A two-week course in Scotland provided an ideal spring-board for a bit of recording during the middle weekend. Various Scottish modellers have been asking me to record the sliding doors on a 303 and adapt my 304 project accordingly. However, with the help of the hard-working chaps at Bon'ess I've managed to go well beyond that and record almost all the sounds that the 303's made, including horns, driver & passenger doors, hustle alarm, main & auxiliary compressors, guard's right away bell, aws, oil pump (which they had instead of traction motor blowers), brake releases, main contactor & battery charger hum. The only things which couldn't be done on the day were pan up / down (which might be a possibility in the future) and the traction motors themselves (no 25kV!). All this was possible because the majority of things ran off 240V which can be temporarily lashed up from a shore supply.

For good measure I took the last trip of the day on 37175 and recorded the start-up & run from the back cab, then captured all the 'auxiliary' sounds when we got back. Hopefully this will yield some improvements to my existing 37 project (better / bi-directional horns for a start) and perhaps another 37 project altogether with the new engine sounds. If you haven't visited the Bo'ness & Kinniel Railway it is highly recommended. They have a great roster of Scottish region diesels which are all in fine fettle and the line has a long and steep bank on the way up to Kinniel.Thrash-tastic!