Can anybody tell me what font is used on the Bachmann narrow gauge engines?
I believe that it’s a version of Railroad Roman. Having re-lettered a number of real 1:1 cars and MOW equipment, I can tell you that all RR Roman Fonts ARE NOT all the same. They may be called RR Roman, but letter size, shape, style and spacing (kerning) is not universal. Look at the shape of the letters, things like the top bar on the number “5”, Thickness of the slim lines on the letter and etc. to see if the one you look at is the best fit for your application. Some RR’s had their own version of RR Roman for engines, and then a completely different font on passenger cars, and dedicated passenger engines. The Great Northern comes to mind, and the Penn RR too.
Yea, matching fonts exactly can be a challenge.
Just a thought here, but maybe the answer can be found on Bachmann’s forum.
Louis, are you talking about the Denver and Rio Grande Western font? If so, I’m pretty sure I could find that. Dave points out that all railroad fonts are not created equal though.
You may want to check out http://www.railfonts.com . They’ve got a bunch of fonts for popular railroads there. They’re not free, but if you’re looking to match a specific font, that’s where I may start looking.
Having said that, I’d agree with what was suggested above. Definitely ask on the Bachmann forum, with specifics about which loco you’re looking to match. A lot of the artwork for their prototypes is done on the computer, so it wouldn’t at all surprise me that they’d use a fairly common font, or perhaps something off of railfont’s web site. Bachmann’s reps on the forum are generally pretty forthcoming with info like that.
Later,
K
Thanks for the help guys.