Help with searching issues please

I'm building a gallery for the model railway club i belong to (ok sad so-en-so I know but some one has to be LOL)I have installed "short search fix" and it works as one might expect. I have looked at the FAQ section but with no real answers. The problems arise when the search needs to specific as in having a space or a dash in it as follows :-

wheel arrangement - 0-4-0 / 2-10-0 / 0-4-4 etc

or product number - 377-024 / 371-076 etc

or product number - NB 023 / CD 040 etc

or generic class - class 25 / class 60 etc

Any help how to cure or get round this would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks in advance and hopping this makes sense ,,,, Stu