Southern Pacific Lines

Coast Line Division 

“The Route of the Octopus”

 
 

General

Dates for 40’ Box Car Scheme Changes

  1. Lettering, and slogan changes were made on ESPEE 40 foot steel boxcars. Here is a list of lettering types:

  2. 1. Circle emblem on right, Southern Pacific on left side with #, lines above, and below. This is 1922 - 1931.

  3. 2. Circle emblem on right, S.P., # lines above, and below circle emblem on right, S.P.,# no lines

  4.  If this has periods in "SP" and an emblem but no lines, it is a non-existent scheme.

  5. 3. Circle emblem on right, Gothic Southern Pacific on left. This is 1955 - 1957, but rare on other than automobile cars.

  6. 4. No circle emblem, Gothic herald on left. Gothic herald only on right side. Very rare, remnant of putting the Gothic lettering at            

  7.       left while emblem remained at right.

  8. 5. Gothic herald only on right side. Standard after 1957. Basically 1956 - early 1960s (gradually repainted). Should have black ends.

1917

  1. Outside braced Pacific Electric single door with single white circle herald on the right. Standard scheme from 1917 on (30-inch diameter round emblem) but should have black background except on rare exceptions, which were not official in that day. Standard scheme from 1917 on (30-inch diameter round emblem) but should have black background except on rare exceptions, which were not official in that day.


  3. The statement about black background applies to SP, not to PE, which seems to have preferred their emblem to have no background. I have never seen a PE lettering drawing to confirm that, however.

  4. Tony Thompson  

1922-1931

  1. Circle emblem on right, Southern Pacific on left side with #, lines above, and below.


  3. Some SP 40 footers had the gothic herald on the left, and circle emblem on the right. Some of the auto cars have the circle emblem on the left. The only single door 40' boxcar with the emblem on the left is the "Overnite" car. Circle emblem on right, S.P., # lines above, and below.


  5. There are 40', 10' door cars with the yellow diagonal stripe on the door.

  6. But the above scheme definitely was in use until at least 1936, as shown in a B-50-18 builder photo.

1931

  1. The periods in the reporting marks were dropped in 1931. There are numerous lettering drawings showing it discontinued in 1931. The SP itself did discontinue the periods in 1931, and everything that IT painted certainly did not have them. Why they had trouble convincing certain builders of the change, I can't guess.

  2. Tony Thompson  

1936 

  1. The 1936 builders photos Tim mentions are clearly erroneous, and not all cars in that class were so lettered (AC&F seems to have been recalcitrant on this point). This is shown in considerable detail in Volume 4. The lettering was erroneous. There were some cars in service with the "erroneous" periods lettered on them.


  1. SP liked to repaint wood-sheathed cars in 5 to 8 years, so most pre-1931 cars would have been repainted and relettered.

1936 - 1946

  1. The official scheme had "SP" with no periods, and lines above and below reporting mark and number. Until 1946, practice was to use S.P. as the reporting marks.

1946

  1. The spelled-out road name came into use in June of 1946.

1946 -1952

  1. Silver"Overnites" car had outside braced Pacific Electric single door with single white circle herald on the right.

  2. Spelled out name seems to have started with the lettering change of 1946. This is the 1946-1952 scheme.

  3. Tony Thompson


  5. Outside braced boxcars did not always receive it though, it they still had wood sides. Changes in the paint schemes made in 7/46, among which was the spelling out of “SOUTHERN PACIFIC” on freight cars and cabooses. AAR recommended practice of horizontal lines above reporting marks and below the car number followed. Cars painted in the 40’s and early 50’s had the horizontal lines, while photos in the mid-50’s do not have the lines.


  1. Surviving cars with periods in reporting marks must have been pretty rare by 1950.


  1. For striping, the earlier aluminum-bronze stripes came with black pinstriped edges or lettering gray stripes without border pinstripes for the later 1950s period.

1952

  1. The lines above and below the reporting marks were dropped by the SP February, 1952, immediately following AAR's discontinuance of it as "recommended practice." The use of either S.P. or SP began. By 1952, any wood-sheathed or steel car painted late in the war would still have its paint scheme, but again, the active shops made for a lot of repainted cars, as photos demonstrate. There would be a minority of car with initials instead of spelled-out road names, but certainly the initials-only cars would be there. I'd say a minimum of  2/3 of cars spelled-out road names.

