Evening all!

While in Frankfurt for running some errands, I found myself with some time to spare and stopped by at Southern Station, where I was surprised to be able to spot the following two units...

As I was emerging from the stairs to Platforms 7 and 8, I saw the class 410.1 departmental ICE unit – also known as ICE S or, more recently, ICE R – rolling into track 9, and eventually reversing to shunt to a holding position right in front of the station's signal box. The 410.1 is based on a pair of power units derived from those for the class 402/ICE 2 sets, and at least one measuring coach in between the power units. Here, the set was running with two coaches, one of them outfitted for roadbed measurements. Unlike the passenger-carrying ICE 1 and 2 sets, the ICE S has a busbar connecting both power units. This is to ensure continuous power supply in those situations where both pantographs must be raised for OHLE geometry inspections. In this photo, power unit 410 102 is facing the camera. This unit has its pantograph outfitted to double as a measuring device, with markings on the pantograph arms and a roof-mounted TV camera. With 9,600 kW of power for just a small number of coaches, this set must have the best power-to-weight ratio of all ICE types currently in operation!

Apparently, the ICE S set but was supporting yet another unit today...

...namely a class 407 "Velaro D" set. As some of you reading this will have heard, Siemens continue to face numerous problems in getting these sets certified, so I guess it stands to reason this here was yet another test run. I totally forgot to write down the set's number, but I suspect it to have been 407 004, as this set had been spotted heading south along the Rhine only yesterday.

The 407 was stood on track 10 for a while, and eventually left in the shadow of a large bank of dark clouds on a day whose weather conditions I can only describe as having been April-like!