RIT Professor Comes to the Rescue with Toy Train Repair Help

Choo-choo gone silent? Help is just a mouse click away.

The author of Greenberg’s American Flyer S Gauge Operating & Repair Manual, 1945–1965, has made the out-of-print train-repair book available on CD-ROM. The CD features a 12-minute video of repair techniques and includes updates to the book.

Author Tom Barker, associate professor of graduate statistics at Rochester Institute of Technology, has been coming to the rescue of toy-train enthusiasts frazzled by difficult repairs for years. He uses his passion for toy trains to help others, especially during the busy holiday season when many people dust off their train sets for the first time in 12 months.

In addition to his book, Barker also offers free assistance at his Web site, where visitors can submit questions directly: www.rit.edu/~tbbeqa/ GAF.html.

Originally published in 1983, the book provides detailed repair and maintenance instructions, photographs, charts and drawings. Chapters include "Diagnosing a Problem," "Servicing Steam Engines," "Major Engine Overhauls," "Whistles and Horns" and others.

Stan Slade, president of Despatch Junction, a toy-train hobby shop at 100 Station Road in East Rochester and 2222 Lyell Ave. in Rochester, says the best thing about the CD is the video, narrated by Barker. "It’s great," Slade says. "The CD makes repairs very user-friendly."

The CD-ROM is available at Barker’s Web site and Despatch Junction’s two locations and Web site, www.djunction.com. Cost is $19.95.

Barker has also written three other books on experimental design and its applications. He resides in Webster, N.Y.