To be sure, a purist would want to keep the "pumper" as original as
possible.  I have spoken to many antique dealers who felt that
electrification diminished the value of a pump instrument; in fact,
that is how I bought an upright Ampico _cheap_ from a dealer, because
she felt it had less value because it had an electric motor in it!

The suction boxes are noisy and tend to overheat unless properly
ventilated (even then they get way too hot for what they are intended
to accomplish),  and they eliminate all but the sustaining pedal from
what could be a better piano performance than a reproducing roll.  This
assumes the pianolist (the person who plays the player piano) has a "good
foot for music".  The amount of expression that can be added by clever
and knowledgeable manipulation of the tempo lever and expression controls
(fast/slow pedaling, high/low vacuum, etc.) can create a breathtakingly
realistic performance.

A happy medium might be to locate the "Moto-Playola" automatic foot
pumping bench contraption seen in Roehl's "Player Piano Treasury", or to
get the plans from Player Piano Co. for the construction of a Coinola-type
rotary pump.  It could be scaled down to the piano's space requirements
and placed somehow in the lower section, even if it means removal of one
of the two reserve bellows and doubling the spring tension on the single
remaining reserve.  Of course, responsive expression-type pedaling would
be lost,  but you would have a motorized pumper that would be much quieter
than the suction box method.

Nickelodeon rolls transcribed to 88n only have the sustaining pedal perf
going for them -- no soft pedal (the only other expression on "A" rolls),
and certainly not the low-vacuum on/off control found on "G" rolls or
"O" rolls, et al.

I love my 88n rolls for the reason that, like Berry-Wood and Peerless
"O" rolls, they play practically the full keyboard and sound great with
the "full orchestra" arrangements,  something that even the PianOrchestra
with its 61- and 58-note scale can't equal!

Bottom line --  if it makes you happy and is musically satisfying to you,
go with it.  The sluggish market for so-called "collector pieces" proves
that you should buy what you enjoy and _play_ it,  and not just keep it
around to impress friends or dealers.

Merry Christmas,

Stephen Kent Goodman