# Lettering on Diesel engines



## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Is this the appropriate forum for a question about diesel engines? There are fora (plural) for steam engines, but nowhere specific for diesel power. I think of "rolling stock" as meaning the stuff that is pulled by the prime mover.

Presuming I'm not transgressing too much....can anyone point me to a website where I can learn what lettering would be appropriate for my S4 and where to position said lettering on said vehicle? I just finished painting my ART S4 but suddenly realized that there's other arcane lettering that it should have. So I mail-ordered a sheet of "lettering" decals for 1950-80 engines but probably won't know what goes where, etc.

So much to learn.


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

You might want to go to the MTH site and look at there o guage one, they have some pritty clear pictures of theres.......


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By JackM on 14 Mar 2010 12:21 PM 
Is this the appropriate forum for a question about diesel engines? There are fora (plural) for steam engines, but nowhere specific for diesel power. I think of "rolling stock" as meaning the stuff that is pulled by the prime mover.

Presuming I'm not transgressing too much....can anyone point me to a website where I can learn what lettering would be appropriate for my S4 and where to position said lettering on said vehicle? I just finished painting my ART S4 but suddenly realized that there's other arcane lettering that it should have. So I mail-ordered a sheet of "lettering" decals for 1950-80 engines but probably won't know what goes where, etc.

So much to learn.

If its an s4 go to Charles Ro site they still sell em there I believe I had quite a collection of the nw2 cow's and calf's but sold em all off.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By JackM on 14 Mar 2010 12:21 PM 
Is this the appropriate forum for a question about diesel engines? There are fora (plural) for steam engines, but nowhere specific for diesel power. I think of "rolling stock" as meaning the stuff that is pulled by the prime mover.

Presuming I'm not transgressing too much....can anyone point me to a website where I can learn what lettering would be appropriate for my S4 and where to position said lettering on said vehicle? I just finished painting my ART S4 but suddenly realized that there's other arcane lettering that it should have. So I mail-ordered a sheet of "lettering" decals for 1950-80 engines but probably won't know what goes where, etc.

So much to learn.



What paintscheme?
what prototype?

Scot


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Ummm....generic?

Cheektowaga Central's paint scheme can't be revealed to the adoring public until the recently-acquired S4 has the proper markings. Proper is a rather vague term since the RR itself doesn't know what era it's in. Sometime after S4's were first built, I guess.

jack


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By JackM on 14 Mar 2010 03:56 PM 
Ummm....generic?

Cheektowaga Central's paint scheme can't be revealed to the adoring public until the recently-acquired S4 has the proper markings. Proper is a rather vague term since the RR itself doesn't know what era it's in. Sometime after S4's were first built, I guess.

jack



oh! ok! 
I asked because different railroads placed different markings on diesels..

Lehigh Valley and PRR had their own diesel classification scheme, (LV used the the same one as PRR)
they labeled the class under the road number on the side of the cab:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewpho...amp;nseq=3

look at the AF-27 under the road number on the cab..
I think that means "Alco Freight 2700 HP"..
thats the PRR diesel classification scheme..(LV was controlled by PRR at this time) 


and here is a "ERS-20"
http://www.railpictures.net/viewpho...amp;nseq=5
*E*MD *R*oad *S*witcher *20*00 HP
otherwise known as a GP38-2 to the rest of the world.. 


Conrail later used the "actual" diesel class names, like SD40-2.. 

Not all railroads bothered with that kind of identification however...

As for things like warning labels..again there is no real "industry wide" convention..
here are a ton of Alco S4 photos you can check out..see if anything strikes your fancy:

http://www.railpictures.net/showpho...=Alco%20S4

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/diesel68.html 



really all you "need" is a railroad name and a road number!
thats about it! 
and technically you dont even need a full railroad name, just the "AAR reporting marks" and a road number, like this:

http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/ge/8c40w/lms713ef.jpg 

I think today a lot more warning labels are mandated..but back in the 50's and 60's not so much..
many diesels had no labels of any kind, just the railroad name, a road number, and maybe a little "F" to designate the front of the locomotive..
so if your "era" is 1940's to 1960's, there isnt really a lot of extras you need to be prototypically accurate.. 


There are no "standard" markings for diesels like there are for freight cars..
on freight cars you have all the weight markings and such, that are fairly standard across all railroads..
but diesel markings are much more prototype and era specific.. 



Scot


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Scot - 

Thanks for all the references. They'll help me get a handle on what I want to put on the Alco. In recent months I've been trying to notice all those little things that help make the model look more real, if there actually is such a thing as "more real". And I want my locos to look "more real". 

jack


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