When I was at York in September, I happened upon an interesting product sold by Henning's Trains: the Super Chuffer. Basically, it is a board that controls the smoke unit fan motor to turn on and off with the chuff switch (apparently an MTH invention). This provides more realistic smoke output on older TMCC-controlled Lionel steam engines. The board offers the following additional features:
- Rule 17 LED light control for headlight, dimming when locomotive is stopped
- TMCC headlight voltage input to control headlight on/off state from remote
- Automatic control to turn cab lights on when stopped, off when moving
I bought the unit to improve the realism of the smoke output on my JLC Allegheny; a challenging choice to begin this kind of tinkering. This engine is painful to disassemble and more painful to decode the wiring unless you are familiar with the electronics involved. I wrote three separate e-mails for help to the developer, John Will; to augment my questions, I took photos of the internals. John was patient and quick to respond; his advice allowed me to successfully complete the installation rapidly with no goofs. The results are a quantum improvement in smoke realism; I highly recommend this product for anyone interested in augmenting your steam engines with smoke chuffing 
Happy New Year, Var
