I'm curious about the stripe wear seen on so many of these early engines.
Did this paint start wearing off right out of the box?
Or did it have to reach a certain age before it decayed?
And - its it wear? Or did the paint just vaporize or wipe off?
The Stripes are so completely gone on some specimens, that you have to tilt them in the light to see the stripes at all.
Looks less like paint that "wore off" - and more like paint that turned to a gold dust, and blew away.
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Look where the stripes are missing. Right where little hands pickup the engine.
Gene Anstine
grfd59 posted:Look where the stripes are missing. Right where little hands pickup the engine.
Gene Anstine
That's just it - some of these basically have no stripes...they're not just worn where people handle them.
Gene mentions one type of wear.
The overall wear that Roving Sign asked about is likely caused by the same issues that cause the lettering to disappear on the 2028 Pennsylvania GEEP.
The 2028 was rubber stamped with gold ink that simply faded over time.
I don't think it mattered how the engine was stored.
If you see a 2028 with good lettering, it was probably redone.
C W Burfle posted:Gene mentions one type of wear.
The overall wear that Roving Sign asked about is likely caused by the same issues that cause the lettering to disappear on the 2028 Pennsylvania GEEP.
The 2028 was rubber stamped with gold ink that simply faded over time.
I don't think it mattered how the engine was stored.
If you see a 2028 with good lettering, it was probably redone.
And I assume same as my 2331 FM Virginian?
The handrails more or less keep you from touching the lettering - yet "VIRGINIAN" is visible, but weak on mine.
Gee.
Paint wears off where it is handled, and "handling" can mean any king of rubbing by anything - storage padding, for example. Being knocked off the track.
Paint fades from UV.
Paint - especially early metallics - can indeed "turn into dust and blow away", too.
Locos left in places that get very hot (attics) or very cold (attics and garages; basements for some of you) experience extreme contraction and expansion. This can affect paint, especially typically thin, early striping.
It will fade first where the acidic and dirty "little hands" grab it.
Mostly it's both handling and early paint.
It's basically the same reason why early block lettered rubber stamped versions of the Santa Fe and New York Central F-3's were quickly changed to the smaller heat stamped lettering. Heat stamping stayed on the plastic bodies much better, and finding a rubber stamped F-3 is a rare treat to find in pristine condition.
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