Thank You, Chris -
I stayed home today to keep my dogs company so they wouldn't panic during the peak of (illegal) fire-cracker and skyrocket eruptions, and feeling revolutionary*in honor of our national holiday I've been playing with the photo you posted this afternoon. Here's an enlargement of the cab and tender, with brightness increased 50% and contrast increased 100% in Photoshop Ailments 10
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The periods following the D, R and G are visible; I can't quite see a period after the ampersand, but the spacing indicates that one should be there as well.
The above was then unskewed to the best of my ability to compensate for the camera angle
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. . . and the numbers then highlighted and reduced proportionally to fit a previously-prepared grid to allow measurements to be estimated. Note the open and well-balanced spacing of the numerals. The large areas above and below the "nose" of the four and to the lower right of the seven allow them to be kerned (moved closer) slightly
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Of course it's uncertain just how big the numbers really were – perhaps they were 30" or even 36" tall – but in that case the space between them would be increased proportionally to 125% or 150% of the estimates shown.
As you and a few others have noted previously, the numbers currently applied to locomotive #168's tender do NOT reflect the same attention to legibility and balance. Here's a side-by-side comparison of side views taken many years ago at Salida, IIRC, and a fairly recent shot during a test run to Big Horn
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. . . and copies of the above numbers resized proportionally to two feet tall and copied to a grid for measurement in the same way as was done with 1 7 4 above
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Is a picture worth a thousand words? With only
six 5½ weeks to go 'til the
Victorian Post-Edwardian Iron Horse Roundup we should know fairly soon
. . .
- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender
* Some folks claim that we nit-picky Curmudgeons are revolting, but IMHO that term more accurately describes my old friend Willie
. . .
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2021 06:45PM by Russo Loco.