Southern Pacific Lines Coast Line Division “The Route of the Octopus”

Southern Pacific Lines

Coast Line Division

“The Route of the Octopus”

General Info

Steam Loco Lettering & Numbering

SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES changed to SOUTHERN PACIFIC 1947 LINES was officially dropped from tender lettering with the issuance of the locomotive painting blueprint issued June 2, 1946.
Specifically non-skyline MT class for 1927-era, have it lettered SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES on the tender.

References

SP Painting & Lettering Guide, pg. 14, 15

Steam Color

Locomotive Lettering Color(s) in the1930’s and early 40’s.

1946 drawings before Lettering Gray may or may not be valid for the old “Lines” lettering. It would be so easy if a 1916 or later “Lines” drawing would turn up! Color interpretation from b&w photos is impossible, but if taken under the right lighting one can tell if it’s metallic paint or not. The downside is that it’s just as likely that Aluminum will appear as White.
Charles Givens

Early Steam - Color

Prior to June, 1946, lettering was "aluminum bronze," a silver color metallic paint which did not tarnish as would silver. At that time, Freight power became white lettering.
Tony Thompson

Late Steam - Color

In October 1947, all SP Pacific lines steam lettering, freight and passenger engines, was changed to "Synthetic Gray" (or lettering gray) when the "Lines" was dropped. Prior to that time, passenger power was lettered in aluminum bronze, freight power in white. And before long, the only engines painted as "passenger power" were the GS classes so assigned.
Tony Thompson
The new lettering was adopted in June, 1946. It was naturally applied over a period of time, within two years. Photos seem to show that passenger engines (and cars) got the new lettering pretty quickly, within a year, but freight and switch engines took longer. Even by the fall of 1947, there are numerous photos of engines having the new lettering, so make that the outer limit.
Your modeling window for the two letter styles coexisting, with and without "Lines", would therefore be approximately between 1946 and 1948.
Rob Sarberenyi
At least after 1949 steam locos were repainted at every annual inspection, so most engines would have the later lettering by late 1947. Of course, engines held "unserviceable" would not be repainted unless returned to service at later date, rather rare post 1946.
Charles Givens

The 1947 revision which converted all locomotive lettering to Synthetic Gray (see for example page 167 in Bob Church's 4-8-2 book) said that it was a conversion from "aluminum bronze AND white" (my emphasis). Since we know that as of the 1946 deletion of "Lines" that passenger power was then lettered aluminum bronze, it's inferred that freight power was white. In the 1920s, passenger power was lettered with silver leaf, then varnished.
Tony Thompson

I would never say "never" about the SP, but the lettering sizes for particular tenders changed with the new standard, so although painting out "Lines" would superficially conform to the new lettering standard, I would think the correct size would be added as soon as practical. Photos seem to show that the relettering proceeded at a good pace, with many locomotives redone by a year after adoption of the new standard.
Tony Thompson

Engine Classes

The one word steam engine engine classes were upper & lower case (Pr-, Mk-, Mt-) in the SP written records, But on the engine cab lettering was almost always all upper case (PR-, MK-, MT-) except that the Mt-2s usually had the lower case "t" on the cab side lettering.

References

A while back SPH&TS had a reproduction of Espee's lettering drawing available. The material in the 4-8-2 book reproduces parts of that drawing.
There were several separate lettering drawings, one of which is in the Mt book, and then a kind of "global" drawing showing everything. The entire set is at CSRM.
Tony Thompson

Steam Symbols

White Stars on SP Driver Axles

They indicated the presence of spring-pad lubricators on the journals, an SP invention. Evidently the white stars were not uniformly applied/reapplied at all times. They were not in use in the early 20th century, but older locomotives may have gotten stars if they received spring-pad lubricators. The presence of a star means there was a spring pad lubricator, but the absence of a star does not mean the converse.
Tony Thompson

1911

The complete explanation of driver stars appears in Church's Southern Pacific Daylight Locomotives book on page 35. Here are a couple of quotes that cover it all:
"To advise shop forces and operating crews which engines had grease-lubricated journals, the SP adopted the use of a 3-1/2 inch star painted on the end of the driving axles. Engines began to appear with the painted stars after 1911, and the practice was continued until all classes of power were converted to grease lubrication. When the program was completed the need for the identification was no longer needed and the stars were quickly eliminated."
Gary Schrader

