Chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace has continued to receive a variety of restorative efforts, and beginning last summer lettering was added. Original lettering was gold leaf applied in a gilding process but most of the restored lettering has been applied with a gold paint. Unfortunately, it is a slow a deliberate process that involved more than 150 letters. However the letterboard has been completed thanks to support from the American Baptist Home Mission Societies and the American Baptist Historical Society.
Original lettering was traced from the car during the rehabilitation process. Those original tracings are now part of the car’s permanent record, but were used to create digital images. Steve at Issaquah Sign (he also did the lettering for the Weyerhaeuser locomotive 1) prepared the files and procured the letter mask. He used a vinyl cutter to transfer the letters and a transfer tape to hold everything together. The masking was applied to the car, lettering base exposed and sanded, the lettering applied with a gold paint, and then the final lettering was exposed. Check out these sequential photos taken during the application process.
Wonderful to see the lettering on Messenger. A thrilling moment when I uncovered the original gold leaf 6 years ago. Terrific job, Richjard and crew.