A chuffing good time with the Merlin

You may remember that at the BBC Gardeners' World show, I had an issue with my Merlin Mayflower. A cab full of flame made the RC wiring a bit crispy. My assumption was that this would all need replacing, but out of curiosity, I switched it on during the week, and it worked!Next stage was a trip to the club track for a proper test. The evening was warm, high 20s rather than last week's 30+. The loco fired up quickly, with all the fire staying in places where the fire should be in a model steam locomotive. Pressure took a while to build, and looking in the cab, I could see why. There was a loose bolt on the back of the boiler. Hot water was coming out, and if there is water, there will be steam escaping. I nipped it up with a spanner, and all seemed well. The loco trundled off around the track, making five or six circuits before running out of gas, in the steaming area. After a few minutes cooling, I regassed and watered, and off we went again. Sweet as anything. I lost count of the…