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Description
A Class 180 at Paddington, at first this may look like an ordinary picture of a modern unit underneath the roof of Paddington but there are several points of interest:

14 Class 180s were originally introduced by FGW in 2000 to increase the frequency of its Express services to South Wales, but after having major reliability problems as well as bodywork issues, (there was a rumour, large portions of the bodywork would fall off and cause obstructions on the track) FGW decided to pull the plug on them in 2007 after 7 years of 'teething problems', they were then banished up North.

Then in 2012 after a full refurbishment and hopefully some reliability problems fixed, 6 Class 180s have been re-introduced to provide extra services for the duration of the of the Olympics to supplement the existing services.

Also the Roof: The 180 is sitting under what is now known as span 4, this is a good example of a Railtrack botch job, in 1996 Railtrack refurbished Paddington following the completion of the Heathrow Rail link, but it was found that refurbishing span 4 was far too expensive; so instead Railtrack assembled a temporary concrete ceiling over platforms 9 to 12, to protect passengers from falling debris from the decaying roof. This left platforms 9 to 12 gloomy and feeling much like Birmingham New Street, effectively leaving the Paddington refurbishment half finished.

Network Rail in 2009 started to restore the roof to its past glory, in Autumn 2011 the roof was completed. The concrete ceiling had been removed allowing the natural light to flood in. Network Rail has done a great job, the roof looks new, top marks for such a wonderful job in restoring Londons oldest terminal to its new found glory.

Description
A Class 180 at Paddington, at first this may look like an ordinary picture of a modern unit underneath the roof of Paddington but there are several points of interest:

14 Class 180s were originally introduced by FGW in 2000 to increase the frequency of its Express services to South Wales, but after having major reliability problems as well as bodywork issues, (there was a rumour, large portions of the bodywork would fall off and cause obstructions on the track) FGW decided to pull the plug on them in 2007 after 7 years of 'teething problems', they were then banished up North.

Then in 2012 after a full refurbishment and hopefully some reliability problems fixed, 6 Class 180s have been re-introduced to provide extra services for the duration of the of the Olympics to supplement the existing services.

Also the Roof: The 180 is sitting under what is now known as span 4, this is a good example of a Railtrack botch job, in 1996 Railtrack refurbished Paddington following the completion of the Heathrow Rail link, but it was found that refurbishing span 4 was far too expensive; so instead Railtrack assembled a temporary concrete ceiling over platforms 9 to 12, to protect passengers from falling debris from the decaying roof. This left platforms 9 to 12 gloomy and feeling much like Birmingham New Street, effectively leaving the Paddington refurbishment half finished.

Network Rail in 2009 started to restore the roof to its past glory, in Autumn 2011 the roof was completed. The concrete ceiling had been removed allowing the natural light to flood in. Network Rail has done a great job, the roof looks new, top marks for such a wonderful job in restoring Londons oldest terminal to its new found glory.