The arrival of the 85 from Bachmann has accelerated the conversion and upgrade of my v3.5 sound project to v4 standards. One of the more interesting features enabled by the v4 is an on-demand neutral section, triggered by a function key. Whilst running along at anything other than a very slow speed, pressing F11 causes the contactors to drop out and the blower motors to spool down. Pressing F11 again pulls the contactors back in and the blowers fire up again. Also of note is the ability to select forward and start the traction motor blowers without going anywhere, as a driver might do when anticipating the signal clearing. Similarly, you can also, if you choose, bring the loco to a standstill and keep the traction motor blowers running (as if the driver kept the loco in forward). Bringing the loco to a standstill in the normal manner will cause the blowers shut down (as if the driver selected off / idle) This is all achieved under control of the throttle, without any button-pushing. The project is now at the stage where I'm happy to put it on general release.

The photo was taken at Hartshill, just North of Nuneaton on one of those hot, sunny days in the school holidays that we all remember. At that time you could sit and take photos from the foundations of the old station, which have long-since been fenced off. The missed photo opportunity that afternoon was the APT, which was so quiet in comparison that it shot by before anyone was ready.

Good news for O gauge modellers is the arrival of the v4 XL chip from Loksound. I've got a handful in the house and I've yet to fire one up but I suspect it will be worth waiting for.

In other news, my v4 Class 31 is now ready.