  2. Tony Thompson    

1952-1955

  1. Freight Cars/pre56White lettering                 9” Roman

1956

  1. Freight/56White block lettering       16” high; S & P 24” high

1955-1957

  1. Circle emblem on right, Gothic Southern Pacific on left. This is 1955 - 1957, but rare on other than automobile cars.

1957

  1. Gothic herald only on right side. Standard after 1957. Basically 1956 to early 1960s (gradually repainted). Should have black ends.


Herald

  1. 30” SP herald used on single sheathed cars.


“C” Marking on Espee Freight Cars

  1. It's for the cars rebuilt to carry copper bars. Clearly shown in color and explained in my box car book.

  2. Tony Thompson

Modeling “C” Decal

Microscale

                                                         http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=87-1332


Yellow Diagonal Stripe

  1. The yellow diagonal stripe on early 40' cars and the solid yellow doors on 50' cars signified that they were used for paper service. Newspaper rolls, etc. The diagonal striped cars were assigned to lumber service.

  2. Elizabeth Allen


Reweigh Data

  1. All reweigh dates must fall within the 48-month permitted interval in weigh dates  (i.e. 1949–1953).

  2. Tony Thompson


Trust / Ownership Lettering

  1. It reads:

  2.     Southern Pacific

  3.     Transportation Company

  4.     Owner


  1. Used on cars in service in  the 70’s, like: B-70-61. Those cars had trust information in a box outlined in white, that reads in part "Southern Pacific Transportation Company."

Modeling Trust / Ownership Lettering Decal

Microscale

  1. You can find that decal on the Microscale SP gondola set, but the lettering is a bit small for the other style ownership lettering. 

  2. The same goes for the trust plate lettering on the Microscale set for SP diesels (1260), but again the lettering is clearly too small. 

  3. Elizabeth Allen


"Wheel Inspection" dots

  1. There were small black square with the yellow circle inside painted on some of the Espee freight cars. These marks were AAR "Wheel Inspection" dots... not Espee-specific, required on all cars with 33in wheels beginning in March 1978, and not needed on newly-painted cars after Dec 1978. White dot meant potentially defective wheels; Yellow dot meant the wheels had passed inspection.


  3. After the inspection and replacement program was finished... the yellow dots stayed on cars for quite a while.

  4. So... no dots pre-1978, and no white dots after 1978.


Lettering Diagrams

    For 1916 lettering diagram see:                            SP Freight Cars, Volume 4, Box Cars, pg. 22

    For 1943 lettering diagram see:                            SP Freight Cars, Volume 4, Box Cars, pg. 22


SP Lettering Diagrams - NMRA Online Library

  1. The NMRA Online Library has a good assortment of SP lettering diagrams at:

  2.                                                                         http://nmralibrary.org/PlansMaps.aspx>http://nmralibrary.org/PlansMaps.aspx


  4. Over 60 different official SP diagrams... gons, box cars, tank cars, cabeese, and some passenger lettering.

  5. Richard Brennan


  7. This is an extensive though not complete set of the 1955 lettering scheme. Many of them are in my freight car books, but certainly not all. To find them at the NMRA site, search with "lettering" only.

  8. Tony Thompson



Decals

Champion Decal Company

  1. Champs Decals is no longer in business, but not entirely gone. (*see note below:)


Champ - Southern Pacific - HO

   Sheet #             Roadname        Type Description        Decal Color

      HB-315         Southern Pacific            Boxcars40'/50'White

      HC-422         Southern Pacific            Cov. HopperRed

      HC-456         Southern Pacific            Hopper                                                  

      HH-144         Southern Pacific            Heralds                   B/W                                                        

      HH-194         Southern Pacific            HeraldsSunset LtdRed/Or/Blk

      HH-248         Southern Pacific            HeraldsTOFC         Red/Black  (Block style)

      HH-212         Southern Pacific            HeraldsWhite

      HN-104         Southern Pacific            Roadname SetBlack

      HT-212         Southern Pacific            TankcarCrude Oil

      HT-241         Southern Pacific            TankcarDiesel Oil

     SHS-144         Southern Pacific            GS Gondola         40'              Tuscan

     SHS-201         Southern Pacific            Boxcar                  Overnite  40'

                                                    

     BRH-212        SP-T&NO                    Cabooses          White

      HN-32          Southern Pacific              Roadname Set


  1. Champ isn't exactly the first choice for decals, mostly not being satisfied with the "white" color of their SP freight car decals. The Champ "white" is not opaque, but that can be a good thing when modeling a weathered car. They are a heavy carrier film. Always trim Champ decals very close and follow the outline of the letters (with the help of my Optivisor and scissors). Their black ink often runs when using setting solution (Champ's own stuff). Keep Q-tips and paper towels handy to soak it up!