1930’s

The stars were also purely decorative in nature if applied prior to 1930, when they seem to have gone out of style as an extra-cost decoration due to the Depression.
Since grease lubrication is the explanation for the stars prior to the late 1930's, virtually any class could have stars; freight, passenger, switchers, etc. Thousands of stars! Since there are photos in Church's 4300 book showing Mt's in the late 20's with stars, the grease lube ID lasted at least until then, so the "no star" period must be quite short. Based on photos (GS-1, MT-4) it took until 1930.
John Bruning

1939

After 1938 and the invention of S.P.'s patented automatic Spring Pad Lubricator, the white star meant that the drive axles were so equipped with the fitted lubricator to the bearing and a circle of dots indicated the roller bearings were. The star also indicated that the Pilot and trailing truck wheels as well as driving wheels could have these, not necessarily all together or all at the same time.
Tony Thompson
On page 36, referring to the spring pad lubricator system, he says the following:
"During the first weeks of 1939, this improved system of oil lubrication for driving journals and hubs was installed on 4-8-2 locomotives Nos. 4328, 4340, 4351, and then 4315. The railroad started a concerted effort to equip all other larger classes with spring-pad lubricators.
At this time, stars were again painted on the ends of the driving axle ends to denote engines equipped with spring-pad lubricators. The GS-4s were the first 4-8-4s to come from Lima with stars on the driving axle ends. Because these larger engines had hollow-bored axles, the star size was increased to 5-1/2 inches."
Gary Schrader

1940’s & 50’s

Photographic evidence shows that the use of the larger stars became sporadic in the late 1940s and 1950s, but never really ended after that.
Gary Schrader

Reference

Southern Pacific Daylight Locomotives, Church, page 35-36.

Modeling White Star Decals

Foothill Model Works

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

San Juan Decals

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

Thin Film

ThinFilm SP steam loco decals contain this.

White Dots in a Circle on SP Driver Axles

After 1938 and the invention of S.P.'s patented automatic Spring Pad Lubricator, the circle of dots meant that the drive axles were so equipped with the fitted lubricator to the roller bearings.
Tony Thompson
The GS-5s had dots in a circle around the axle to indicate roller bearings. There were only two roller bearing equipped steam locomotives on the S.P., that would be the two GS-5, Daylight locomotives #4458 and #4459.
Jeff Cauthen
#4488 (class GS-8) was also seen with dots in a circle on the driver axles to indicate their roller bearings.
Bob Pecotich

Reference

Those Daylight Locomotives, Church, page 155.

Modeling White Dots Decals

San Juan Decals

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. Sheet SJD-600a/b will give you the appropriate decals based on the paint scheme of your GS-5.
They can be acquired here: http://www.sanjuandecals.com/sp-decal-sets.html
Scott Inman

Decals

Early Vintage Large Steam

California Locomotive Works

California Locomotive Works decals haven't been since approximately the mid-1980s.

California Locomotive Works
PO Box 14226
San Francisco, CA 94114

Calif Loco Works & Thinfilm were purchased at the Train Shop in Santa Clara some time ago.

Champion Decal Company

Now out of business, but sets are out there. Champ's decals have their own issues, not only being color, but the lettering style.

Champ - Southern Pacific - HO

Sheet # Roadname TypeDescription Decal Color

EH-12ASouthern Pacific LinesSteam LocoOld Style Sm.Aluminum

EH-12WASouthern Pacific LinesSteam LocoOld Style Sm.White

EH-12 Southern PacificSteam LocoOld Style Lg.Aluminum

EH-12WSouthern PacificSteam LocoOld Style Lg.White

EH-12DSouthern PacificDaylightSteam HeraldAluminum

HH-144Southern PacificHeralds B/W

HH-194Southern PacificHeraldsSunset Ltd Red/Or/Blk

HH-248Southern PacificHeraldsTOFC Red/Black (Block style)

HH-212Southern PacificHeraldsWhite

HN-104Southern PacificRoadname SetBlack

BRH-12 Southern PacificSteam Locos Aluminum

BRH-12WSouthern PacificSteam LocosTender Data White

X-40 Southern PacificSteam Loco15 inch No. Aluminum

X-41 Southern PacificSteam Loco15 inch No. White

HN-32 Southern PacificRoadname Set

Foothill Model Works (San Juan Decals)

