1. posterid:536692
  2. Fonts for railroad lettering

Re: Fonts for railroad lettering

A&Y Dave in MD
 

I use CorelDraw 12 which I picked up for $50 or so. I scan a photo using their paint equivalent, adjust to get even with no distortion, then save image (raster format like JPG or PNG). Then I open draw app, import the image as non-editable background layer. Then I draw vector image of lettering. Vector image can be called with no pixelation and prints fine.  I did create a Southern Railway TrueType font by exporting each vector character separately after tracing a scanned lettering diagram. Hard to find all characters in one size though, and different sizes of same "font" may have significant differences I found. One size does not fit all, but it can be close enough for most.

Dave

Sent from Dave Bott' iPhone

On Feb 18, 2015, at 12:06 PM, 'Al and Patricia Westerfield' westerfieldalfred@... [STMFC] <STMFC@...> wrote:

 

Tom – If Railfonts can’t supply what you want use the old fashioned way.  Scan a broadside into the computer, increase the contrast and size and print out individual letters.  Clean them up with White Out and ink and rescan.  Import them into a graphics program and set type.  - Al Westerfield
 
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 10:21 AM
Subject: [STMFC] Fonts for railroad lettering
 
 

Back in the Fifties, the period I model, the railroads used a variety of fonts, depending upon someone's choice at a particular railroad.  Until recently I had relied on Jerry Glow's outstanding selection for my decal needs.  Now I see the necessity of accessing a source of fonts so that I can create my own artwork on the computer.  Jerry must have had such a lettering program available to him.  Does someone out there know of a lettering/writing program that displays fonts of various railroads?   I have created a limited amount of artwork from my writing program, but finding the variety to match the lettering of some railroads requires a specialized program.  Any recommendations?

 

Tom Baker
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