Re: Oh.....boy! *PIC*

"...if I had to make an educated guess, I would say that if the 74/30 tender had previously been lettered..."
The tender on 74/30 was lettered for the C&N after Marlin re-built it. He had his sign painter re-letter it for C&S when it came back. I'm sure nobody said anything about prototypical lettering until after it was re-lettered, which as you say would require them to re-paint and letter at additional cost, when they have other things that needed to be done.
"...I can tell you that if there is a stencil available and can be brought to the Silver Plume engine house for me to use, I will be glad to donate my time, off the clock, to reletter the tender..."
I have a chalk pattern for the tender lettering that Mike Trent and I made for 74 by tracing the original lettering on C&S 71. Rick Steele had sanded down to the original lettering when he repainted 71, so Mike and I were tracing the original aluminum leaf lettering. If you get permission to re-letter, I would be happy to bring the pattern.
Todd Hackett