A railway nut has travelled to almost every train station in the UK - in just six weeks.<br /><br />David Jones, 34, spent a whopping 441 hours traipsing to more than 2,500 stations in "the UK's longest commute" to raise money for charity.<br /><br />After completing his grand tour today (March 31) at Inverness Station in Scotland, he said: "I feel a sense of achievement for what I have done. <br /><br />"I feel overwhelmed by the support going into the final days. Smashing the money target is just fantastic."<br /><br />David set out on the mammoth challenge on February 19 and averaged around 62.5 stations a day.<br /><br />He planned to travel by train to every station and snapped a picture of its sign as he went.<br /><br />From sleeper trains to small coastal stations, he spent five months strategically planning his route through the UK.<br /><br />After spending 10.5 hours a day sitting on trains, David would recharge at hotels or occasionally sleep through the night on sleeper trains.<br /><br />As well as the stations of suburbia and Britain's 86 counties, David's trip took him to the Isle of Wight and the Island Line's eight stations.<br /><br />In total, he visited 2,542 of the 2,580 stations in the UK after flooded stations prevented him from visiting some stops along the way.<br /><br />He said: "I've always loved the railways. The practicality of having a train set to play with as a kid and then realising there's a real world of them out there. <br /><br />"It took me about five months to plan. <br /><br />"I had a look at the map and thought about where I could go from Three Bridges and then slowly started working my way around Britain. <br /><br />"I went west first and tried to work a plan as best as I could to not over stress myself."<br /><br />David set off from the Three Bridges station, home to the Sussex Rail Operating Centre where he works as a control room train services manager for Govia Thameslink Railway.<br /><br />And he was able to cut the cost of his travel thanks to his background in the rail industry.<br /><br />He did the challenge to raise cash for Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Children's Intensive Care Unit at Oslo's University Hospital, where a friend was treated.<br /><br />David, from Blyth, Northumberland, raised £2,460 which will be divided between the charities.<br /><br />He added: "It was probably about September last year I decided to do it. <br /><br />"My friend had fallen ill in Norway and they decided to do a 1000-mile bike ride from Bedfordshire to Oslo but I didn't face riding the bike so being a train geek I decided to do this.<br /><br />"She was hit by a football and it ruptured her spine - a complete freak accident."<br /><br />Under David's set rules, trains had to stop at every single station, not just pass through them.<br /><br />He added: "The one thing I've been grateful of is that I was able to contact a lot of the train operating companies and it allowed me to cut down the travel costs quite a bit. <br /><br />"The only bit I had to shell out on was accommodation which wasn't too bad.<br /><br />"Officially, the average for ticking off stations was 62.5 a day. <br /><br />"Some days it was more - in Birmingham for example you could knock out 100 quite easily. <br /><br />"The middle of Wales, however, might be only 35 stations done in day because of the distance.<br /><br />"I did two sleeper trains from London to Glasgow and back so there were a few nights where I could utilise those to sleep on the train.<br /><br />"My favourite station would have to be St Ives in Cornwall - the views were fantastic."<br /><br />David admitted it was often difficult making sure he was on time for each train but the adventure made it a "once in a lifetime" trip. <br /><br />He had to miss three stations because of some landslides in Workington, Cumbria.<br /><br />He added: "It was just about getting out and seeing places I've not seen before - to highlight that you can go by rail and visit fantastic places. <br /><br />"Doing this once-in-a-lifetime kind of a trip, it means if there's places I want to see in the future I've got a little black book that I can refer to.<br /><br />"The hardest bit was the commuter times and making sure I didn't miss trains that I needed.<br /><br />"It was tough on my own. There are times when I could have done with a chinwag. <br /><br />"Some people were curious about the GoPro and asked me about what I was doing and I had some nice conversations about it which was great."<br /><br />Visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/stop-at-all-2579-railway-stations-in-the-uk to donate to Dave's fundraiser.<br /><br />Stations Dave has visited - 2,542<br />Favourite station - St Ives <br />An average of 441 hours sat on trains<br />9,846 miles covered
