If there's one thing I've learned over the years about railway modelling and photography, it's this; take photos of the boring things as well as the interesting, because one day they won't be boring any more and you'll wish you took more photos of them. This Class 318 is a case in point. Despite living in Ayrshire for 16 years and seeing them almost daily I have only two photos. Now my Bratchell kit has arrived and......I wish I'd taken more photos. I think the same applies to recording sounds. EMU's and DMU's might not be very glamorous but there are loads of them about and interest in them is definitely on the rise. I love them and never turn down an opportunity to point a mic at one.

The Bratchell kit is lovely. It goes together very easily with little or no fettling. The first driving trailer is on the workbench just now and nearing completion. As with my 320, the centre car will become one big speaker enclosure, which produces astonishing volume levels.

Most of the 90 sounds have been edited now and the v3.5 project updated with playable horns, correct pan and auxiliary compressor sounds, wheelslip sounds, improved main compressor sound, new sander sounds and so on. The first draft of the v4 version is on the burner now, using the 'template' developed initially for the 85. The v4 90 will have different horns at either end, neutral section sounds triggerable on demand and the ability to 'put the loco in forward' with the blowers running without actually going anywhere, as per the prototype.