With regard to the Pullman lettering issues ("bronze gold" vs "Dulux Gold").
If you look at photos, movies and actual cars lettered with gold leaf
("Bronze gold") you will see that as time goes on, the lettering on
the prototype does fade and does become harder to see on the
prototype equipment. Note that this is a fairly common occurrence
with gold leaf on dark surfaces when, especially when varnished (and
not renewed). That varies drastically depending on when it was
applied and how long it has been exposed to the environment.
The main reason that the lettering was changed on most railroads (and
Pullman) was simply economics - the lettering had to be renewed
often, it had to be well maintained, certain cleaning processes
(especially those involving mechanical brushes) really impacted the
lettering and it was not the easiest to see - the contrast wasn't
there. Gold has a green element and when tarnished will display
blacks, green and brown tones.
When one looks at gold leaf that is still extant on dark green
vehicles (and you can see this in many auto collections as well as
railroads) the contrast is simply less than one would hope for when
looking at the equipment for identification. Stealthy in a lot of
ways. And I understand the comment that basically was "this is my
railroad and I want to use decals that have more contrast". No
argument. Interpretation is up to everyone.
Dulux Gold is a paint emulsion that provides a far greater contrast
and exists more closely in the "yellow" spectrum than in the
"green". The colors held up much longer, it adhered better, didn't
need repeated varnishing/coating and was far easier to maintain than
gold leaf Given the circumstances in railroading in the period
(war, economic recession, down-turns in traffic, increase in LW cars
painted in brighter colors, etc.) it made perfect sense to go to paint.
In terms of the decal sets. I would go for various lengths of
"BURLINGTON", the car names (essential, given the length of some of
the names), the demographic information (RPO, Baggage, etc.) and
numbers. I, personally, would like to see many of the smaller-sized
lettering examples - watch your step, truck markings, tank markings,
keep off, etc.
Further options exist for determining the exact letting. For
instance, Standard Steel produced a few series of passenger cars for
the Q. Standard Steel routinely made lettering drawings for all
applications of the car. To a lesser extent (in terms of
accessibility), Pullman did the same. This holds true for passenger
and freight equipment. As an example, the Pullman Library has
scanned the lettering diagram for the NYC - which includes B&A, MC,
CS and other affiliated roads; the demographic information and other data.
Now.. when I brought this up to one member who wanted to work on
such, the response was "why would I need (original drawings of
cars)?" Why indeed. Unfortunately, that's the attitude that has
prevailed -- the consequences of which are inaccurate information and
a lack of accurate details and decals for modelers and historians.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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