British Rail Class 318 EMU: Oldest unit in Scotland.

After withdrawal of the Class 314 fleet in December 2019, the Class 318 is now the oldest multiple unit in Scotland still in revenue earning passenger service.
This is a compilation of Class 318 EMUs seen around the ScotRail network in 2019.
History:
In the early 1980s, British Rail was vectorised and the Scottish Region of British Rail was passed to the Regional Railways division with the Strathclyde area being part of Strathclyde PTE, which would late be absorbed as SPT. The fleet of units inherited included a mix of First Generation DMUs, Class 303/311s and new Class 314s. The 41 mile long Ayrshire Coast Line was in bad need of an upgrade so as part of British Rail's comeback, plans were announced to electrify the Ayrshire Coast Line from just after Paisley Gilmour Street to Ayr, Ardrossan Harbour and Largs, to utilise the new OHLE a fleet of 21 three car Class 318 EMUs (similar to the Class 317) were ordered to run the services to replace DMU operation. Built between 1985 and 1986, they had a maximum speed of 90mph, just shy of the 100mph that Class 317s are capable of, they were fitted with a Stone Faiveley AMBR pantograph and four Brush TM2141 traction motors in a DTSO, MSO, DTSO configuration.
The Class 318s were first pressed into service in 1986 between Glasgow and Ayr, followed later by Ardrossan Harbour and Largs the following year and Inverclyde by 1990. All 21 units had entered service by this time numbered 318250 - 318270 and had interconnecting gangway doors between units.
In 1994, British Rail was privatised and all 21 units came under the ScotRail franchise contracted by SPT, who's livery at the time was Orange and Black. units 318254 and 318262 suffered a major accident at Largs Station on the 11th July 1995 leading to the rebuilding of 318254's cab and the demolition of the station building with word being completed in 2007. The "Strathclyde Transport" branding was dropped in 1996/97 and replaced with a new "SPT" branding just a year before a new livery was unveiled with a rather vibrant Crimson and Cream colour scheme, all 21 units were reliveried into this livery between 1998 and 2001, unit 318266 was named "STRATHCLYDER" upon refurbishment and 318259 was name "Citizen's Network".
On 31st October 2004, the ScotRail franchise was passed from National Express to First who planned to refurbish all of the rolling stock they had, instead of retaining the SPT branding of old, all 21 units were due to receive a facelift, which included the removal of the gangway doors, like on the newer Class 320s also to provide the driver with a spacious cab, which by then Class 318s were deployed onto Argyle and North Clyde Line to replace Class 314s after Class 303s were withdrawn and 314s cascaded to Cathcart and inner Glasgow workings. The work also include a new "SPT Rail" branding and a revised livery as part of the refurbishment. All units were refurbished at Wabtec Doncaster Works between 2005 and 2007 with the first unit being 318251 completed in 2005. The last original Class 318 to retain the gangway door and original livery was 318250 in 2007.
In 2008 the franchise agreement under First ScotRail was changed and a new refurbishment plan was unveiled which all units leased were to be repainted into a new Saltire livery, and a new moquette introduced. After these plans were unveiled, the Class 318s had been refurbished less than one year ago, so they'd be the last units to retain the SPT livery at this point. The "SPT Rail" branding was quickly removed in 2008 until refurbishment between 2013 and 2017. In 2011, Class 318s were withdrawn from Ayrshire Coast Line and Inverclyde Line duties by newer Class 380 EMUs and displaced onto Argyle Line duties after Class 334s were moved onto entirely North Clyde Line services and to tandem Class 320s to provide extra capacity, they started running through to Cumbernauld and Whifflet from 2014.
Unit 318251 headed south on the 5th October 2013 to Wabtec works to be completely stripped, repainted and refurbished returning to Glasgow in March 2014, units 318259 and 318266 lost their names upon refurbishment and the last unit to retain the old SPT livery was 318266 which headed south in 2017, completing the ScotRail refurbishment programme. Following gradual withdrawal of Class 314s in 2018/19, Class 318s have started to appear on Cathcart Circle, Newton, Neilston, Paisley Canal and Inverclyde services.