Thanks to some earlier encouragement from an earlier post, I ordered some Esbit fuel, and decided to give it a try. I started by boiling water on the stove. After filling the boiler with this already-heated water, I put two rows of tablets into the burner and lit it up. It took another four minutes for the boiler to reach fifteen psi, and from there it ran for a good seven minutes, and was able to maintain pressures from 15 to 20 psi, even while running the turbine and operating the whistle intermittently.
I must say I was very impressed with its operation on Esbit fuel, and surprised that it didn't leave any discoloration to the boiler or housing. A small amount of soot was evident on the boiler, but it wiped off easily with a soft cloth. I'm sure that continued use of the Esbit fuel would eventually lead to its showing evidence of being run, but I'm okay with that!