I have the vector art work for the slogans as well as the fonts for the lettering.

floridatenwheeler at Verizon dot net

Tim Meyer

Mark sent me this photo of the end of CNW 284 with the lettering he applied.



Les

A couple of updates:

The first photo shows the informational data that Mark applied to the car while the outside weather was still good in late October.

C&NW #284 was moved inside after our operations were finished last week. The East Annex of the Shop has no heat, but the temps this week were still good enough that Mark was able to start work on the lettering of the car. The second shot shows him at work today while the 3rd photo shows a close up of the Chicago and North Western lettering.

Not sure how long the decent temps will last.

Les

Mark continues his work on the 284. Here he is today in the Shop's East Annex (photo 1), taking measurements to make sure the CNW initials and the cars road number are straight. The results from earlier in the week on the "400 Streamliner" lettering are shown in the second shot. Another coat of white paint on the "400" section was still to be applied. Finally, in honor of the work on the box car, the cap shown in the 3rd photo was made for the museum.

Les

Very very nice work. Great to see freight cars getting some attention!

Howard P.

It's very good to see cars being repainted with actual stencils and actual paint (even if it's not the good, old fashioned style paint with lead in it) instead of the vinyl lettering that everyone seems to think they have to use now.

Topfuel -

I too like the fact that C&NW #284 is being lettered with paint rather than with vinyl lettering. HOWEVER, this is also not easy! Here is a photo taken today of Mark working on the lettering. After he traces the outline using the stencil, he has to go over the lines so that he can see the edges when actually applying the paint!

One positive thing has occurred; the PS-1 has been moved in to the West Annex of the museums Shop. Not only is this annex insulated, so the temps are somewhat warmer, but the West Annex also has a concrete floor. This means that Mark can use our green lift rather than having to move, and stand on, ladders.

Les

You guys rock !

Kevin K.

Kevin -

Thanks, but Mark has done over 99% of the work himself and deserves the credit. I started painting the roof walks with aluminum paint this past Saturday and it brings up a question. Would the corner roof walk grab irons also have been painted aluminum or would they have been box car red? I'm thinking the later, but not 100% sure.


Les

Les,
What makes you think any of it was painted aluminum?

Dennis -

You're right of course. The roof walks weren't painted aluminum when new, but were aluminum, or appear to be. I can't go back and clean them well enough so that they appear to be new. So, the aluminum paint is the best I can do.

I've attached a photo from this past October of the museum's Bob Albert with the roof walks as he did his best to clean them up. I think a coat of aluminum paint is better than putting them back up after the "cleaning", but if you have a better suggestion, I'm open to it.


Les

Did anything happen with the other two cars at that site?

This is the current Google aerial / satellite view. Date unknown but the copyright is 2017. Is that one of the cars on the north side of the plant? The lighter roof is probably the addition that was discussed.

Not aluminum. Galvanized steel. The sparks coming off the grinder in the picture prove it. The original finish would have been hot dipped galvanized, same as the roof. While it's well known that paint doesn't stick well to galvanized, and eventually during the sixties / seventies the builders started shipping cars with unpainted roofs, during the fifties most roads were painting roofs car color, or black; and if they painted the roof, they painted the running board, too. Time, I think, to go back to the C&NW Historical Society with a question about painting practice, builder's photos, drawings, etc.

If it turns out they were unpainted galvanize, Rustoleum makes a nice high zinc "cold galvanizing" paint that drys a dull gray, basically the color galvanized turns as it weathers.

filmteknik - I can't address whether that is one of the old C&NW cars on the north side of the plant. It certainly is where the two remaining cars were located after we removed the 284. If it IS one of the two remaining cars, it begs the question as to what happened to the other one. Maybe someone from up in that neck of the woods, can advise what might still be there at Lawrence Foods.

Les

Builders info on the car.