Another interesting tidbit shown on the drawing that few would ever pick up on... round letters like C, O, and Q are about 3% larger than the standard height, and letters with round bottoms, like U are placed about 1.5% below the base line... the reason being to better fill the visual space. Dennis Storzek
Hi Dennis,
Santa Fe stencils show O, S C & G extended both above and below the standard height ‘lines’ for letters.
Plus the tail of the R extended below the line.
Numerals 2, 3, 6, 8 & 9 extended both above and below the standard height ‘lines’ for numerals.
Plus the number 7 extended above the line.
Typically there was a space between most letters, except the ‘tails’ of letters A & W intruded into the space occupied by some adjacent letters.
EG An A next to a T, W or Y – as in the words RAILWAY and STATES.
