Sometimes the simplest things can be a whole lot of fun. The 90's have got a really quirky sounding handbrake that operates automatically (via a push-button I think; I didn't see because I was outside recording the sound!). When it's applied the thing clunks and whirrs away quite loudly. When you take it off again the noise is the same but different. So the mind starts thinking, if I could work this feature into the sound project the loco could be realistically parked without shutting it down. An evening of fiddling later and it works a treat. You can leave the loco to its own devices and use F1 as normal, the handbrake then comes off and goes on appropriately at start-up and shutdown (but not when standing at signals etc). You can also manually take it off at a time of your choosing after pan-up, and you can also apply it (and remove it) manually whenever the loco is stationary. I've had great fun getting it to work just how I wanted it, and control is simple and reliable. I suspect this will become a feature of all locos where I've got the appropriate recordings. I've got the video camera in the house so if I get time over the weekend I'll post a clip of it on my You Tube channel.

The photo was taken at Coventry on the 1st May 2009. First Scotrail liveried 90019 pushes a scratch set of Virgin stock towards London whilst substituting for the Pendolino that crashed at Grayrigg if my memory serves me right. I also think this stock may have ended up as the 'Pretendalino'?