On Friday 16th September 2016, local railway fan David Chandler will aim to travel by train to every railway station in the county of Lancashire, in under 24 hours, in aid of the Lancaster-based charity St. John’s Hospice.
A journey of hundreds of miles; the “Lancashire Challenge” is David’s latest fundraiser for St. John’s Hospice, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. His previous work includes a huge donation to the Hospice thanks to money raised during the Green Ayre Rises show at Lancaster Library earlier this year.
David completed a similar challenge last year, when he visited all 270 London Underground stations in 20 hours eight minutes.
“That sowed the seed for ‘The Lancashire Challenge’,” he explains. “I began to wonder if something similar could be done around the county of Lancashire. I asked a friend to put a route together for me and we soon discovered that although there are a lot less stations, it is actually even more difficult, as there are less trains and the stations are spread far and wide. Some stations are only served by trains once or twice a day.
“Lancashire has 62 railway stations and I have applied the same rules used on the Tube challenge for this latest venture… We must visit each station on a scheduled passenger service and, although we can also travel between stations on foot or by public transport, it can’t be by car, taxi or bicycle.
“The route we’ve put together depends on a lot of luck and most of the services running on time,” he notes, cautiously. “I’m hoping we don’t get any delays, or the day could be severely curtailed!”
David will be joined by BBC Radio Lancashire on this epic journey and they will be broadcasting updates throughout the day.
“As far as I know, this has never been done before,” says. “I mean, why would you? I am aware that it’s a slightly strange thing to attempt, but I am really looking forward to seeing if I can do it and then maybe others will then try to beat my time?”
• You can support David’s “Lancashire Challenge” by making donations here on JustGiving. David will post updates on the day on Facebook and Twitter @dchan52169