Chris- perhaps you should reconsider the Lionel milk tank car - the car body is spot on for several Supplee operated milk tank cars. Depending on builder some milk tank cars (like Supplee's SWJX 9) didn't have horizontal letter boards - see first photo below taken near Philadelphia, PA.
Recently I engaged Lee Turner to paint and letter a pair of Supplee milk tank cars like in the prototype photo. The second photo is the up-detailed Lionel milk tank car Lee detailed to replicate SWJX #9. He lengthened the short Lionel under frame and corrected the underbody appliances and brake rigging. Lee applied cut out lettering to the car body simulating the prototype's enameled steel letters. The third photo show's Lee's work on a brass Overland model of SWJX #3. Painted and weathered it is hard to tell which model is brass and which is plastic. These two models will be a key element in passenger train switching operations at my representation of Huntingdon, PA. One of the cars will be spotted at a creamery in Huntingdon. The other will be interchanged with the Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad for routing to the Supplee creamery in Bedford, PA.
Ed Rappe
