UP steam lettering

[ATSF_Ron]

I have a dilemma regarding the color of lettering on my UP steamers. In research I've done, I read that UP steam never used white but used "aluminum paint" instead.  I model transition era.  Even the pre 1937 era didn't use white.  It was "aluminum leaf."  I have a brass Oriental 2-8-0 I've numbered.  I also have a Bachmann connie that needs the number changed.  When applying the number on the back of the tender (brass loco), I noticed the "U.P" is a distinctly different color than the number lettering.  The "U.P." appears white to me in comparison, as does the actual Union Pacific on the tender sides.  The loco came factory painted with lettering but no number.  So...either the decals are the wrong color or the manufacturer used the wrong color.  Or am I missing something? @robert3985, you're a big UP guy.  What can you tell me, my friend?

I've done several SP locos that don't have this issue.  I added the numbers and they match just fine.  Of course, the SP "aluminum" isn't the same as the UP, but it sure looks white on paper!  Here are a couple pics for comparison:




The UP decals are clearly a silver/aluminum color.  The SP decals are almost yellow by comparison.  At least the set on the left.  That's a newer set.  The set on the right is about 10 years old.

I looked up some Micro scale UP decals and was able to find two seemingly identical sets.  One looked clearly white and the other looked clearly silver/aluminum.  Maybe that's a function of lighting or camera differences.  Or maybe there were two sets in different colors.  Very confusing!

[robert3985]

Just to refresh my memory, I took a look at my Oriental Consolidation, and the lettering is incorrectly white...not aluminum.

Instead of re-lettering mine, I have some old N-scale UP steam engine decals that are white...I'm not sure from whom or where...that I used to number my engine, even though I knew the lettering should be aluminum.

To compensate for the obvious whiteness, I lightly weathered mine...painted the driver tires black, painted the other wheel faces black, streaked the smokebox and the top of the boiler, cab & tender, lit the headlamp with a tiny 3 volt cylindrical incandescent bulb, put half of a coal bunker's load of coal in the tender and put a thin flat black wash on the firebox faces...oh, and a Z-scale coupler.

That did the trick for me.

However, on ALL engines that I re-paint, I go with the Microscale aluminum U.P. steam engine decals, which I think greatly increases their prototype look.

Photo (1) - Oriental Ltd U.P. Consolidation showing tender lettering and bit of the weathering on the Park City Branch trackage:


Now, if I could only figure out how to get a speaker and decoder in the tiny Vandy tender!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[ATSF_Ron]

Thanks, Bob.  The loco looks really nice!  I'll probably use the correct aluminium decals and reletter the sides as well.  I have a flat black sheet decal from Micro Scale.  I covered up some old lettering on a Roundhouse connie and went over it with some of the Micro Scale black, repainted the sides with grimy black, then added SP lettering and some light overall weathering.  There is ZERO trace of the old lettering.  It's a little more work, but I think I'll be happier with that result.  Thanks again for the info!

[ATSF_Ron]

Proper "aluminum" UP decals applied.  Time for a bit of weathering!

[robert3985]

Lookin' good!

On the Microscale UP Steam Engine sheet, there are a bunch of tiny white-lettered tender water capacity notifications.  UP put these on the rear of all of their steam engine tenders down low, centered...some not so low...but well below the centerline.

I'm not sure why Microscale did these notifications in white...maybe they were white prototypically instead of aluminum like the larger numbers & lettering.

Anyway, I never could find just how many gallons the larger small Vandy tenders on some connies held, like both the Oriental and Key versions are.  So, I used "5000 GALS" since that wasn't the smallest..but still relatively small...which may or may not be correct...but at least the lettering is there, and is found under the red "FIRE HOSE ONLY" lettering on the right side of the decal sheet.

Centered under the aluminum numbers on the cab sides, UP lettered the designation of the locomotive...like "4-8-8-4" or "TTT" or "FEF" etc., and the 2-8-0 is a "Consolidation"...so, the small lettering under the cab will start with a "C"...then the size of the drivers, which was "57" for 57 inches...then some extra lettering which I don't know what represents (I am sure somebody here does).  This is on the decal sheet too.

