be opened it's entirety before any attempts were made though. But just for the record, Stratford to North Greenwich opened on the 14th May 1999, adding two new stations (Canning Town and North Greenwich), through to Bermondsey on the 17th September, to Waterloo on the 24th September 1999, and then the last part to Green Park on the 20th November 1999, along with Southwark station opening for the first time on that day to - the last time that a new station has been added to the tube network. Alistair Bell Alistair made one single attempt on the 30th December 1999 - the last working day of the Millennium, in aid of charity, and was obviously planned to coincide with the complete opening of the Jubilee Line Extension. It was quite highly publicized on the newsgroup uk.transport.london, he even published his intended route, and also posted to the newsgroup during his travels with an update of how he was doing via a mobile device. 2000's
I found a news article online here about this which set this time.
Jack is from Nottingham, and was 24 when he established a new record of 19 hours, 18 minutes and 45 seconds in April 2002. Read the online Evening Standard article about it here. There is also a page on the official London Underground website as well. He made just the one attempt, which worked as planned first time! This record stood until September 2004.
This is me! (In case you hadn't realised by now) It took me seven attempts to get the record.
The third attempt was also filmed for television and broadcast as part of 'The Tube' series, and was shown on ITV in January 2003. In May, July and September of 2003 I made three more attempts, with a route starting at Heathrow T4 and finishing at Amersham. The fourth attempt was also recorded for television and shown as a programme called 'Race around the Underground' and was broadcast in October 2003. The seventh attempt, starting at Amersham and ending at Upminster was then made in May 2004, and we got a time which we knew was record-breaking, but we had to wait from confirmation from Guinness. That confirmation came in September of 2004, thus making myself us the official record holders.  Who: Steven Wilson & Samantha Cawley Date: 30th May 2006 Time: 18 hours, 35 minutes, 38 seconds Stations: 275 out of 275
They too started at Amersham and finished at Upminster in a time of 18 hours, 35 minutes and 38 seconds - making them the new world record holders. It took Guinness almost four months until the 12th September 2006 to confirm it though! It was Steves third full attempt at the record and Sams second - although they both took part in Tube Relief attempt the previous year. Their account of the day is on their webpages here. There is a discussion thread about it on the tubechallenge forum here.
 Who: Håkan Wolgé and Lars Andersson Date: 26th September 2006 Time: 18 hours, 25 minutes, 3 seconds Stations: 275 out of 275 Just a few weeks after confirmation that five seconds has been shaved off of Geoff & Neils time, confirmation came through of an even faster time. On the 26th September 2006, Håkan Wolgé and Lars Andersson from Sweden set a new time of 18 hours 25 minutes and 3 seconds - putting a healthy gap of around ten minutes off the two previous record times. This was confirmed by Guinness World Records just a few weeks later in November.
Heathrow Terminal 4 had re-opened by this stage, and although Shoreditch was CLOSED (for good) it still had to be done by the replacement bus service as Guinness ruled that it was 'valid' due to it being printed on the tube map.
We think the rought timetable for future station count is something like:
Count of Underground stations open since 1960 (temporary closures excluded)
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Past and present - Other people and groups that I know have attempted the 'Tube Challenge'
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Those
were the obvious differences to today's map, but there were also three
other parts which aren't immediately obvious which are different to today.
Firstly, you had to do the stretch between Moorgate and Finsbury park
which was then part of the Northern Line. The Bakerloo line did not end
at Harrow and Wealdstone, but carried on six more stops up the line at
Watford Junction. And finally, the Metropolitan line did not end at Amersham.
Instead, there were four more stops out to Aylesbury which had to be done
too.
Bill
Hayles
Colin
Rosenstiel
The
Robert
Robinson
Richard
Lambert
Ben
Nunn
Who:
Robert (Bob) Robinson, Chris Loxton, Chris Stubley, Chris Whiteoak, Olly
Rich & Adam Waller
The
first three - in 
On
30th May 2006, Steve Wilson and Samantha Cawley beat Geoff and Neils record
... by just FIVE seconds!
A
complete write up by Håkan can be found 
