A point I often make also. Modeling an occasional exception is one thing, but there are plenty of modelers who seem to like exceptions better than what is actually typical. I recall Richard Hendrickson finding a print of a photo of one of these lettering errors at the old Naperville meeting, and immediately buying all the prints, in the hope that he could suppress the information. "Worst thing," he said, "is if Walthers gets hold of this."

Another case in point:  Who has not seen at train shows 40’ gray EL box cars with “double diamonds,” one diamond either side of the door, with the lettering in red.  Was there EVER a car painted this way?  Yes, it was outside Cleveland briefly, when the newly-minted EL was deciding what to do about painting their rolling stock.  This sample car never rolled a mile in revenue service, but photos were taken, and unfortunately, they have been reproduced on models hundreds of thousands of times.  After the executives viewed the car, it was repainted, probably the same afternoon.

Incidentally, the red lettering was never (AFAIK) applied to revenue service car, and the gray paint turned out to be a problem: these cars showed rust very promptly after being painted.  The gray scheme only lasted a few years.

Schuyler