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Special lights in the Pendolino pantograph carriages

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All Line Rover

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I always wondered why the First Class Quiet Coach (Coach H) had a lowered ceiling with special lights at one end of the carriage.

After travelling in the new Standard Class unreserved coach (Coach U) which also has the same design - and also has a third pantograph - it's only just clicked that the design is caused by the pantograph! (The other pantograph is located in Coach C - above The Shop - so you don't notice it).

Does anyone know what the special lights are for? I see no reason for them, as they make part of the carriage unusually bright, especially at night.
 
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DownSouth

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They are closer to the pantographs so they get more electricity and shine brighter. :idea::idea::idea:
 

swt_passenger

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After travelling in the new Standard Class unreserved coach (Coach U) which also has the same design - and also has a third pantograph...

It doesn't have a third pantograph, the well is there to contain some circuit breaker stuff needed for the extra transformer, but there's no actual panto.
 

D841 Roebuck

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About 10 years ago my then next-door neighbour informed me he was involved in designing these special lights (apropos of nothing, at a fairly well-lubricated bonfire night party). Don't know how true it was - but he was forever fiddling with and redesigning electronic gizmos.
 

Wikipedia

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They are closer to the pantographs so they get more electricity and shine brighter. :idea::idea::idea:

Unlikely the voltage drop over the length of a Pendolino from panto to cab furthest away would be tiny, assuming one transformer which there isn't, so any difference in brightness would be unnoticeable thinks me!

Of course feel free to correct me if I am wrong!!
 

thelem

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I've not seen this section in question, but could it just be that there isn't space for the normal lights so they had to fit a different model and that model happens to be brighter?
 

DownSouth

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Unlikely the voltage drop over the length of a Pendolino from panto to cab furthest away would be tiny, assuming one transformer which there isn't, so any difference in brightness would be unnoticeable thinks me!

Of course feel free to correct me if I am wrong!!
Retune your humour meter :D
 
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