Since I was able to pick up a Roundhouse Argyll second hand upon selling my Frank S(wanted a steamer with parts support),when I sold one of my garden tractors, I used to funds to pickup the engine I had been watching on ebay that nobody else wanted to take a chance on. A Merlin Mayflower with RC that hasn’t been steamed since the 1990’s. Son inherited it from his late father and has no clue other than he powered up the RC and it works. Always wanted one of these after reading all about Tag Gorton’s Longlands and Western light railway in the UK and his first engine, A Merlin Mayflower he named Toni. His had a whistle from the factory, this one does not but I will try to add a Regner one if I can. She is in my favorite color, GWR green. In despirate need of some polish work on all the brass. Due here in todays post, so very soon we shall see if steam can be raised. I will leave the RC as is, its a nice top of the line brand system in its day made by KO Propo, which was a step above the more common Futuba or Airtronics stuff. Here is a pic I lifted from the auction, I was happy with the price as any of these from the UK are even more by the time the exchange rate and shipping are figured in. I am watching for a spare set of steam chests/piston valves as these are the wear prone areas on these engines. Mike

My Merlin showed up just before 3pm today. I took a few minutes to unpack, inspect and then I headed to Indy to see my wife. When I got home this evening, I removed the body work, polished up the paint work and oiled up the running gear, filled the lubricator, added 150ml of water to the boiler(what does this boiler hold at working capacity?). Filled the gas tank and she lit off with no problems, raised steam with no problems and as can be seen in the short video, runs pretty darn smooth for so many years of slumber. I have since polished up most of the brass(still need to do the boiler bands). The Regner whistle valve has the wrong threads, the boiler bush is coarse and the valve is fine thread, so no Whistle for now. I like the Merlin over the Argyll! Next is to see how she handles a train over the line. Mike The video quality sucks, I will take a better one tomorrow

Congrats on the new loco Mike. Looks like the steam bug has really bitten you. Glad everything arrived well and is running good. That first firing is always so exciting. Not sure if it’s just my phone but the vid doesn’t play for me. Just a static picture. Have fun with it and post a video of it on the track if you can.

Oops! My first dreaded double post! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)

The video quality sucks anyways, it wouldn’t transfer via the cable to my laptop, and I had to resize to send via txt message. I will take a new picture with my digital camara when I get home from Indy this evening. I have been bitten by the bug since I was 16. Just haven’t had my own engines to play with. I do have several of my friend’s steamers on hand and he doesn’t mind me running them. But I dont feel right putting loads of run time on them. I got the Argyll just before Christmas from a member here, I was scared of dropping nearly $1000 and having a dud with the Merlin. When I sold one of my garden tractors(I collect those to), I decided not to get another one and spent the $$ on the Merlin. I am pairing back both my trains and my tractors. UK narrow gauge focus with the trains other than my Autism train and its 2 engines. And pairing back to just my JD 212 with hyd lift for a tractor. Getting the hood of the 212 custom done with a decal wrap for Autism. Mike