Barry Roth wrote:

On those dirty ol' reefers the UP and SP heralds/logos stand out is
though they do not have the same coat of smuts as the rest of the
sides. Except for the repack fields, the cars do not otherwise seem
to have been sponged off, so does this result from the paint on the
heralds being smoother and less retentive of road dirt?

This is something you see on box cars too, with white lettering
looking way too bright compared to the car side. The usual explanation
is that the paint "chalked" and sloughed off the dirt and uppermost
film of paint all the time. Sometimes you can see whitish streaking
beneath the lettering which seems to bear this out. it's a hard effect
to model.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
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