East Cascade Railway (fictional shortline)

[OTFan]

I've been thinking about this off and on for a couple of years now, and finally decided to do something about it...

The East Cascade Railway is a (fictional) short line railroad. No bonus points for guessing that it is located east of the Cascade Mountains. It was formed to extend rail access into parts of the region bypassed by the main lines and interchanges with the GN and SP&S. It brings in fuel and other commodities and supplies by boxcar, and ships out timber products from the foothills of the Cascades and agricultural products from the land just to the east.

A decent comparison is the (real life) City of Prineville Railway. When the Oregon Trunk bypassed the town of Prineville in 1911 the city decided to build their own connection, which still exists as a short line today.

One of these years I may come up with an elaborate history for this thing, but for now it's a semi-plausible excuse to run whatever I want and play around with something I can call my own, and it will run on my Oregon Trunk themed HCD layout. Speaking of which...

Here's ECRY #3, a 2-6-0 bought second hand from the ATSF, with the mountains that the railway borrows its name from in the background.

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The itty bitty #3 on the smokebox door was a challenge to get on straight and a challenge to photograph:

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Lettering on the rear of the tender:

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A side view:

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And here she is with a nine car train in tow, rounding the curve into town:

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The loco is a Bachmann 2-6-0 with a modified tender to fit a ESU Loksound decoder and sugar cube speaker. More on that here: https://www.nscale.net/forums/showth...Bachmann-2-6-0

More to follow once it's weathered, and I finish up the matching caboose...

[Moose2013]

@OTFan

Looking good! Hmmm, Moose wonders if the Klickatat Mtn. Railway that operated on the western side of the Cascades ever connected with the East Cascade Railway...

[OTFan]

And the matching caboose. Details and weathering to follow, though it might be a while before I get a chance.

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[Jugtown Modeler]

Nice modeling and pics.

Really like your rock work. Made me go back and look at your other threads.

[OTFan]

Really like your rock work.

Thank you very much. It's from Bragdon molds, using hydrocal and washes of cheap craft acrylic paints to color it.

https://www.nscale.net/forums/showth...908#post575908

[WP&P]

I love the story of the East Cascade, but to be honest I do have to offer this minor critique, regarding the lettering/font.

It's too modern.

That sans-serif block typeface didn't really gain popularity until after the steam era, if I recall correctly. Seeing it here makes me think there must be some kind of tale to be told, how the era is now the 1960s, and the East Cascade has inherited steam power from some Class 1 that recently finished dieselizing. Thus they have a crisp modern graphic identity, applied to old hand-me-down equipment. That could be plausible, if that is your intention. However, if you intend for a more historic feel, I think the font is undermining your efforts there.

Of course, Rule #1 applies, and no doubt there are lots of rail fans who can cite examples of similar lettering prior to WW2. I'm just offering my humble opine.

[OTFan]

Thanks @WP&P. You may be right about the font, I'm not that great with them. It's "railroad gothic bold." According to the link below, though refined over the years it was originally offered as early as 1900.

https://www.dafontfree.io/railroad-gothic-font/

I honestly have no idea if that timeline is right or not, but either way it's too late now. After ordering the decals, applying them, and sealing with dullcoat, I'm going with it.

[badlandnp]

Various forms of railroad roman were most common in the early years.

[ChicagoNW]

I’d blame the font choice on a soulless accountant. He saw the cheapest set of stencils and said “That’s the one!”

Pardon me, I’m about to fall into lecture mode. There is no admonishment to you. Sometimes I just start typing and can’t stop until I get the Sheldon out of me.

I love daFont and have dozens(maybe hundreds) of their fonts in my huge collection. But some of their descriptions are very poor and almost have no connection to the name given by the authors. Some “railroad” fonts don’t have a pure rail origin. The Santa Fe used Cooper Black for years. It is rarely listed as a railroad related typeface. Many fonts have very strong connections to a certain time period.


Note how each billboard evokes a different era. The first says between the world wars (20s, 30s, 40s), the second post WWII (50-60s) and the last yesterday. Of course the artwork sells it. If I made one for today the TV would need to change.

Speaking as a graphic designer, the simpler the font, the more complex the design/logo it is used in. So, on your other locos, might I suggest that you use the decals you had made on top of a colorful band. Something like a deep red or maroon bordered in Duluxe Gold. The red/gold with white letters is a pretty combination that adds a touch of class. Sounds complicated but it’s not.

Start with something like https://www.microscale.com/Merchant2...w=&range_high=
Apply and let dry. Then clearcoat to fix in place.
Then on the edges add these https://www.microscale.com/Merchant2...w=&range_high=
Dry and clearcoat
Then center the lettering in the stripe. Then admire your work.
Clearcoating between layers keeps them from floating when you add the next layer.

If you have access to a color laser printer, you can create the stripe with white lettering by starting with a white decal sheet and printing the combined stripe/text then trimming to the color edge. This is how I plan to letter my C&FW loco, when I find one.

When creating artwork for decals I often make a sheet like this

The loco and rolling stock artwork is found here
http://paintshop.railfan.net/
Note the text in the middle. This is a tiny sample of fonts that I search through to get the right one. Many of those were from daFont. But sometimes the font isn’t just right. Then I’ll stretch or squish; apply bold, italic, outline, or All caps(Large and small capital letters). Sometimes even mix related fonts. To make the lettering even more obvious shadowing is often used. The logo is sometimes created once the base lettering is picked.

Even when you have fonts and logos, you still need to try different placements

[OTFan]

Thanks @ChicagoNW, I was away for work for a while and missed your reply until today. Don't worry, no offense taken while you're getting your Sheldon out, as you put it. I think this:

I’d blame the font choice on a soulless accountant. He saw the cheapest set of stencils and said “That’s the one!”

Is pretty close. You are a graphic designer and I am not, but I don't see a shortline railroad getting too fancy with the logos. Not back then anyway. Of the examples I've looked at, very, very few have anything beyond a simple font on their steam locos. I may or may not have chosen the best font, but it will work.

Meanwhile, I started a little weathering with oil paints the last couple of nights. Grey to fade, and a dirty/dusty color along the bottom.

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One of these days I need to improve my lighting and get better with photography, but those are projects for a later time.

[ChicagoNW]

From what I see in those photos, the lighting is pretty good. It looks natural, not like the entire sky is glowing. The surrounding scenery is well done too.

I’m glad my little lecture didn’t upset you. I’ve been designing for a long time and have a penchant for helping fellow modelers with designs/decals. Here’s one of my bigger ones…



And the final version of the little yellow loco…



So, if you seem to be stuck for any design ideas, just ask for help. I’m not the only designer here, so one of us can help always help.

By the way, if you are modeling the 50s or 60s, besides DaFont, I love the offerings of the Font Diner https://fontdiner.com/ Within their font collections, are several very railroady fonts. All of them are excellent for use on signage. But first steal yourself some silverware. Their Free Silverware collection is full of free fonts, ready to use.

Here’s some of their fonts…

[badlandnp]

That is a very nice looking logo and steam loco! It looks authentic enough to fool most, which is the idea!

And the pics are good, too!

[OTFan]

Added figures to the loco, and I'm calling it done for now.

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And weathered the caboose with pan pastels and weathering powders, and added ladders and a figure there too:

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The figures are all from a WS set.