Does anybody make decals for a modernized 40 foot boxcar (roof walks removed)?
Mike - What road do you have in mind? Here are a few that I have used in the past-
http://www.mgdecals.com/homepage.htm
http://home.mindspring.com/~paducah/
And, of course…
Do you mean the yellow warning label for “keep off roof no running board?” Herald King has those in its consolidated stencil decal sheets “Lube-1” and “Lube-2.” http://heraldkingdecals.com/Misc.html
Rob - I think you may be right…that he is looking for the warning labels. Maybe I should have read his post a bit better…
I found a shot of the area of detail that I need in the decal set. I need a set with the rebuild date, in this case, 5-75 that is in the lower right corner under the reporting marks:
That’s generic data that can be pulled from various sets. Finding the exact shop code and date may be difficult if not impossible, as a search of Microscale and Oddballs decals shows nothing specific to the FJG, and I’m unsure who if anyone may offer matching codes. They should be simple enough to cobble together from material on a data sheet.
It doesn’t have to be the FJ&G. And it doesn’t have to be 5-75 for the rebuild date. I’m figuring that the rebuild date could be from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. I have some assorted modernized 40 foot boxcars that I want to letter for my new short line, the Penvan Railroad.
The get some data sets from Microscale or whoever you like and you’re good to go. Make up a shop code for your shortline, maybe one that’s simple to cut out of the data on the basic sheet, or use one from a nearby larger road. Use some alphabet and number decals for reporting marks.
If you want customized shop codes, a series of reweigh stencil dates, and maybe some pre-printed reporting marks, you could have a custom decal maker like Rail Graphics print up the sheets for you.
This car was decaled from a set made years ago by Detail Associates. It has formatting and shop codes specific to WP. If there’s a prototype you’d like to mimic, you could get decals for that (assuming somebody makes them) and just use the parts needed for your private road. Note that items like consolidated stencils, ACI labels and the yellow warning labels normally have to be purchased separately even with road-specific decal sets.
Mike, that date which you show in the photo is not a rebuild date, but rather a re-weigh date. All cars required periodic re-weighing, as their weights could change as cars were repaired or modified.
As for modernising a freight car, unless the frame was altered in any appreciable way, it would not be considered a rebuild - the railroad might advertise it as a rebuild for PR purposes, but it wasn’t considered as such for accounting purposes. Modifications could include changing a car’s wooden sides to steel, and even replacing completely the sides, ends, and/or roof, yet the car would not be a true rebuild.
Modifications to the car’s underframe, such as replacing the original with a cushioned underframe, or strengthening the existing frame would qualify, and, at least at one time, offered significant tax advantages for the railroads. In most (but not all) cases, the car would simply receive a new BLT (built date), and for a defined period (depending on the era) that date which your picture shows would read “NEW”, along with a date identical to that of the car’s new built date.
Incidentally, the “P 62” in the photo of the Fonda, Johnstown, & Gloversville car dimensional data refers to the weigh scale at the PRR’s Hollidaysburg EB yard.
Champ offered re-weigh and re-pack data for various eras, but are, alas, no longer in business. You could use suitable numerals and letters from any dimensional data set and on cars which have been in service for some time, simply “patch in” the re-weigh info, as on the car shown below:
Wayne
So, basically, I can use a regular 40 foot box car lettering set with my own railroad name and reporting marks. Yay!
Yup! If you want to include re-weigh data (it gives your car a bit of “history”) , simply letter the car as you normally would, but omit the part of the data which is usually the most susceptible to be changed. This is often only the last three digits of the load limit (LD.LMT.) and light weight (LT.WT.) plus the date and location of the re-weighing, like this:
You can mask-over the area where that lettering will eventually go, and then weather the car to some degree, or, as I often do, simply weather the car…
… then repaint or decal-over the appropriate area with a suitably painted piece of decal to simulate new paint, and add the balance of the dimensional data:
If the lettering which you’re using has the word “NEW”, but the car is meant to represent an older, updated car, replace “NEW” with a couple of letters (most people won’t know actual re-weigh station letters, as there were hundreds of stations around the continent, any of which could have re-weighed your car) and a suitably recent date for your chosen era.
Wayne