These used to be offered by Jerry Kitts from Foothill Model Works (FMW). The San Juan/FMW SP steam loco decals are the result of painstaking research and artwork preparation by noted expert Charlie Givens. Charlie has studied SP prototype lettering probably more than anyone and correctly captured correct SP lettering styles used. And remember, NEVER call it a font! There's no Espee steam loco decal set as accurate as the San Juan/FMW set, certainly not Champ's decals, or even Microscale for that matter.
Rob Sarberenyi http://sanjuancarco.com/sanjuandecals/sp-decal-sets.html

Sheet # Roadname TypeDescription Decal Color

FMW-600Southern Pacific LinesSteam LocoOld Style Sm.Aluminum

FMW-600Southern Pacific LinesSteam LocoOld Style Sm.Aluminum-bronze

FMW-600Southern Pacific LinesSteam LocoOld Style Sm.Lettering Gray

They came complete with quite comprehensive instructions and lettering info, along with several pages of very helpful placement and lettering drawings for many classes of Espee steam. The FMW and San Juan Decals SP steam loco sets include "Lines" lettering in addition to the later, and more popularly modeled, post-1946 period sans "Lines" lettering.

Use great care with FMW/San Juan decal sets as the carrier film is exceptionally thin, almost seeming to be about half the thickness of even Microscale's decals... yes, super thin! But once they've been applied, the lettering looks absolutely superb!
Rob Sarberenyi
A few details regarding Espee steam loco lettering are found at their Web site http://home.inreach.com/jkitts/DecalSP.html#FMW600.

Microscale

Microscale's sets contain several "issues", one of which their SP steam loco lettering color is white and NOT SP Lettering Gray, not to mention shape of the letters and other items. Microscale decals are twice the thickness of San Juan Decals.
The only alternative to Champ is a Microscale's set.
S.P. Steam Locomotive HO Decals
#48-190 large SP steam contrary to its name, it is only suitable for 4100 class and up ACs.
The 87-71 set is much orange-ier than the 87-1223 set, which appears to be the browner SP Daylight Orange. The color should be "Daylight Exterior Orange" (Drift Card #29).

San Juan Decals SP Steam Set

San Juan Decals recently purchased the decal portion of Foothill Model Works and are now able to offer new, updated decal sets for all of the lettering styles from 1898 on. Image quality is outstanding! It's improved from the FMW set and has corrected a couple of errors.
If you plan to decal Espee steam locos in HO or O scale, I strongly urge you NOT to use the Microscale decal sets and instead use the SP steam loco decal sets produced by San Juan Decals. Rob Sarberenyi
Non-Daylight painted steam locos are the sets offered by San Juan Decals. Artwork was done by Charles Givens and is therefore the MOST accurate of any available! The set includes *very* comprehensive instructions and lettering diagrams covering applications on most any class of SP steam loco and tender. The decals contain both pre-June 1946 "Lines" lettering along with the later post SP lettering version sans "Lines".
For non-Daylight painted Espee steam locomotives it’s highly recommended, the SP steam loco decal sets produced by San Juan Decals, formerly offered by Foothill Model Works. San Juan offers the sets in HO scale. I strongly endorse this recommendation. These are excellent and accurate sets.
Tony Thompson
The former Foothill Model Works (FMW) SP decals are now available through San Juan Decal. The contact information is:
Dan Peterson
San Juan Decals
860 Oriole Drive
Apple Valley, MN 55124
952-891-4162
http://www.sanjuancarco.com
The HO sets are $11.95 each, good for two locomotives.
San Juan Decals are available from most fine hobby shops (i.e. Original Whistle Stop in Pasadena, CA; Train Shop in Santa Clara, CA; Caboose Hobbies in Denver, CO etc.) or you can order direct.
For the first time the "Think Safety" sign stenciled on the back of many cabs is now included.

Thin Film

ThinFilm makes nice HO scale decal sets for S.P. steam, including for Daylight-painted locos which Foothill sets do not cover.
http://www.thinfilmdecals.com/
If you intend to decal Espee Daylight painted steam locos, I recommend the various sets offered by ThinFilm for your specific era.
Thinfilm Decals SP steam loco sets include include "Lines" lettering styles in addition to lettering without.
Rob Sarberenyi
Thinfilm produce several excellent sets worth your consideration.
Tony Thompson
Thinfilm decals can be obtained from various hobby shops including:
The Original Whistle Stop in Pasadena, CA http://www.thewhistlestop.com/Index.html
Caboose Hobbies in Denver, CO http://www.caboosehobbies.com/
Calif Loco Works & Thinfilm were purchased at the Train Shop in Santa Clara some time ago.
You can write to them directly at:
Thinfilm Decals
Box 70323
Pasadena CA 91117