When did SAL change from Roman to Gothic lettering on their passenger cars?

-- Jim Roquemore (roque@camden.net), January 04, 2005

Answers

Lets see if I can add to what Larry has indicated. The earliest date I found on a drawing(C3-4110) that showed the "new" style of lettering was March 18th 1947. This drawing was for Lt Wt sleepers. The earliest drawing date I found that referenced Hwt Cars was 1949 for the Pullman Cars for the 'Orange Blossom Special'. The drawing for Diesels was dated Sept. 24, 1947. The drawing for the Hwt Sleepers dated April, 5, 1955. The drawing for all SAL Hwt passenger cars is dated Aug. 25, 1964 There are a lot of other drawings for other equipment. If you have a specific piece of equipment you are interested in I will be happy to do more research. Ron Dettmer

-- Ron Dettmer (roscaler@cs.com), January 06, 2005.

Larry, thanks for the very complete and helpful answer. I had found this information difficult to come by in the resources that I have.

-- Jim Roquemore (roque@camden.net), January 05, 2005.

Jim, the first use of the Gothic font (which I expect is not its correct name - anybody know the right label??) came with SAL's purchase of its first lightweight cars in the 1939 Silver Meteor. It was similar (but not completely identical) to the Zephyr lettering that Burlington initiated several years earlier.

At first heavyweight equipment continued to use the old Roman font unless assigned specifically to lightweight trains, in which case those cars got the silver-gray paint and the same black "Gothic" lettering as the lightweight cars.

I am not sure exactly when all heavyweight cars were changed over to the "Gothic" lettering, but apparently it was not until the middle or late 50s, since a few heavyweight head-end cars still had the Roman lettering into the mid-60s.

-- Larry Goolsby (lgoolsby@aphsa.org), January 05, 2005.