Fabrication of N&W Number Boards

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All - 

I have a couple of the metal stencils, as well as a couple of the rubber ones.  I was always under the impression that the rubber ones were made to replace the metal ones that might have been, ur, liberated by some folks . . .

EdKing
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  To: NW Mailing List 
  Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 9:06 AM
  Subject: RE: Fabrication of N&W Number Boards


  Of the steam era number boards that I have or have personally seen for the lighted number boards for predominantly the Pyle National headlamp, I can say that they were all basically free-hand construction and were hand cut with little or no assistance from a stencil or a straight-edge.



  They consist of a layer of milk glass underneath, a 'stencil' of the numbers made from thin steel sheet or copper, painted black, of course, or a stencil made of RUBBER ( hey-its thin , its available as sheet stock, easy to cut and its black!) and a sheet of class glass over the top.



  Given the need to have a thin material to cut the number mask from, there are probably some made from brass sheet out there somewhere, too.  No doubt some apprentice or shop helper was given the assignment to get the numbers ready while the locomotive was being painted.  He would certainly scrounge around the shop or shop stores to find the thin material to cut by hand rather than by sawing it with a jig saw.  These numbers wouldn't be used enough to make a drawing and create standard parts for stock.  They just had to be hand made as needed.



  G Rolih

  Cincinnati (home of Moscowitz scrap yard the last resting spot of many a steam locomotive)



  -----Original Message-----
  From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
  Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2006 8:55 PM
  To: NW Mailing List
  Subject: Fabrication of N&W Number Boards



  With y'all'z indulgence, I'd like to revisit a question I raised on the List several years ago with inspecific results.  Hopefully this time around, there may be "new blood" in the List gene pool, or perhaps someone will have run across a record...



  What was N&W's practice on the fabrication on engine number boards?  Were the number boards a sandwich of two pieces of glass with a metal insert in the middle, from which the numbers were cut out?  If so, what was the metal?  Is there a set of standard plans for the numerals?



  -- abram burnett

        (ruminating from the Imperial City of Novcumberlandgorod)



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