Western Railroad Discussion > "SP 6304" Lettering

According to www.railfonts.com, many roads had their own versions of the basic Railroad Roman typeface. SP's is listed as "SP Extended Roman" type. From the pics seen here, it is a pretty nice looking motor. The owners are to be commended.
Fireplug

fireplug Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> According to www.railfonts.com, many roads had
> their own versions of the basic Railroad Roman
> typeface. SP's is listed as "SP Extended Roman"
> type. From the pics seen here, it is a pretty nice
> looking motor. The owners are to be commended.
> Fireplug


The "SP Extended Roman" depicted on Railfonts.com isn't appropriate AT ALL for SP black widow F-units. In fact, railroads didn't use "fonts" but made stencils based on standard lettering diagrams/blueprints.

Kudos on the owner's decision to paint up the 6304 in SP Black Widow. The colors look splendid on the 6304!

Cheers,
Harry

Harry is spot-on correct as always - as far as railroads are concerned (at least in the early days, before computers and graphics software), there is no such thing as a font. The railroads, as well as car/locomotive builders, had their own paint and styling departments. The jobs of these folks was to design paint schemes, specify colors and create drift cards, and draft lettering style/sizing diagrams for various applications. Some of it is very comprehensive; UP steam-era lettering diagrams cover every conceivable detail, from the height and shape of each letter, acceptable spacing for each, and its specific application. And not just the letters needed to spell "UNION PACIFIC" are covered; the entire alphabet, including hyphens, periods, ampersands, and other minor lettering details have specs. SP wasn't too far off in this regard, either. If you want to re-create what SP did on their Fs and other locomotives, the best you can do is find a commercial font that looks close and live with it, find someone that took the time to create a font that replicates the RR lettering, or create the lettering on your own in a vector graphics program. Either way, it's not as cut-and-dry as some would assume.

PE

tracktime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> fireplug Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > According to www.railfonts.com, many roads
> had
> > their own versions of the basic Railroad
> Roman
> > typeface. SP's is listed as "SP Extended
> Roman"
> > type. From the pics seen here, it is a pretty
> nice
> > looking motor. The owners are to be
> commended.
> > Fireplug
>
>
> The "SP Extended Roman" depicted on Railfonts.com
> isn't appropriate AT ALL for SP black widow
> F-units. In fact, railroads didn't use "fonts"
> but made stencils based on standard lettering
> diagrams/blueprints.
>
> Kudos on the owner's decision to paint up the 6304
> in SP Black Widow. The colors look splendid on
> the 6304!
>
> Cheers,
> Harry
>

If you want to recreate what they did, it's best to get original drawings and work with that. They can be resized as needed to fit the job. They are out there, you just gotta look around.


SP_8299 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you
> want to re-create what SP did on their Fs and
> other locomotives, the best you can do is find a
> commercial font that looks close and live with it,
> find someone that took the time to create a font
> that replicates the RR lettering, or create the
> lettering on your own in a vector graphics
> program. Either way, it's not as cut-and-dry as
> some would assume.
>
> PE

Great discussion. A museum curator would probably follow one generally accepted protocol for restoration. An F-unit owner would probably follow another path. The F-unit looks good.

If you look at the book, "The Daylight, Trains 98-99", by Richard K. Wright (was that his name?) there is a section in there about how the SP created the numbers and letters for their equipment.


steamjocky