Anybody ever do this. There where several locomotives produced with the "puffer" smoke system, a mechanical linkage to the drive gears moving a piston to generate a puff roughly in time with the chug.
Twice on on my, after sitting for a while unused the o-ring on the piston becomes stiff with age and causes a bind in the drive.
I believe that the options are to consider the replacement of the o-ring part of regular maintenance, or to retrofit a MTH unit.
If I retrofit the MTH unit, I'll install a Cruise Control module and a chuffer board.
Thoughts?