My Retro Layout has me working to cobble together some rolling stock and motive power to ply the code 80 rails of my growing Plasticville... I know, I know. The nostalgia bug has bitten me hard.
Anyhoo, I am due to receive a new-to-me Atlas/Rivarossi Pacific that was recently scooped up on our favorite auction site, but in order to meet my budget (next to nothing) I had to settle for basic black instead of the factory painted beauty pictured here...
I know, I know... it's a total foob. To the best of my research, the venerable P-7 President Class wore green, and other than the streamlined Cincinattian, I haven't seen any evidence of a blue P-7, much less a blue and gray one other than in the realm of modeldom. And of course, the tender is wrong, too, but in my present state I'm willing to overlook any and all details that stand in my way.
Because alas, when I was a mere lad, I spent many hours with my nose pressed against the glass at Lloyd's Hobby Shop drooling all over this handsome creature, but there was always a sizable gap between what my heart desired, and what my adolescent wallet could handle. Then, tragically, by the time I was in high school and had a proper job, I had spent too much time at the model railroad club, where the experts convinced me that owning such an inaccurate fantasy was a sign of some inalterable hiccup in my upbringing, so I never bought it.
Fast forward to this past Christmas, when my cousin showed up at my door with boxes of N scale debris that were leftover from his youth, boxes that he and I enjoyed dragging out during my visits so we could create elaborate track plans all over his dad's ping pong table. Among the detritus was a single Rivarossi Pullman in that memorable paint scheme... the wrong blue, the wrong gray, the wrong windows, no pin striping, but the lettering is pretty close! B A L T I M O R E & O H I O... The die was cast.
So, for the last few weeks I've been prowling for additional cars... two more Pullmans and a baggage cars arrived last week, and an Observation is allegedly in the mail. A diner and an RPO are on my radar, but not until I can steal them from some kid for under $10 (plus shipping, of course... I'm not a neanderthal!)
Now that the train is assembled, mostly, it's time to think about decorating the soon-to-arrive engine. A model of the model, if you will. But I need some lettering. The only thing Micro Scale offers in B&O are some really nice freight car sets and lettering for passenger cars (if you are inclined to model yours in the correct paint scheme) but nothing that suits the tender, or provides the necessary President moniker. So I'm thinking I can whip up the art to be the right size once the engine gets here, then send it off to be printed in a suitable gold/yellow color.
Many years ago I had someone with an ALPS run me some white lettering for my WM hopper car project, but his name has dissolved in the mists of time. So after all that, anyone got a source?
Thanks!
Lee
