Fonts

[FEC Railway]

Is there anyone around here that is good with fonts and can give me a lead/point me in the right direction for this car:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1342029

[nkalanaga]

It looks more or less like the "Block Gothic" used by the NP in the 60s.  Microscale used to make a similar font in alphabet decals.

[ljudice]

This might be helpful...

http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

[C855B]

I used to do typography for a living... still sorta do... and the closest I can find in the standard font libraries is Bank Gothic. The unbalanced 'P' (center horizontal is too high), the squared 'O' and 'C', and the straight-legged 'R' are distinctive. It is also monospaced (characters except the 'I' are the same width), which is a giveaway that this is probably not a professionally-drawn font.

The font is probably from a long tradition of home-brew rail fonts, or, more likely, from an industrial stencil or other similar business-to-business supplier operating outside of the normal font artwork trade. Given the plethora of kitchen table font creators out there drawing nonstandard fonts for the low-quality ("5000 fonts for $1!") trade, I'll bet somebody has something closer than my references, but it takes being familiar with it to know where to find it.

That said, run the picture by the font experts at myfonts.com and see what they have to say. There will be knowledge in numbers. The image analyzer doesn't work well enough for this, even after I adjusted the image for perspective distortion and ran separate letters through it.

[DKS]

I used to do typography for a living... still sorta do...

Same here. To my eye, that does not look like any "standard" (or even non-standard) font. I suspect it was done for the railroad by a paint shop or a stenciling contractor. Of particular note, the O has different width vertical sides, which combined with other characteristics Mike noted makes it quite unusual--even awkward-looking.

This is a case where some heavy-duty image shopping may be your only alternative.

[C855B]

Awkward. Yes. The 'P' and by extension, the 'R' drive me crazy.

A great case in point about "shop artwork" is when I relettered the Sacramento Northern 653 (the real one) some 40 years ago at the Orange Empire Railroad Museum. I was already a student of typography at the time, and dutifully recorded the measurements of every letter. It was basically done with 1" masking tape with 1/2" radius rounds and 45° cuts. Totally home-brew. Attractive, but still homemade.

[Zox]

Of particular note, the O has different width vertical sides

I think that's because the letters are on a 3-D surface (the pyramidal "bumps"), so we're seeing the left sides of the characters at a shallower angle than the right sides.

[GaryHinshaw]

+1.  Here is a more face-on shot:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2136331

It may still be a home brew though.

[DKS]

I think that's because the letters are on a 3-D surface (the pyramidal "bumps"), so we're seeing the left sides of the characters at a shallower angle than the right sides.

Doh! That sure makes a difference. But just based on the Ps and Rs (I feel your pain, Mike), I'd still say it's probably a home brew.

[Zox]

This one's pretty close: http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/snv/

It even has skinny "P" and "R" loops, although perhaps not quite as extreme as on the car.

[wcfn100]

With all due respect, that's about an hours drawing time on the computer.  It's basically four letters.

Jason

[DKS]

This one's pretty close: http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/snv/

It even has skinny "P" and "R" loops, although perhaps not quite as extreme as on the car.

But the Os and Cs aren't even in the same ballpark, and the As are off.

With all due respect, that's about an hours drawing time on the computer.  It's basically four letters.

+1

[ljudice]

One observation - the O, E, R, N are very similar to the old SOUTHERN billboard lettering... 

RRfonts.com  has the SOU lettering (or something close)... 

If you have Illustrator you can play with the aspect ratio also....

Correction - it's RAILFONTS.com  and I don't see the SOU font anymore - but I am SURE
they used to have one.

UPDATE:  See here:  http://www.railsimstuff.com/fonts3.php   looks close with some aspect ratio changes....

[Zox]

But the Os and Cs aren't even in the same ballpark, and the As are off.

Yeah, I had two different candidates up on the screen, both of which had some of the features right, and managed to confuse myself. It's not hard, confusing me.  Sorry 'bout that.

The other candidate was this one, which has the O and C but not the R and P: http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/suitcase/vafle/classic/