Model Train Journal

There are several books available on train repair and there is stuff on the internet but there is not a place where it is all together.
It struck me sometime ago when I realized that so many of the older guys that didn't even need to think about how are no longer with us and much of their knowledge is being lost. I'm sure there are many on MTJ that know little tricks etc. that help keep stuff working. A good friend who was a long
time Lionel repairman died three years ago. I was always amazed at what he knew. What screw would substitute for what and things like that most
of us don't know.
This may not be possible but it would certainly help.

The loss of "institutional memory" is a growing problem. I sympathize and I have been an ardent collector of repair related material. The main issue with all of these is there is a) no "master" index and b) there are a lot of variations in the specific trains and techniques. I have a couple of pre-war publications, about 5 PW, one MPC, and two modern. I also have a CD-ROM of the complete Lionel service bulletins. The most sourced material are Greenberg, particularly PW and MPC. These have service tips. dr. tinker's two volumes do a pretty good job of explaining why you are doing certain things.

I don't know what you're suggesting Roger, but we could try assembling a catalogue of repair resources. I'd suggest limiting to O gauge, at least at first.

Yes, that is what I am thinking especially for 3R and especially the older stuff. It seems to be much more repairable than the modern trains.
When Lionel quit making parts for pre and post war trains others took over and made parts. That may not be possible for all of the electronics
involved. We also need something that will show what piece of electronics needs to be changed and what those pieces look like.
This should be something that is available on a forum for anybody.
Also something to cover would be how to make a loco that has some messed up thingy work with out that piece.
Photos of all this stuff are needed so us old guys can understand.
There is also the problem that some folks that know how to do these things do not want others to know how.

Roger, have you checked with TCA, to see if they have anything like that?

Roger said:

There is also the problem that some folks that know how to do these things do not want others to know how.

That's true but it's also how some folks are making money.

This was even going on within the factory when Lionel was still making trains in NJ, especially so in the 50's. There were "rival camps" within the engineering and design group and people withheld info for what they perceived as job security. This didn't become an issue until MPC started trying to make trains and found things weren't working. Some of the components the new guys thought were superfluous were actually there for operational reasons that didn't show up until you tried running the trains for long periods of time or on tight curves/rusty track. That's why I find the harder to locate MPC manual useful. They discuss some of this.

I don't mind someone making a buck on making information available but I have a real problem with someone holding information. A lot of really good stuff is "out of print" and almost impossible to find. If the copyright holder can't find someone to publish (even electronically) then put in the public domain.

Speaking of repairs, been helping out at the LHS. The gentleman there share his knowledge. Tore this apart and replaced the cord and replaced the terminals. Not hard but learned a few tricks. I'd welcome a volume of gathered info.

One single resource would be massively huge and I can imagine what a huge undertaking it would be to put it together.

Things could be broken down.
Transformers. Track types. Couplers. Different types of locos. Older style motors. Can motors. Reversing units. ETC.
I suppose there would need to be sections on different brands.
There could be general how-to and specific how-to. How to take apart this car or loco or whatever. These are similar but this is a difference ETC.

I am probably talking about something that can't be done. I know I can't do it. I can barely type.

There are the issues of storage space, bandwidth, coding in HTML, etc and none of this has to do with the material itself. If you reference others works you need to cite that material and/or get permission to use it. If you are just providing indexing to reference sources this pre-supposes the reader has some kind of access to that material. If the published material somehow wound up in the Hathi Trust e-Library that would be a different story/great news. Cross reference indexes could be built up to point folks in the "right" direction.

The main issue I've run across with PW stuff is it's usually been "fixed" previously by several hands and what you find under the hood bears little to no resemblance to what's supposed to be there. When the LHS was actually local I'd get calls to bring over the wiring diagrams for something that had come into the shop for repairs. On very rare occasions he'd have something come in where the original material was improved on by an owner that had actually understood what the device was supposed to do. The other ninety nine times it was HTF did this work with parts missing and wiring that GNDN (from Star Trek Goes Nowhere Does Nothing).

A resource that can't deal with this is not going to be very useful and the site manager(s)/author(s) will probably shut it down after a few complaints about stuff like that.

TCA's National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg, PA has a research library that sounds like it has at least some of what you're looking for: http://nttmuseum.org/library/index.shtml

That's a great resource.

It's not clear how you get access to stuff once you find it since there is still the issue of copyright. It's possible that members log in with credentials that allow additional access? Our public library allows open catalog searches but some digital material is available when you log in using your library "card". I think that's an extension of "fair use" in that I could look at the material if I hiked down to the building (when it's open). No login, no access.

This is not actually important to me as I don't do repairs except on some of my own stuff. And I am an old guy.
Was just thinking as the old guys die their knowledge is gone and just some way to hang onto it might be useful.
And Chuck, I didn't realize it could be that complicated.