Re: Yet another slant on lettering . . .

Johnson Barr Wrote:
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> p.s.  Another nit-pick, that is NOT noticeable
> from fifty feet away:  With all the professional
> typesetters' fonts like Engravers Roman, the
> rounded numbers like the 0, 3, 6, 8 and 9
> are slightly taller than the 1, 4 and 7; they
> should ALL be aligned on their CENTER-
> LINES, and NOT along their bottoms. The
> 0, 3, 6, 8 and 9 should ALL have their tops
> slightly above the tops of the 1, 4 & 7, and
> they should ALL have their bottom curves
> aligned slightly below the bottoms of the 1,
> 4, and 7.  The base of the 2 aligns with the
> bases of the 1, 4 and 7 but its top curve is
> a tiny bit above their tops, and the 5 should
> also be aligned according to its centerline,
> not its bottom.

Tank Smith Wrote:
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> This is correct — the reason this is done is that
> a zero glyph with the same height as a one glyph
> will appear too small when adjacent . . .

dave2-8-0 Wrote:
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> The ascending and descending characters also
> apply to common letters.  So in the case of the
> RR #s one CAN NOT cut 24 " vinyl into 24 inch
> tall letters.  Numbers have to be cut separate or
> use 36" vinyl with a lot of waste.

When Roosso had Design-A-Sign in Pagosa Springs – who have been doing vinyl letters for the C&TS for several years – produce the reproductions of Ernie Robart's 1970 logo for the 40th B.D. party, he fudged it's height & width just a little to keep them within the 24" width of the vinyl cutter they had at the time (see second image on [ngdiscussion.net]).  Assuming they haven't upgraded to a cutter with 30" or 36" capacity, perhaps the numbers should be turned 90° so they're 18" ± a little to fit the cutter sideways, and the 2's, 5's, 6's and 8's can be cut a bit over 24" 'long' (with centerlines printed in the margins for alignment) to maintain the their correct proportions with 24" tall 1's and 4's . . .  

Brian Norden Wrote:
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> Similar with the alphabet.
>
> I have seen Southern Pacific, Union Pacific (old
> style), and Santa Fe drawings of the letters they
> used on their passenger and other equipment.
> These show the height reference lines and show
> the letters with the rounded top and bottoms (C,
> G, O, Q) extending above & below the reference
> lines.
>
> The extended passenger letterboard letters gen-
> erally follow the reference lines, but the little serif
> at the top end of the "C" even extends above the
> reference line.
>
> I once found a museum volunteer lining up letters
> to a top reference line -- the "C"s in "PACIFIC EL-
> ECTRIC" were hanging way down from where they
> should be!!!


"Tank", Dave and Brian -

Thank You for the moral support!!   At last Roosso and I feel like we're not just spitting in the wind, and (don't tell anyone) we feel like there is going to be some progress made in the next week or two toward providing the Phraud-O-Graphers like Kevin, who are spending BIG bucks to support the C&TS in these trying times, with an historically rewarding experience.

The next step is to determine the most appropriate typefaces for the as-correct-as-reasonably-possible re-numbering of #168 and "#425".    

- Sincerely, Willie  (Wm. Claude Johnson-Barr III, Esq.)  
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2021 08:26PM by Johnson Barr.