Hi Guys,

Yet another Christmas has gone by and there is yet another new arrival to the Southeast Steam Railway! It is Hornby T9 No. 30285 with Narrow cab and Watercart tender in BR lined Black with early crest:

T9 No. 30285 stands at Bigporth witha train from Great Kingshill:

The SESR's southern fleet; From left to right are 4-CEP No. 7105, Battle of Britain No. 34062 '17 Squadron' and T9 No. 30285:

T9 No. 30285 and Battle of Britain No. 34062 '17 Squadron' stand face to face in Bigporth MPD:

At the time the pictures were taken, the T9 had not had it's headcode discs fitted (I had lost them!), but now she has them as well as real coal in the tender

The tender plug and socket arrangement was very fiddly to couple together, I did do it, but after breaking one of the tender doors!

Now, onto haulage power, well it can haul my Southern 7-car rake, but it slips when starting off. But it can haul my Southern 5 car rake with easy, so I'm happy. It's also a little noisy, but a little running in on the club layout will sort that out!

As we all know Hornby annouced their 2010 range yesterday. By 12:00 I had already sorted my spending for next year; Definiatly a 4-VEP in NSE colours and may be a couple of Hawksworth coaches to go with my GWR rake

I'm thinking if getting an L1 to replace my V1, this is due to the V1 middle driving wheels popping out of the chassis and axle whenever they feel like it (It's happened to my serveral times including both exhibition appearances of Hythe), so I may sell my V1, but I'll see what happens

Simon