Decal time!

The last post shared detail on a line up card I created to organize work on eleven freight cars that waited at the paint booth. A few models have been moving forward with decal application.

Three hoppers now have new lettering for updated weigh data and repack stencils like this Western Maryland car. The crew is wrapping up the details on a fourth car.

The Pennsy hoppers are painted with Vallajo Model Color Amaranth Red, (70.829) as a good representation of the Pre-Depression Era PRR Freight Car Color.

Two more hoppers are now decaled following Pennsylvania Railroad practices of the mid-1920s. I used a Westerfield Models set for Pennsy GLa hoppers (item # D5701).

This December 1926 photo was taken to document bridge number 249 on the Scott’s Run branch in West Virginia. It captures the hopper lettering presentation of the moment. The full image can be found on the Historic Pittsburgh site.

This prototype image inspired the lettering on one of the hoppers. The Monongahela Railway Company online photograph collection on the Historic Pittsburgh digital image website is loaded with images. There are many photos from the 1904-1934 years that are a window into places and equipment long gone.

I decided to follow the new AAR lettering guidelines for the other Pennsy hopper. While these took effect on January 1, 1927, the PRR was an early adopter of the new weigh data presentation with separate Load Limit and Light Weight data. This hopper would have gone through the shop for rebuilding or a major repair then repainted and lettered.

The nuances of updated weigh and repack data, and the weigh data presentation changes are elements I consider as each freight car model moves toward completion. The extra effort makes it worthwhile for my November 1926 modeling focus.


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One thought on “Decal time!”

  1. Nice stuff Eric. A minor quibble: It was the ARA, not the AAR, who adopted the new lettering standards, and the effective date was March 1, 1927.

    Also, I’m not sure I would describe the PRR as an early adopter of the ARA standard. They weren’t as sluggish as some roads, but I don’t think they were particularly ahead of the curve. Other roads such as the B&O or DL&W might be better examples of early embracement of the standards. And, because the standards went through draft iterations at the 1924, 1925, and 1926 ARA meetings, the earliest examples of stencils that include the Load Limit are dominated by “transitional” schemes where the format is ever so slightly different from the final, 1927 version

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