Also, on the cab sides on either the bottom right or left corner will be either a small UP, or OSL or LA&SL.  Photos of UP connies in the 600's that I have found show them to be OSL..which is on the sheet.

Finally, the air tanks on the sides of the boiler were required to be inspected periodically, and then stenciled with information about that inspection and the date.  The lettering is too small to be legible, but would be centered on the lower quarter of each airtank just below the centerline.  It's the same format as what's on Big Boys, so if you have one that has that lettering, then you can find the right lettering on the Microscale decal sheet.

I find that including these small notices in addition to the engine's road name and numbers really enhances the perception of detail on the engines, as does painting the bright, shiny driver tires black as well as the wheel faces on the lead & trailing trucks and on the tender, and maybe the lenses on the class lamps...which I usually paint sort of a warm, "champagne" silver, indicating that the engine is pulling an "Extra", along with the number on the numberboards being the engine's number with and "X" in front of it.  Regularly scheduled trains had their own numbers that were different than the number on the engine...and on the UP the numberboard would be changed to that number...and the class lamps would be changed to green lenses (white or green flags on either side of the front of engine were also flown during the day...the class lamps being lit when it got dark). UP and SP 2-8-0's, when put into permanent switcher service, had their class lamps and upper number boards removed...and could legally only travel to the yard limits.

Although you're not adding any additional physical details to your engines, if painted and numbered more prototypically, will give the impression of noticeably more detail.  I call this "Detail Painting/Lettering" and is well worth the effort IMO.

In any case, have fun!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[ATSF_Ron]

Thanks, Bob.  I have those lettering sets on my decal sheet.  Problem is, even with reading glasses and the optivisor, I can't see the flippin things clearly!!  I'll need to find some SERIOUSLY bigger magnification when I  install those.  In the meantime, here's the weathered pics...






It's funny, the cab roof and water staining on the tender scream out at me as too intense.  But on the layout with LED lighting it looks fine to my eye.  Oh well.  Cheap iphone camera, I guess.

[robert3985]

Hahaha!  Yeah, when I'm looking at the decal sheet, I use my 5X Optivisors, along with a large, illuminated magnifying glass that has a smaller, high-power lens ground into it!  Even then, I have a hard time seeing what's on that sheet because there isn't sufficient contrast between the light blue paper and the tiny white lettering.

As for your weathering...Doesn't look too intense to me.  If you go to Don Strack's Utah Rails website (www.utahrails.net) and look at the Emil Albrecht photos...there are lots of 2-8-0 photos...you'll see most of the connies are pretty dirty, with numbers and lettering quite obscured in many photos.  I also note that the boilers and tenders look less "streaky" than UP's larger engines.  Maybe the water in Idaho wasn't as hard as from Ogden to Cheyenne.  Like I've said in other previous posts, different engines in different locations weathered up differently.

One thing I noticed that I hadn't seen before with the Oriental UP Consolidation, is that it doesn't have ash pans...which it should have since it's got a coal tender.  My Key connies have ash pans, as well as extended coal bunkers, which nearly all of UP's coal fired engines had applied by the Transition Era...open windows on the cab, cab over-the-window grabs, smoke deflector on the rear of the cab roof and several other details.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[ATSF_Ron]

You aren't kidding about the contrast on the decal sheet!  I have the same issue with my SP steamer decals.  Sheesh!

On another note, what do you use for your coal loads?  I saw some black sand at the local Hobby Lobby, but I'm not a fan of the shiny stuff.  Most coal I've seen is fairly flat looking.  I suppose I could hit it with some flat finish...

My BLI mikados have a very realistic looking coal load, IMO.  The problem there is they are all the same shape.  I like some variety in the coal loads.  It seems more realistic to me.

[robert3985]

I use both N-scale coal that I purchased a long time ago as well as the Hobby Lobby black glass.  You can dull up the black glass if you sock it down as you've surmised, and it looks very good if you don't like it glistening in the coal bunker.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore