I need to make some Santa Fe depot signs; has anybody done this / know what type font / size to use.
I am refering to the sign on the ends that identifies the town / station, e.g. LOMETA.
Thanks in advance.
The Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society had a decal set with company signs, crossbucks and company style lettering for station signs. I am not sure if those decals are still available for sale.
The society has a website, (EDIT) www.atsfrr.com I just checked it and their “company store” does not list the decals any longer…but lots of interesting stuff.
I referred previous to http://www.atsfry.com which is the Russell Crump site. Lots of good ATSF stuff there too.
There was a manufacturer who made all kinds of Santa Fe signs and signposts, and had 4 or 5 decal sets of Santa Fe station names in their typestyle.
There is a book Santa Fe System Standards 1978, Kachina Press, Dallas, Texas that has “architect” type layout drawings of the lettering for stations, etc.
Leighant is right about the Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society decal set, I have one. Too bad they do not seem to be available anymore, and more than likely sold out. I searched and searched online to see if there were any sets out there, but I could not find any. The full name of the HO decal set is: Santa Fe Standard Roadway Sign Decals, produced by the Santa Fe Modelers Organization, Inc.
I looked over the set, but unfortunately the specific lettering font is not mentioned. Included on the HO scale decal sheet are 12" and 8" lettering. It was made in 1992 by Microscale exclusively for the Santa Fe Modelers Organization. There is mention of the first quarter 1992 Santa Fe Modeler magazine for detailed instructions on sign construction and decal application. But unfortunately this issue is not available on the back issue page of the Historical Society website for this magazine.
In addition to this Santa Fe lettering set, there also were Santa Fe bridge and water tank decals. These are still available here:
Santa Fe Bridge and Water Tank Decals
Wish I could help out more. I’m still looking through my resources to see if the style of font is listed anywhere.
As I was working in the garage this afternoon, I came across a couple of sets of the SF modelers decal set, in a box that did not contain any other train stuff. I do not remember buying it, nor did I remember that I had them. I was a member of that organization in the late 80’s; anything is possible.
Thanks for the replies; I should have what I need.
Check out Rail fonts at:
They offer a font set named Railroad Station Fonts that might be close enough to what you are looking for.
I have used their New Haven font set to make decals and saved a ton of money.
Oddball Decals has 9 sets of Santa Fe station signs. Each set looks like it has a couple dozen names, two each
http://mopac1.tripod.com/oddballs3.htm#ATSF
And Tom Stolte, who owns the company, says that he is willing to run more names if he gets requests (he does not do custom decals but is willing to add to his commercial decal sets)
He also gives this link as a source for the accurate sign holders that the ATSF used. The site is changed however and I could not find them on the site itself.
http://www.sunrisenterprises.com/
The Oddball Decal website has prototype photos, railfan information, decal tips, and interesting links. You can also ask to be put on his email list. The primary focus is Missouri Pacific but he covers lots of roads, including C&NW. Highly recommended
http://mopac1.tripod.com/oddballs3.htm
Dave Nelson
Dave Nelson