On 15th September at 23.51, Derek Heath will set off from Plymouth train station on his massive 24-hours-by-train challenge: to travel as far as possible in 24 hours by train.
Derek plans to travel from Plymouth –Paddington –Euston – Manchester – Sheffield – St. Pancras – Kings Cross – Edinburgh – Preston – Birmingham – Rugby. If he makes all his trains he will have travelled 1381.5 miles of the UK in 24 hours.
Derek has set himself the target of raising £1,200 for the NSPCC and Network Rail have agreed to match everything he manages to raise.
We like the sound of this innovative challenge and asked Derek to tell us more…
How did you come up with the idea for ‘24 hours by train’?
It grew out of something entirely different. I was hunting through the National Rail Enquiries website, to see if I could find some discounted offers for a friend who couldn’t find a cheap fare. While I was digging around, I came across something called an ‘All-Line Rover 14-day ticket’. As the name implies, you can use this ticket on all railway lines for a period of fourteen days and this got me thinking.
A little more research told me that there were just over 2500 stations in the UK, and I began to wonder if it was possible to travel to each one of them by train, in those fourteen days. A few posts on some railway forums later, the general consensus was that it couldn’t be done. I later found out that when it was last tried, it took over six weeks! But the seed had been sown, and I was determined to do some sort of railway challenge. Then I hit on the idea of miles, rather than number of stations. So, that’s the challenge. How many miles can I travel by train in 24 hours?
How did you plan the route?
I could very simply have gone to King’s Cross and got trains to York and back all day. But that would have been rather boring I felt, and not really a challenge! I work in the railway industry, so I have a good basic knowledge of ‘railway geography’ and that’s why I decided to have my ‘no backtracking’ clause. I had a rough idea of the easiest way, because with the four main lines into London, I could do four separate ‘legs’. That gave me a rough route, and I knew that to get as many miles in the time, I’d need to use a sleeper train. So that meant that the Western line from Paddington or the West Coast line from Euston would have to be first or last. Once that was decided, it was just a question of ploughing through the National Rail Timetable to see what combination of routes would work out best.
What happens if you miss one of your scheduled trains?
That’s the one thing I’m dreading. I’ve got about half-an-hour between each train so in theory, it should all be fine! It’s also one reason I’m doing the challenge mid-week, because of engineering works at the weekends and how they can sometimes overrun on a Monday. To be honest, I am putting my trust in Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies that on those two days we have just a great train service!
What are you going to do to keep yourself occupied during the train journeys?
A lot of the time, I’ll be updating my blog and also I shall be sending live updates via Twitter @derekheath. But I shall have my laptop and broadband dongle with me, so I’ll have plenty to keep me busy!
Are you going to have a welcome party waiting for you at Rugby at 23.43 on the 16th September?
There’s nothing planned yet, although a few friends from Birmingham are maybe going to come along on the last train. I may get something sorted but haven’t done so far.
Why did you decide to fundraise for NSPCC?
I chose NSPCC as they are the chosen charity for 2009 for my employers, Network Rail, so they will match anything I raise.
How has the fundraising been going so far? Has it been easy getting people to donate?
It’s not been as easy as I’d hoped. I’ve been promoting my JustGiving page through all the web forums I use and as a signature on my emails, and also on Facebook and Twitter, and that’s where most of my donations have come from. I shall soon be sending details of the challenge to the local newspapers and radio stations along the route, so I hope that some more donations will come that way.
How has JustGiving been useful to you?
JustGiving is an excellent tool for fundraising. It’s so simple for people to donate through it, and the meter on your page gives an immediate update on your progress. And seeing all the encouraging comments from those who have donated is great!
Do you have any fundraising tips for other fundraisers on JustGiving?
Promote your page as much as you can. In hindsight, I have not done as much promotion as I should have. But also balance that between being seen as spamming! If people get an email from you every day or even every week, they’ll soon get fed up. And for the last two weeks before your event, give it a huge push.
Media, especially local papers and radio, are a great medium to get your message across. OK, they might say no, but if you don’t ask they won’t say yes!
Thanks for talking to us Derek, and good luck making all your trains on time!
Thank you for featuring my challenge! I’m just hoping that St Christopher is on my side, after all, he is the patron saint of travelers!
You can visit Derek’s JustGiving page here.
Tags: 24 hours by train, Challenge, NSPCC
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