Intercity Express Programme (IEP) - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Here is an "amateur" video taken by yours truly as the IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) arrived.  (Suggest you don't try to watch this on a mobile not connected to wifi!)

[BBM]

The front page of the Business section of tomorrow's edition of The Times has a picture of the train crossing the Thames Bridge at Maidenhead (via @hendopolis on Twitter):

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmOrAntWIAEznyH.jpg

[Bmblbzzz]

What's the reason for having the IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) stop short like that rather than going all the way up to the buffers?

[bobm]

I think it was just for convenience on the day.  The invited guests made use of Queen Victoria's waiting room which is midway down the platform and the speeches were made with the leading vehicle as a backdrop.  It would have been more difficult if you had the train pulled right up to the end, someone rushing around the corner from the Lawn would have been in danger of colliding with the great and the good.   

[TonyK]

Makes sense. You wouldn't want paw prints on such a shiny train! Thanks for the video, bobm.

[ChrisB]

Also, the photo op presented them one behind the other, slewed such that both front ends were visible.

Anyone else wondering about the plug socket position? Seems little thought, unlike HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) - items needing charging will be on the fold-down flaps/tables, not on the arm rest. So your lead (if it will reach) stretches from under arm rest to somewhere in front of you....not clever really

[patch38]

Better than Danish trains where the sockets are just below the luggage rack. More than once I have nearly strangled myself in the trailing cables.

Only one socket per pair of seats? Arm-wrestle you for it... Although no different to the current (no pun intended) arrangement in Standard, I suppose.

[ChrisB]

Or in first table of four....

[TonyK]

I shall remember to take a 4-gang extension lead whenever I go anywhere.

[Electric train]

What's the reason for having the IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) stop short like that rather than going all the way up to the buffers?

Tight up to the stop blocks does would not give the best clear photo image at Paddington.  Also for historic reasons the offices behind the Three Faced Clock with it balconies either side is where the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) (original) and BR^▸ (British Rail(ways))(W) HQ^▸ (Headquarters) was located up until the 1980's

Also, the photo op presented them one behind the other, slewed such that both front ends were visible.

Anyone else wondering about the plug socket position? Seems little thought, unlike HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) - items needing charging will be on the fold-down flaps/tables, not on the arm rest. So your lead (if it will reach) stretches from under arm rest to somewhere in front of you....not clever really

The position of the socket seems to be better placed than on the 395's (the Hitachi HS1^▸ (High Speed line 1 - St Pancras to Channel Tunnel) trains) on the 395 the sockets a located under the seats in the centre between them very easy to brush past and break your charger if you forgot it is plugged in.

[bobm]

Better than Danish trains where the sockets are just below the luggage rack. More than once I have nearly strangled myself in the trailing cables.

Only one socket per pair of seats? Arm-wrestle you for it... Although no different to the current (no pun intended) arrangement in Standard, I suppose.

As I wasn't part of the official party I only had literally 60 seconds to look at the interior before it was locked up and sent back to North Pole.  As well as the socket between the seats there MAY have been a second one by the window.  I also don't remember seeing any USB sockets - has the feedback on the existing ones in first class on the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) not been favourable?

[TonyK]

Tight up to the stop blocks does would not give the best clear photo image at Paddington. 

Thanks ET. Once it's explained, it assumes the status of the bleedin' obvious, but until you explained, it was a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a Class 800.

[bobm]

As I wasn't part of the official party I only had literally 60 seconds to look at the interior before it was locked up and sent back to North Pole.  As well as the socket between the seats there MAY have been a second one by the window. 

Having looked at some more of my photos, I can confirm in first class there is a second socket beside the window so there is one per seat.  Annoyingly none of my pictures show what the provision is in standard class.

[Bmblbzzz]

Thanks for the answers to my question. I had wondered if there was an operational/technical reason, but the photographic/display one makes perfect sense.

[TonyK]

Mrs FT, N! approves of the external styling, even if the technology is from a different planet.

The seats remind me of the newer airline seats. The first time I saw them on boarding a brand-new A330 I thought they looked a little thin and uncomfortable. A four-hour flight from Tenerife later, and I realised that my fears were unfounded, and I cannot sit for long periods in anything uncomfortable. For the airline, the advantage is weight, and thus fuel, and possibly size, with an extra row being squeezed in. I hope the seats on the IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) have a similar design.