World's Coolest Fridge Magnet!

This is the filler panel that will go on the smokebox number board for the 483 charter. It was laser-cut from a piece of 1/16" Rowmark plastic, and the back has some magnets epoxied for attaching to the steel. This panel should slip right into the rectangular plate on the K's, as well as clear the current raised numbers.

I first had the laser trace the numbers onto the sheet so I would have a paint line to follow. For the artwork, I used a nice Ernie Robart photo, from the late D&RGW days, courtesy of Russo Loco. I heavily painted the black portion to resemble years of paint, and then tried my hand at brush painting the numbers in white. I followed up with a small bit of "weathering" to make it look aged.

BTW... Kudos to the guys who hand-paint letters on railroad equipment, cuz it's hard to stay in those lines!

The magnet letters make a nice touch too, eh?? If the numbers look crooked, don't blame me, blame the D&RG!


Cody Akin
Irving, Tx
"Rio -Gran"de