  1. Champ used letterpress printing for most of their production, inherently a thicker film than silkscreen. The letterpress method uses dies and ink. The revisions Rich made during late production involved much improved artwork . His PFE reefer sets are still the best (most accurate) for ice reefers.

  2. Tim O'Connor


  4. At the end they were using an Alps printer for some short run jobs.

  5. Bill Daniels


  1. The old Champ "Railroad Roman" SP sets, though also not correct, do come much closer to the SP lettering style. In particular, numerals in the SP lettering are quite condensed, so many decal sets get it wrong by missing that point.


  1. * Champ is not entirely gone. Fortunately, that decals product line was picked up and is presently being renovated or completely redone (in terms of artwork) by Portland Car & Foundry in Portland, OR. PC&F is using a very thin decal film for the revived Champ line. In fact, late production Champion decals came on thin film, too. The earlier stuff - you're right, but back that far in time (pre-1980), just about every decal makers' film was thick. By January 2013 his website and stock will be more user-friendly and complete.

  2. Kevin Bunker



Herald King   1991 HO catalog

Herald King - Southern Pacific - HO

     Sheet #Roadname           Type    DescriptionEraDecal Color

      B-600   Southern Pacific            BoxcarTuscan 50'1977Wh/Yel

      B-601   Southern Pacific            BoxcarTuscan 40'1977White

      B-602   Southern Pacific            BoxcarTuscan 52'1979Wh/Yel

      B-603   Southern Pacific            BoxcarTuscan 40'1973Wh/Yel

      B-604   Southern Pacific            BoxcarTuscan 50'1979Wh/Yel

      B-605   Southern Pacific            BoxcarTuscan 50'1974Wh/Yel

      B-607   Southern Pacific            BoxcarTuscan 50'1971Wh/Yel

      C-600   Southern Pacific            Caboose Tuscan - 1977White

      F-600   Southern Pacific            Flat car Tuscan - 1977Wh/Yel

     G-600   Southern Pacific            Gondola Tuscan - 1977White

     H-600   Southern Pacific            Hopper Tuscan - 1977White

     H-601   Southern Pacific            Cov. Hopper   Gray - 1975Black


Jerry Glow Decals

   Jerry Glow has officially closed his decal business.


  1. The Jerry Glow decal set will do any post-1931 SP tank car lettering (i.e. older cars which were repainted), and class numbers and built dates are included. It also includes class designations for cars other than tank cars.                          

  2. Tony Thompson                                              http://home.comcast.net/~jerryglow/decals/decals.html


Microscale Decals  (valid 21st May 1996)

Microscale - Southern Pacific

      Number        Roadname            TypeEra

      87-003    Southern PacificFreight Cars                            40’s & 50’s   (Intermountain 12 panel cars)

      87-239    Southern PacificHoppers Covered

      87-241-8  Southern PacificPassenger Cars Heavyweight 20-50

      87-611    Southern Pacific         Caboose & Pass. Police 1985

      87-687    Southern Pacific/Cotton Belt         Auto Racks         1980s

      87-911    Southern Pacific                           Freight Cars         40’s & 50’s

      87-1332    Southern PacificBox Cars “C” copper


      MC-4024 Southern Pacific         Steel Coil Cars 50' 1971



  1. #87-003 decals don't include the class lettering. This is specific to SP only. Use to add the full SOUTHERN PACIFIC. over lined

  2. #87-1332 SP 40' & 50' box cars (including B-50-43 Compartmentizer!!) This set contains a wealth of data and small stencils.


  1. The Microscale SP lettering is "vivid white" which looks terrific on a new car.

  2. Better to use the Microscale Sunset heralds. Their black ink doesn’t runs when using setting solution.




Rail Graphics

  1. The art work for the decals probably is still on file (printed by Rail Graphics). Or you can very carefully piece together correct class numbers if you are a VERY patient person.


San Juan Decals

  1. Charlie Givens designed the most accurate SP Steam decals that have been produced for the HO modeler. They were originally printed by Foothill Model Works and are currently produced by San Juan Decals.

  2. They can be acquired here:                 http://www.sanjuandecals.com/sp-decal-sets.html

  3. Scott Inman


Speed Switch

  1. Speedwitch makes  an SP set of decals for Class B-50-26 box cars.




References

 
Southern Pacific Lines Modeling S.P. Rolling Stock Lettering
General Info Lettering Box Cars - 40’ Box Car Scheme Changes Herald “C” Marking on Freight Cars Trust / Ownership Lettering "Wheel Inspection" dots Lettering Diagrams Decals References
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