I’ve noticed some of you have what appear to be custom made monikers (emblems) for your own railroads. I was wondering what programs were used to make them?
My ‘custom herald,’ the Tomikawa Maru that appears on Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo rolling stock, is hand-scribed with a white fine-tipped marker on the black or grunge brown car side (car door, in the case of box wagons.) I’ve tried, unsuccessfully, to create a printable computer graphic for decal production. Since my hand-painted version meets the 100 meter test, I’ve decided to leave well enough alone.
The JNR didn’t use a herald.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Actually, You’d be surprised what one can make using Word (Autoshapes tools, ruler, fonts) and Paint (to save it in) Adobe Photoshop is good for doing recolors, (and pothers, but I don’t know the system) I’ll attest to it with my Turbotrains in Monon, Daylight, and Warbonnet. I’ve also been designing Ringling Brother and Freedom Train decals in Word, I can show them if you’d like
yes please
I think I done did a respectable one…
Thanks for the tips!
Here is a link to an online seal generator you might want to try:
As was mentioned above, MS Word is also nice for lettering in curves and swoops. But, I use the Paint program that comes with Windows. A bit tedious sometimes, but quite workable. Sometimes if I want a non-letter or other than a simple shape (box, circle, etc.), such as the outline of a locomotive, I start with a nice photo similar to what I want and draw over it with simpler shapes and fewer colors to create an outline or simpler drawing of the image… logos usually are not photographic but more impressionistic.
The FHN’s herald (my avatar) was done in MS Publisher 2000 and Paint Shop Pro. However, while the herald is colored on the stationery, stock certificates, etc, it is usually in white outline on rolling stock and buildings. (The railroad’s Board is not willing to spend the extra money to paint it in color.)
Incidentally, a “moniker” is a name, not an emblem. The “emblem” is commonly referred to as a logo or herald.
Here is my 1st attempt with the seal site from Ken folk. Great site with the exception that it only contains a single train related symbol.
thanks Kenfolk!
I do beleive I’ll be experimenting some more.
At the time of my initial post I was challenged by a severe mental inability to convey my thoughts in a eloquent manner through the keyboard. translation- I knew what I wanted to say but could not find the words.[D)][:D]
To save time, effort, and 2 dozen Advil, here’s the sheet of Ringling Decals. Note: the globes were cut off pictures of the train. But the red and white banners were made entirely in Word, with conual changes in font to best match the true thing. I measured a Walthers Coach for the size needed for the banner as well. Can’t say as I did too bad
And cause I like the linelight, here’s some of what you can do in Photoshop:
(Botched decals due to no good straight pictures online.) 
The train in my sig was a GIF redone in Paint. A bit rough, but came out better than I expected. (It moves on my website) I need my better half to get into better depth with stuff like that, since she’s a comp guru. I need her to update my website desperately! (Ummm…honey…) [:-^]
Mine at left was just done in Microsoft “Paint”. It’s based on the decal and herald Don Manlick did for me in doing custom decal sets for my free-lance model railroad, although like the railroad the herald is based on the real St.Paul and Duluth’s herald from the 1800’s.
BTW in railroading the correct term is “herald”, it’s what in most industries would be called their logo or emblem. A “monicker” is a person’s name, usually a nickname or pseudonym as used by hoboes…“A-Number-1”, “St.Louis Bill”, “One Eyed Pete” etc. Interestingly in early texts it was often spelled “Monica”, though I suppose in recent years asking a hobo if they’ve “gotten a Monica” could be misunderstood.[:-^]
The colors are fine. but few emblems if any had a latin. Feel free to do what you wish though. Instead, they frequently had a catchphrase.
Ours reads something like Halfmoon Orion & Northern
“The biggest little shortline” (Abbreviate the name and you’ll get it.) some real lines had such catches as “The Hoosier Line” (Monon) and “Route of the Chiefs” (Santa Fe). If that gives you an idea.
Modern frieight tends to save ink by just printing names, and even in older eras, had less details than passenger trains, as there were so many cars, and often did dirty jobs. So I wouldn’t worry about colors, besides black, white, and maybe another if yuor running an odd colored car.
If you’d like, HO&N’s graphics department is doing nothing better than christmas cards and signatures for TRansformers. I’ be willing to help, if you’d like it.
EDIT: And before I dscovered that someone was selling AFT declas, I came up with these:
For my Santa Vaca & Santa Fe logo, I used Photoshop (I have “Limited Edition”) to construct the Santa Fe/ New Mexico circle and cross background. I picked up a cow head from a stock pictures and graphics disk. Then in Photoshop, I went to “insert text” and called up a plain Arial letter “O”, turned it sideways and stretched it a little for the halo.
HOLY COW!
Here is an aged and sun-faded version of my Mount Penelope Railway’s herald that I created in Photoshop for the side of my ice house.
The original herald was created in Adobe Illustrator based on a scan of the old CNR herald.
I used a pencil to draw mine, then redid it in drawing ink. My brother made a photo positive of the image, and then I had C-D-S make some dry transfer custom lettering sets for me.
Most newer boxcars and reefers got large lettering with various versions of the herald:
I made a few changes in my second and third orders to accomodate other car types, and generally went with smaller lettering and heralds on the older house cars:
Wayne
Nice stuff! Is that Eloroa Gorge as in southern Ontario?
I made mine using Paint Shop Pro.
Nick
This one is dressed down a bit
