Help fixing chuffing Annie

If we could only find Ripleys Posts about trying to acquire parts to fix the western steamers I believe he found sources for metal material for the gear shafts.

That would be great if Ripley has any insight that would help me find better parts for this. I have spare shafts from Trackmaster & plarail sets/trains in different lengths. It is just with that 24T gear, i would prefer not to cut a shaft length down to 1mm length, then peg it through (actually I think Its easier to peg it through then cut it idk yet). I realize this seems like a lot compared to just buying a chuffing Annie (if affordable), but it's also much less fun lol.