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Comment by Samuel_Michon | Hacker News Reader

That's a very confusing title. None of this was run underground.

The title of the blog is confusing as well, "Harry's Tube Runners". There was no running on a train, there was no running on train tracks.

It would be more accurate to say that he ran from tube station to tube station.

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I agree, the title is somewhat confusing and misleading. I thought he actually "ran" as in managed the whole tube, which lead me to expect some nice anecdotes about problems encountered and solved when operating a large modern underground rail network. When I realised it was "running" with your legs and feet I then thought he was a member of the maintenance teams and had actually run up and down all the tube lines during line closure for maintenance work.

That said, well done for getting off your arse and doing this.

Thanks. I would edit the title but I now can't seem to for some reason. Sorry for the confusion...

Only on Hacker News would someone read a story about being inspired by the death of an 11 year old child to raise several thousand pounds for charity, and promptly post a criticism of the wording of the title of the article.

I was expecting some insight about architecture or city planning, I assume that others just aren't as interested in life-affirming stories as learning about the world around them.

Or they are just language pedants incapable of connecting with a human story.

There's no need to be so dramatic, there are reasonable expectations that a story on HN will be about technology and interesting factoids, being disappointed that this is a more traditional story is not belittling his efforts.

It's not dramatic to suggest that a discussion forum actually provide useful commentary on a story beyond pointless meta-discussions about link titles.

It's also reasonable to expect that a story on hn might be about more than "technology and interesting factoids". The guidelines[1] suggest "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity"

[1] http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I guess most people would assume that running on train tracks wouldn't be a very sensible idea given the significant possibility of getting squashed by a train :)

It would be extra dangerous on the underground which has a live rail!

Technically the London underground has two live rails, one of them which is the return rail. No idea though if this makes it more dangerous than a normal three rail subway which uses the two main rails for the return current.

Okay, thanks for pointing that out. I've never been to London, or even on a subway train for that matter. Wasn't sure if there are walkable paths alongside the tracks or something (seems dangerous).

So did he run from station to station above ground following the tracks, or is it too difficult to follow the tracks (buildings, obstacles, etc)?

Yes it was overground as you can't literally run underground (on the tracks) as you'd kill yourself on the wires.

Therefore, I ran from station to station - worked out the routes before each run and ran with my iPhone and Google Maps and ran to each station on each Underground line. The distance is greatly lengthened because I couldn't run on the tracks but I still visited every station - some as many as 6 times as they appear on 6 different lines.

I had a picture outside of every single one and then went on my way to the next station. I ran over moterways, over footbridges, canals, fields, commuter packed pavements, marsh land, cobbled streets and got lost an awful lot.

"I ran over moterways, over footbridges, canals, fields, commuter packed pavements, marsh land, cobbled streets and got lost an awful lot."

Lol...brilliant, and truly inspiring.

In some (maybe even most, I have not really checked) of the tunnels in the Stockholm subway there are walkable paths alongside the tracks. They or off-limits for the public though. London underground tunnels are generally way more narrow than the tunnels here in Stockholm.

EDIT: To illustrate this.

London: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Why_London_Underground_is...

Stockholm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swe_subway_switch_2005042...

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