"old" tuscan red

[NW Mailing List]

Ken,
As always, your information is greatly appreciated.
Jim Cochran

On Sat, Mar 2, 2024 at 5:41 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> Mark
>
> I think you are misremembering what you read. Charlie Schlotthober wrote
> an article for the Arrow, with the documentation on the development of N&W
> tender lettering and reported that the passenger locomotives, prior to the
> 1941 arrival of the Class J, carried silver leaf or aluminum lettering.
>
> Silver and gold leaf, although I’ve never done it myself, is pretty
> sensitive to environmental concerns. It would generally be coated with a
> varnish to help protect it and make it last longer. Both types are created
> with very thin sheets of hammered metal, silver or gold, which come in
> “books” or “leaf books”. I have a book of silver leaf, they are
> appoximately 3.375 inch x 43.375 inch sheets, its been forever since I
> looked at mine, but my recollection of the silver book is about 3/4 of an
> inch thick.
>
> As you might imagine, gold is pretty expensive, as the higher karat gold
> weathers and ages better, I’m told. Each of the gold books normally has 25
> sheets, which covers just short of 2 square feet. Each book of 24 karat
> goes for roughly $56.00, so the cost of lettering a car of locomotive can
> be pretty high.
>
> Silver leaf is about half the price. Of course, that is only part of the
> cost, it takes specialized tools and material to do this, not to mention,
> the specific skills. You can waste a lot of money if you don’t know what
> you are doing, which is why I never tried it. A pint of just one of the
> chemicals used is almost $300, so I’d say its not very likely that I’ll be
> trying to experiment!
>
> The N&W got out of the gold leaf for the passenger cars after the new
> Arrow cars had arrived in late 1949.
>
> Best
> Ken Miller
>
> > On Feb 29, 2024, at 3:29 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > I thought I remember a discussion years ago where it was discovered that
> N&W used silver leaf for the lettering on passenger cars and that the leaf
> was sealed with a yellowish shellac which made it look like gold.  Or I may
> be more senile than I thought.
> >
> > Mark Lindsey
> > Y3a at earthlink.net
> > 571-352-6358(cell)
> >
>
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