Lettering details for wagons, c.1936-1948

[Guy Rixon]

Can anybody help with the lettering of wagons from c.1936, when the large, company letters were discontinued, to nationalisation?

 

I know the basic pattern: company initials, load and running number at the lower, left-hand side; tare, in tons and hundredweight, omitting quarters, at the lower, right-hand side; letters in white, painted directly onto the body colour (i.e. no black backing-patch as later used by BR). I also know that on the LNER the weights were in 3" numerals and the rest in 4", these sizes later being reduced by one inch each during WW2, and I guess that this was an agreement between the four companies, so fairly uniform.

 

I'm unsure of some details:

1. What style of letter was used, and can it be approximated with a modern typeface? I don't think it's based on Gill Sans.
2. Was there any significant variation between companies?
3. Was there any other lettering that normally appeared on run-of-the mill wagons, excepting fitted and special-purpose stock?

[Miss Prism]

Post-1936 on the GWR, the company initials, load and running number were 5". The font remained the same as that used from Victorian times.

 

[TheQ]

Remember of course, that it could be ten years or more before wagons were repainted. Especially during the world wars, so  GWR large font could still be seen after the war into Nationalisation but in a very disreputable state..  I wouldn't be surprised if some wagons never were repainted, certainly some locos showed grouping Lettering till their final days in the 1960's

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, Guy Rixon said:

Can anybody help with the lettering of wagons from c.1936, when the large, company letters were discontinued, to nationalisation?

 

I know the basic pattern: company initials, load and running number at the lower, left-hand side; tare, in tons and hundredweight, omitting quarters, at the lower, right-hand side; letters in white, painted directly onto the body colour (i.e. no black backing-patch as later used by BR). I also know that on the LNER the weights were in 3" numerals and the rest in 4", these sizes later being reduced by one inch each during WW2, and I guess that this was an agreement between the four companies, so fairly uniform.

 

I'm unsure of some details:

1. What style of letter was used, and can it be approximated with a modern typeface? I don't think it's based on Gill Sans.
2. Was there any significant variation between companies?
3. Was there any other lettering that normally appeared on run-of-the mill wagons, excepting fitted and special-purpose stock?

The LMS changed to bauxite livery in May 1936, the size of the lettering changed to, to 4" high lettering, as was the numbering. Other lettering was 3". Some late built grey wagons also had this later lettering style.

 

The smaller lettering/numbering, was by agreement with the Big Four.

[jim.snowdon]

The lettering styles were neither standard typefaces nor uniform across the four companies. Each of the railways had their own house style, and they were broadly similar, but with differences, notably the GWR's retention of italics for the tare weights. Ultimately though, each company's style was converted into reality by a signwriter with a paintbrush.

 

Jim 

[kevinlms]

6 hours ago, jim.snowdon said:

The lettering styles were neither standard typefaces nor uniform across the four companies. Each of the railways had their own house style, and they were broadly similar, but with differences, notably the GWR's retention of italics for the tare weights. Ultimately though, each company's style was converted into reality by a signwriter with a paintbrush.

 

Jim 

The sizes were standardised, but not the style as you state.