I am looking for help in restoring the original Locomotive plate and builders plates. They have never been restored and looking at them they have several layers of paint on them. Can anyone help with advice?
Many thanks.

I'm afraid I can't help with suggestions but may I offer something else, related:

Consider getting repros of the ones for the engine done and keep the originals in a very safe place.
Mount the repros on the engine and sell others as fundraisers etc.

JKB

If you're really lucky, you might find a local high-school, trade-school, or vo-tech shop that has the foundry equipment available to sand-cast some replicas. I should know--quite a few replica PRR GG1 plates were mounted on automobiles in the Wilmington, Delaware area in the 1980s courtesy of my foundry work and the loan of an original!

If you do make replicas, however, take extra care to assure that the replicas can't be passed off as originals. A good shop can modify the casting number on the rear to "REPLICA" (or, as allegedly done with one set of replica plates mounted on a loco, "Stolen from [XY&Z] Railroad"!). Maybe the use of aluminum or other alloy instead of the original brass or iron might help. I've even used linotype type metal (but good luck finding that today).

Cleaning? Depends on the material. I've done sandblasting and chemical removal to iron plates; softer metal like brass may need bead blasting or crushed nut. The odds are 90% you're not dealing with original paint anyway, and whatever the original paint was is probably illegal or otherwise noxious by now, so go for bare metal and start fresh.

Often, you can soak the plate in some thinner and lift off the layers of previous paint. Don't take a wire brush to it unless absolutely necessary! The high school where I teach trains students to cast aluminum items using recycled lawn mower engines. Both above posts are excellent guidelines, and should be taken seriously, particularly that of reapplying a replica plate and storing the original. Consider, also, having smaller, scaled, decal reproductions of the plate printed on vinyl, then selling them at a reasonable price to fund locomotive servicing and other maintenance.

Hello,
Some very good ideas and tips, thanks very much for all of your help. I liek the idea of stripping the layers of paint as it is less invasive and damaging to the original material.
Unfortunately we do not have any foundry facility local to us that could make replicas. However, we do have a company that could kelp make replicas out of metal using Cad and high pressure water cutting machines.

Regarding replicas for sale, what price would they go for?

Price of the replica depends entirely on the cost of creating the mold, setting up, labor and cost of materials. A few restoration projects make very nice resin castings and sell them for a reasonable collectors price, say between $35 to $50 bucks each. Metal reps are going to be much more expensive for obvious reasons. I doubt you could make them with a water jet, but I wouldn't mind being proven wrong. Decals could be sold for far less, and might be attractive to people who want to donate, but aren't really "hot" on purchasing a big bucks item.

Thank you all for the comments. The originals are in a secure place and we are going to get replica plates made at a foundry in cast iron. Thanks for the tip on having the cast number altered to REPLICA, that way there would be no confusion in the future..

Wells Foundry in London (Ontario) can make copies which is only an hour away from Sarnia. They made the copy of CNR #86 I have which I purchased about 10 years ago. I believe I paid around $100 for a cast iron replica. That was unpainted, but I do believe they also sold painted ones at a higher price.

You can find linotype metal on ebay. There is just about always some being listed.

Linotype metal on Ebay is running anywhere from $1.50 to $2.00 a pound delivered. One pound of linotype metal will cover a 4 square inch area .900 inches deep. It casts best at about 535 degrees and will degrade if overheated. In other words, a rather spendy, and heavy metal. You might look around and see if anybody is doing small scale casting in aluminum. This is generally a hobby type operation, but many people who do this are well accomplished at it.

Linotype metal has gotten spendy because all the bullet casters are buying up stocks. This actually is a problem for somebody who runs a Linotype (or Intertype) machine, which I do.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

Hello Michael,
Thanks for the reply, The foundry we are going to see said they can probably make a complete set of plates cast in iron at a reasonable cost.

This brings up another question. When having repros cast, are the originals stripped of paint or are the repros cast without stripping the originals? The reason being is that over the years there are layers and runs of paint on the plates and does one leave these in to be cast and show up in the repros as part of the history or??

Hello Sir,
there's only one way to get the paint off with out causing damage to the number plate. Is to soak it in Lye, it will stick and don't get it on your hand because it will burn off your skin. But it works the best. Soak the plate for one hour each time, then just wash it off with plane cold water. dip un till it's free of any paint.

I have a friend that has done this with other Railroad signs of cast Iron. In Fact he owns a Pennsylvaina Railroad Train station in Berks County, PA.
Good Luck
Len.