Pilning Enigma – Pilning Station

Pilning Enigma – The Chain Building Station Challenge

Are you brave enough to take on the challenge and secure your place in the Pilning Hall of Fame? Using the two trains which stop at Pilning Station on any Saturday, visit the longest unbroken chain of railway stations which are alphabetically ordered according to their three-letter alpha code.

The Pilning Enigma can be undertaken from 4th January 2020 onwards.

Back home after a successful challenge? Submit your challenge here!

Challenge Flyer

Pilning Enigma leaflet, front page. Rules follow as alt text in the next image. Man vs Train, Pilning Enigma. "The Chain Building Station Challenge". Illustration of three letter station codes, mostly with links but with one broken link. — *Click image to view full size*

Using the two trains which stop at Pilning Station on any Saturday, visit the longest unbroken chain of railway stations which are alphabetically ordered according to their three-letter alpha code. An exclusive Pilning Enigma ticket is available to challengers returning to Pilning having constructed an unbroken chain containing the minimum number of stations required for each of the levels as shown below.

GOLD: 13, SILVER: 10, BRONZE: 7

Your Enigma attempt must start and finish at Pilning Station and Pilning (PIL) can be included in your chain if you wish. You must alight at or walk to a station, photograph its name and either depart aboard a different service to which you arrived or leave on foot, in order for it to qualify. You may only transfer between stations on foot a maximum of 2 times.

Stations may be used more than once and visited in any order however only your longest chain of consecutively visited alphabetically* ordered stations is considered for the Pilning Enigma. A chain is broken whenever a visited station doesn't alphabetically* follow the previous one.

Stations are identified using their three-letter alpha code therefore Shirehampton (SHH) comes before Sea Mills (SML) alphabetically and Bristol Temple Meads (BRI) comes before Bath Spa (BTH).

Illustrated below is an example journey from Pilning (PIL) to Filton Abbey Wood (FIT), then Bristol Parkway (BPW), Bristol Temple Meads (BRI), Cheltenham Spa (CNM), Newport (NWP) and back to Pilning (PIL).

Illustration shows 7 stations as their three letter codes.
PIL, with a broken chain after it, showing 1 point.
FIT, with a broken chain after it, showing 1 point.
BPW, BRI, CNM, NWP and PIL, with connected chains, showing 5 points.

The above chain is broken upon alighting at FIT and again at BPW. The longest unbroken chain of stations visited in alphabetical* order is 5.

A chain of at least 7 is required to successfully complete the Enigma. There are no minimum connection times. You must use only scheduled public passenger train services. No rail replacement bus services or any other forms of public or private transport permitted. When arriving at a station, photograph its name, prior to boarding any service, photograph the train.

Challengers may only submit one challenge for any given Saturday. Rules and B/S/G qualifying points are subject to change at any time. Always visit www.pilningstation.uk prior to travelling. All journeys taken at challenger’s own risk. Always be “Rail Safe”. — *Click image to view full size*

Leaderboard

Challenger	Date Undertaken	Score
Pilning Enigma
benguin	07/03/2020	13
The Gamemaster	11/01/2020	13
Cragoolia	04/01/2020	12
Hyphen	29/02/2020	8

Challenge Notes

The complete station list, and their associated three-letter alpha codes, can be viewed by clicking here.

Note: Where any discrepancy exists between this list, and other data sources (including National Rail / Network Rail), the list on the above linked page will be considered to be authoritative.

Submissions for the Pilning Enigma will be opened from January 4th.

Challenge Rules

Using the two trains which stop at Pilning Station on any Saturday, visit the longest unbroken chain of railway stations which are alphabetically ordered according to their three-letter alpha code. An exclusive Pilning Enigma ticket is available to challengers returning to Pilning having constructed an unbroken chain containing the minimum number of stations required for each of the levels as shown below.

GOLD: 13, SILVER: 10, BRONZE: 7

Your Enigma attempt must start and finish at Pilning Station and Pilning (PIL) can be included in your chain if you wish. You must alight at or walk to a station, photograph its name and either depart aboard a different service to which you arrived or leave on foot, in order for it to qualify. You may only transfer between stations on foot a maximum of 2 times.

Stations may be used more than once and visited in any order however only your longest chain of consecutively visited alphabetically* ordered stations is considered for the Pilning Enigma. A chain is broken whenever a visited station doesn’t alphabetically* follow the previous one.

* Stations are identified using their three-letter alpha code therefore Shirehampton (SHH) comes before Sea Mills (SML) alphabetically and Bristol Temple Meads (BRI) comes before Bath Spa (BTH).

Illustrated is an example journey from Pilning (PIL) to Filton Abbey Wood (FIT), then Bristol Parkway (BPW), Bristol Temple Meads (BRI), Cheltenham Spa (CNM), Newport (NWP) and back to Pilning (PIL).

The above chain is broken upon alighting at FIT and again at BPW. The longest unbroken chain of stations visited in alphabetical* order is 5.

A chain of at least 7 is required to successfully complete the Enigma. There are no minimum connection times. You must use only scheduled public passenger train services. No rail replacement bus services or any other forms of public or private transport permitted. When arriving at a station, photograph its name, prior to boarding any service, photograph the train.

Challengers may only submit one challenge for any given Saturday. Rules and B/S/G qualifying points are subject to change at any time. Always visit www.pilningstation.uk prior to travelling. All journeys taken at challenger’s own risk. Always be “Rail Safe”.