Tracking a Mechanic for the Great Bear

Audrey Spencer of Westchester has a model of the Great Bear steam train that needs work on the engine; the train is a collector’s item. Can you help with a specialist before Spencer is sidetracked, or will she get all steamed up over our failure to get on her train?

Gertrude Waggoner of Hawthorne is clean out of old-fashioned lye soap and is surely not lying when she says she doesn’t know where to get more. Can you help end this soap opera by coming up with a source, or will Waggoner be convinced that we are rubbing her face in the dirt?

Charles Shellenbarger of Claremont is also looking for an old-fashioned item, a tie-it-yourself bow tie ; department stores and haberdashers evidently stopped carrying them. Can you help solve this knotty problem before Shellenbarger chokes on it, or will he be tempted to tie one on?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: Marian at (213) 825-3978 wants to get her fingers on ( under might be a better word) some Nail-Aide , an evidently discontinued item that did wonders for her hands. Please help before it’s nail-biting time at Marian’s place. . . . For two sick relatives, Ruth at (213) 299-6442 needs two AM-FM clock radios with TV sound. Please help Ruth station herself so she can get the sound of music exactly right.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items and for products no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your telephone number so that others may contact you directly.

For Muriel Dandy of Bakersfield, who wanted to control the static in her hair, we finally have some hair-raising news. Nancy Lynn suggests taking a sheet of any brand of clothes-dryer softener and rubbing it through the hair. According to Lynn, this works great!

For Eleanor Taylor of La Crescenta, who was looking for serrated grapefruit spoons, we have a ladleful of sources, too many to list individually. Evidently the item is available in stores such as Fedco, Gelsons, Osco, Bullock’s, Broadway, Stater Bros. and some gourmet shops. In addition, Wendell White of Vroman’s Silver Shop, 1748 S. Grand Ave., Glendora, says the store carries several patterns of 1847 Rogers and Community silver plate. Two readers said they bought pearl-handled silver grapefruit spoons at David Orgell’s (five locations). Another good local source would be The Silver Lady, (213) 661-6279.

According to a dozen readers, the spoons are also available from several mail-order firms, including Homeward House, 65 E. Southwater St., Chicago, Ill. 60601 (Oneida); Miles Kimball, 41 West 8th Ave., Oshkosh, Wis. 54906 (four stainless steel spoons for $4.98); the Walter Drake Silver Exchange, Drake Building, Colorado Springs, Colo. 80940; Sunkist Growers, P.O. Box 4650, Overland Park, Kan. 66204, and the Betty Crocker Catalogue Plan, General Mills Inc., Box 5000, Minneapolis, Minn. 55440-5000. And Harry Stone writes that Frank Lewis of Alamo Fruit, Alamo, Tex. 78516, will give you six serrated grapefruit spoons with the purchase of 20 grapefruit for $39.95; unfortunately, Stone says, the grapefruit season is only from November to May. Then we heard from about 25 readers who have these spoons.

Several months ago, several readers asked about Mani Magic cuticle remover, but we were unable to locate a retail outlet. Now Terry Sue Aikens of Los Angeles, who also was looking for the product, writes that the manufacturer told her that Mani Magic is currently not available and there are no immediate plans to bring it out again.

Herb Hain cannot answer mail personally but will, space permitting, respond in this column to readers who need--or have--helpful information. Write (do not telephone) to You Can Help!, You section, the Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.