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My next big project will be modifying/painting a MTH caboose and 2-8-0 for the Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line RR.  The original 1898 proprietary railroads connected to them were:

 

Atlantic Coast Line

Atlantic & Danville

Chesapeake & Ohio

New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk

Norfolk & Southern

Norfolk & Western

Seaboard Air Line

Southern

 

Pretty impressive list of RRs.

 

Much of their equipment came from these proprietary RRs, especially PRR and N&W.  The caboose and engine I have in mind both came from PRR and through the assistance of some fellow forumites I managed to acquire what I need to begin this project.

 

Here's the problem, no decals that I can find are available and not a lot of information on the actual RR either.  I do have a book authored by W. Hugh Moomaw "Virginia's Belt Line Railroad: The Norfolk & Portsmouth, 1898-1997".  A few of the photos in his book show the old herald NPBL used on their steamers and cabooses:

 

 

npbl caboose175

NPBL logo

npbl logo resized

 

Searching the internet provided nothing more, but it's very close to what the Texas & Pacific used:

 

 

Texas and Pacific Logo

 

I was able to modify this in Adobe Photo Deluxe Home Edition 3, but the saved image didn't come out as good as it did when I was working on it so I need to try again:

 

 

logo

 

The main problem is figuring out how to do the BELT LINE in the center of the diamond.  The word BELT goes from small to large and the word LINE goes from large to small.  I'm no artist or typographer and have no idea what to look (or what to call it) for in the way of a font program to get in order to duplicate this style.

 

So, any ideas on how to get lettering that looks like this?

 

Here's some additional info:

 

The summer 1998 issue of Locomotive Quarterly has a feature on their steam engines, up through 1954

 

If someone has this copy could you please look to see if there's any good images of this logo?

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  • npbl caboose175
  • NPBL logo
  • npbl logo resized
  • Texas and Pacific Logo
  • logo
Last edited by Bob Delbridge
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Originally Posted by Bob Delbridge:

So, any ideas on how to get lettering that looks like this?

The emblem is not as big a problem as that lettering - not only is it increasing/decreasing in height, but it's also changing in width to suggest a 3D effect.

 

Maybe I can talk to my daughter about this one - be aware, her middle name is "Mercenary".

 

And, if that can be done, you might be able to get Clover House to make you a few pages of dry transfers,

Last edited by mwb

In most cases, it is more money than any of us wants to pay, but he did a wonderful job on some custom decals for me several years ago.  And the plus is the minimum deal usually involves enough decals for all of us. The art work you have shown may be enough for him to work the graphics, if you know the basic decal size needed.  I could be wrong and often.

Rail Graphics

I only need one graphic that wasn't lettering.  The multi colors may cost more.

 

 

Last edited by Mike CT

Thanks guys!!!

 

Here's what I've done this morning:

 

 

yellow logo

 

Not sure about the yellow/gold, need to read the book some more.

 

How did they do it back in the 1940s without a computer?!?!?!?!  Talent I guess

 

Thanks Martin, wouldn't that logo look good on the caboose?

 

Mike, I'll keep them in mind.  Ed Reutling had some decals made when we both built the Whalebelly hoppers, the price wasn't too bad but the company is no longer in business.  That's the price we pay to get what we want.

 

Tim, the Adobe Photo Deluxe 3.0 was a free version I got with some other program, it's very limited in what it can do.

 

The president of the current NPBL used to come out to the golf course where I work, but I haven't seen him in over a year, he may have moved on.  Hugh Moomaw (author of the book) passed away a year or 2 ago, the only other person I can think of that may have something on this herald is Tal Carey, but I'm not sure if he's still in the area or still kicking for that matter.  I have a phone number for him, guess it won't hurt to call.

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  • yellow logo

The old timers knew their stuff. There's a local sign painter I still see from time to time who I've gone up to talk to. Amazing is all I can say. Last of the breed.

 

My background was in graphic design and I taught typography at a local university for years. I have to bite my lip with some frequency looking at some of the layouts - I see egregious type violations constantly. Some of the manufacturers of scenic and building stuff are actually the worst. I spent a lot of time studying the history of type, printing, lettering etc. I've even got an old letterpress and a few tons of lead type so I have a little background on this.

 

That said, I love working digitally. The idea here is that you have to break the letterforms into editable shapes so that you can modify them. If you just stretch stuff you will not be happy. The decals are not going to be cheap so you really want to get the art right.

 

If you are on a Mac there are some apps that can modify graphics and type in what is called vector art that I can suggest that are reasonable but most have a pretty steep learning curve for most folks.

 

If anyone needs help with the "correctness" of a particular font I am happy to help out. For me it's like somebody put Mel's diner on a steam era layout when I see Helvetica plastered across the tender of a steamer. I guess we all have our own hangups... Ha.

Originally Posted by Frisco Tim:

.............you may need to work the type as vector objects to be able to modify it as you are needing which likely means Adobe Illustrator.

And, that's where mercenary comes into play - I've got that on both of my computers, but the daughter actually knows how to use it.

I've got the caboose painted, just need to paint the roof black.

 

I've been trying to figure out the colors used.  Looks like maybe dulux gold or white herald on the steamer and white herald on the caboose, but I'm not sure.

 

So yesterday I emailed the current Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line and the VP emailed me back this morning and invited me to come to their office to take a look at their color photos they have, hopefully I can get all my questions answered then.

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