Re: Hear Whee Go Again ... Magnets

Michael -

I'm with you in opposing the use of 'Rio Grande' magnets, but what about painting the
'Rio Grande' logos permanently (including the backwards slant on the engineer's side of
#487), and covering them between charters with 'Cumbres & Toltec' magnets that have at
least been warmed up enough during application to snuggle down tight over the rivets and
along the edges??

As noted elsewhere, we found in 2010 that spraying a thin coat of gloss black enamel over just the old logos - NOT the whole engine - and then applying dry-transfer lettering worked pretty well.  It wasn't quite perfect, but WAY better than magnetic lettering with its thick backing, and could have been even better had we taken the time to weather the tender with a little dirty water after the lettering was firmly bonded.

And, as Rich noted a post or two above, applying the lettering a few days early and allowing some weathering to occur naturally sure wouldn't hurt.  In May, 2010, #489's jacket was painted dark green exactly one week before the charter. She was fired up for a few days, but never left the yard in Antonito - yet we had to wash her jacket on the morning of the charter so that the green would show up because she had accumulated so much soot in just one week!   Of course boilers are more susceptible to soot than the vertical sides of tenders, but I'll bet that just one round trip through the tunnels would accomplish 90 to 95 percent of the weathering needed.

- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2012 07:51PM by Russo Loco.